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European Research Executive Agency
News article5 December 2022European Research Executive Agency

EU Mission ‘A Soil Deal for Europe’: ten new projects to prepare the ground for the transition towards healthy soils by 2030

Ten multinational projects will receive over €63 million in funding from Horizon Europe, the EU research and innovation programme. They have recently signed their grant agreements with the Commission and some are already starting.

Mission Soil Projects Grant Agreement 2022
© European Union, 2022

What are the projects expected to do?

The EU Mission 'A Soil Deal for Europe' aims to lead the transition towards healthy soils by 2030. Research is key to achieving its objectives. To support the development of a coherent research and innovation (R&I) portfolio, the project SOLO aims to co-create and identify knowledge gaps, priorities, novel approaches, and key performance indicators (KPIs) to monitor the progress of the Mission R&I activities.

To support a more harmonised reporting on soil health among Member States in alignment with LUCAS and the EU Soil Observatory work, the projects BENCHMARKS and AI4SoilHealth will validate and further develop indicators to measure, monitor and assess soil health and functions making use of integrated frameworks and Artificial Intelligence.

SOIL O-LIVE will explore the connection between soil health and nutritional and safe food. The project will work on the most important areas of olive production in the Mediterranean region and study how soil health influences the nutritional composition, tastiness and safety of olive oil.

The development of new incentives and sustainable business models will be key to supporting soil health. INBESTSOIL will test the incorporation of an economic valuation system of ecosystem services delivered by healthy soils in five business models. NOVASOIL will study four business models that allow the creation of new incentives from healthy soils. The project  SOILVALUES is expected to explore financial mechanisms such as equity investment or compensation for risk or cost reduction, as well as hybrid incentive schemes and develop at least six business models to help land managers to make decisions.

To support the establishment of soil health living labs, NATI00NS will act as a messenger of the Mission to national and regional stakeholders. They will organise national engagement sessions and provide access to capacity building materials and information. The aim is to spur discussions on the best Living-Lab setups to address regional soil needs and foster early matchmaking for future applicants to the living lab calls.

The HuMUS will have a key role in engaging and activating municipalities, regions and citizens across Europe to stimulate extensive dialogues, promote a shared understanding and co-create solutions to protect and restore soil health.

Finally, NBSoil project will support the much-needed next generation of soil advisors with a blended learning programme to enable them to implement a holistic vision of soil health through nature-based solutions.

The upcoming projects include the participation of research institutes, industry, SMEs, farmers, foresters and citizens associations. The projects tap into the expertise from EU countries and international partners, including Norway, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Serbia, Morocco and Tunisia.

Projects will build on the work of the previously awarded project PREPSOIL, which has been preparing the ground for the Mission, healthy soils, and building capacities for engagement, outreach and knowledge.

How were the projects selected?

The 2021 Soil Mission Call for funding opened on 22 December 2021 and closed on 24 March 2022. The European Research Executive Agency (REA) received 40 proposals. The selected projects received the highest marks in a peer evaluation run by independent experts.

About the EU Mission: ‘A Soil Deal for Europe’

Rooted in Horizon Europe but going beyond research and innovation, the mission intends to assist Europe’s path to sustainable soil management as part of the wider green transition, and will fund actions across sectors and territories (rural, peri-urban and urban areas including across borders).

Further Information 

Keep up-to-date with these projects—as well as other innovative research—by following REA on Twitter and LinkedIn. You will get the latest news on events they may organise as well as their research outcomes. Subscribe to the Cluster 6 newsletter for updates also on the Soil Mission straight into your inbox.

 

Projects selected per Mission call topic:

Topic identifier

Topic title

Awarded projects

HORIZON-MISS-2021-SOIL-02-01

From knowledge gaps to roadmaps on soil mission objectives

SOLO

HORIZON-MISS-2021-SOIL-02-02

Validating and further developing indicators for soil health and functions

BENCHMARKS  AI4SOILHEALTH

HORIZON-MISS-2021-SOIL-02-03

Linking soil health to nutritional and safe food

SOIL O-LIVE

HORIZON-MISS-2021-SOIL-02-04

Social, economic and cultural factors driving land management and land degradation

No project awarded

HORIZON-MISS-2021-SOIL-02-05

Incentives and business models for soil health

NOVASOIL

SOILVALUES

INBESTSOIL

HORIZON-MISS-2021-SOIL-02-06

Engage with and activate municipalities and regions to protect and restore soil health

HuMUS

HORIZON-MISS-2021-SOIL-02-07

National engagement sessions and support to the establishment of soil health living labs

NATI00NS

HORIZON-MISS-2021-SOIL-02-08

Next generation soil advisors

NBSoil

 

Horizon Europe budget

€63 million funding

 

More

EU Mission: A Soil Deal for Europe

Funding and Tenders Portal

What are Living Labs and Lighthouses

Details

Publication date
5 December 2022
Author
European Research Executive Agency