The overarching objective of SOILRES is to improve soil health and strengthen crop resilience by restoring biodiversity, developing interventions based on soil–plant–microbiota interactions, promoting sustainable agricultural practices, and deploying advanced digital tools for biodiversity assessment. In doing so, SOILRES contributes to long-term agricultural sustainability and resilience across diverse soils and climates.
The project addresses the negative effects of excessive agrochemical use and climate change on soil ecosystems by advancing integrated soil and crop management practices, with agrobiodiversity as a cornerstone.
To achieve this, SOILRES pursues seven interconnected objectives:
SOILRES will establish National Task Forces in Denmark, Finland, France, Hungary, Italy, and Portugal, bringing together farmers, advisors, researchers, and policymakers. Through stakeholder mapping, co-design workshops, and continuous collaboration, the project ensures that innovations are relevant, applicable, and widely adopted.
New strategies will be designed to enhance soil biodiversity and health, including integrated pest management (IPM), microbial amendments, and crop diversification. Field trials across Europe will test and refine these interventions under real farming conditions.
SOILRES will design advanced modelling and monitoring tools, combining remote sensing, geomatics, and climate data. These will be integrated into a user-friendly web platform, giving farmers and advisors practical tools for real-time decision-making.
Six use cases in five different pedo-climatic zones will serve as living laboratories. Trials will deliver evidence on the agronomic, environmental, and socio-economic impacts of the innovations, generating best practices and validated protocols for sustainable farming.
The project will analyze social, economic, and policy factors influencing the adoption of sustainable practices. This work will inform policy briefs and recommendations to strengthen the EU’s transition towards sustainable agriculture.
SOILRES will define exploitation strategies, explore business models, and create roadmaps for replicability, ensuring that project results can be scaled and sustained beyond the project’s lifetime.
Through a comprehensive communication and dissemination strategy, SOILRES will promote its findings, facilitate knowledge sharing with other EU initiatives, and build capacity among stakeholders to accelerate the adoption of biodiversity-enhancing practices.
Together, these objectives enable SOILRES to support the goals of the EU Green Deal and Farm to Fork Strategy, reducing reliance on agrochemicals, boosting soil biodiversity, and strengthening climate resilience for a more sustainable European agriculture.