Soil Care introduction Rudi Hessel Erik van den

Soil. Care introduction Rudi Hessel, Erik van den Elsen, Simone Verzandvoort, Falentijn Assinck Wageningen Environmental Research (Alterra) www. Soil. Care-project. eu

• • • Why Soil. Care Aims Set-up First results Impact 2 www. Soil. Care-project. eu

Why Soil. Care? European crop production is facing more and more difficulties in remaining competitive in the global market. Concerns: • Competitiveness of EU farmers • Profitability of crop production • Massive use of expensive external inputs • Environmental sustainability of agricultural systems • Decreasing soil quality www. Soil. Care-project. eu

Aims • To identify “soil-improving cropping systems” (SICS) which have positive impacts on profitability and sustainability in Europe • To assess the potential of SICS in 16 sites in Europe • To facilitate the adoption & implementation of SICS in practice (incl. an analysis of policies affecting adoption) • To develop an interactive tool for the selection of SICS throughout Europe Note: The term cropping system (CS) refers to crop type, crop rotation, and the agronomic management techniques used on a particular field over a period of years www. Soil. Care-project. eu

Set-up 5 www. Soil. Care-project. eu

Set-up • 16 Study Sites in Europe, covering different pedo-climatic, socio-economic and politicy conditions. • Building on earlier work (e. g. Smart. SOIL, RECARE) and collaborating with ongoing projects (e. g. LANDMARK, i. SQAPER) • Three scales are covered by the SOILCARE approach: farm scale, Study Site scale, and European scale. • Different conditions require use of different CS. Applicability, profitability and environmental impacts of the SICS will therefore vary across Europe 6 www. Soil. Care-project. eu

First results Completed and ongoing: • Stakeholder analysis in all 16 SS (completed) • Dissemination and communication strategy (completed) • Participatory selection of SICS for implementation (ongoing) • Development of evaluation methodology (ongoing) • Development of monitoring plan (ongoing) • Literature review of SICS (draft, see next slide) 7 www. Soil. Care-project. eu

First results Literature review (draft): • Dual focus: SICS against soil threats; SICS to improve soil quality. Draft chapters for all soil threats • Draft Executive Summary • 3 basic types of SICS: – Changes in input-output ratio’s (ideal: less input, more output) – Substitution (e. g. use machines or pesticides against weeds) – Redesign (changes in crop type, rotation, farming system) • Elaboration of concept SICS 8 www. Soil. Care-project. eu

Innovation and Impact • Methodology to assess SICS, looking at soil quality, crop yield, environmental impacts, and effects on profitability and sustainability • Harmonized method to upscale Study Site results to EU level • Novel approach to investigate how CS affect soil biological health, and how this affects crop yield and crop quality • Development of an interactive tool for selection of soilimproving CS throughout Europe • Insight in bio-physical, economic, social and political barriers for adoption, including ways to overcome such barriers 9 www. Soil. Care-project. eu

Impact – FML 3 10 www. Soil. Care-project. eu

Impact Specific impacts mentioned: - Improved soil and water quality, more resilient to degradation - Improved environmental quality, e. g. less GHGs - Scientific support to EU and national policies (agricultural, environmental & nature, Europe 2020 Strategy, Climate) - Evaluation methodology for SICS, scientifically sound and relevant to society (as views and priorities of stakeholders, SMEs and Industry are taken into account) - Increased profitability, e. g. through reduced need for external inputs, less impact of land degradation 11 www. Soil. Care-project. eu

Summary Focus on soil-improving cropping systems (SICS) that are profitable and sustainable Trans-disciplinary approach looking at bio-physical conditions, policies and socio-economic issues Multiple study sites covering range of conditions in Europe Basic question: which SICS can be applied where in Europe to best effect? 12 www. Soil. Care-project. eu

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