The first Hungarian National Task Force (NTF) meeting of the SOILRES project took place on 10 June 2026 during the annual arable field day organised by the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (ÖMKi) at Csoroszlya Farm in Szár, Hungary.
The farm serves as the main experimental site of the SOILRES project in the Pannonian climate zone, where ÖMKi is testing sustainable farming practices including reduced tillage, cover crops and intercropping within an organic farming system.
The workshop brought together more than 20 participants representing a wide range of stakeholders, including farmers, small-scale producers, bakers, agricultural advisors, researchers, representatives of the seed sector, organic certification bodies and public institutions. The meeting provided an opportunity to exchange knowledge and discuss practical solutions for improving soil health and strengthening the resilience of agricultural systems.
Discussions focused on key topics addressed by the SOILRES project, including reduced tillage, cover crops and soil health-oriented farming practices. One of the main conclusions was the growing importance of water availability as a critical factor influencing agricultural production under changing climatic conditions.
Participants also highlighted that, across much of Hungary, particularly in the Great Hungarian Plain, the successful establishment of high-biomass cover crops is becoming increasingly uncertain. Factors such as sowing time, species selection, rainfall distribution and soil moisture are playing an increasingly decisive role in determining the success of these practices.
As part of the field programme, participants visited trial plots featuring 22 winter wheat and 8 winter barley varieties from the 2025–2026 growing season, including several promising Hungarian and European varieties suitable for organic farming.
The meeting demonstrated the value of on-farm experimentation, knowledge exchange and multi-stakeholder dialogue in identifying practical solutions that can support more resilient and sustainable farming systems in the face of increasingly extreme climatic conditions.
The Hungarian National Task Force meeting marks another important step in the SOILRES project, fostering collaboration between researchers and practitioners while promoting the adoption of soil health practices tailored to local conditions.
