Improved land suitability for soil health and sustainable biomass production

Activities under this topic contribute to the implementation of the Mission ‘A Soil Deal for Europe’ in particular to its specific objective 4 “Reduce soil pollution and enhance restoration” and 7 “Reduce the EU global footprint on soils”, the EU Bioeconomy Strategy and the Nature Restoration Law.

Project results are expected to contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:

• Improved soil health, land suitability choice and optimised sustainable production of biomass (both quantity and quality) across different types of land (including agricultural lands, forest and -for paludiculture or nature restoration purposes only- also peatlands and marginal lands^[1]).
• Improved knowledge on the relationships between biomass production, soil biodiversity and ecosystem health, and soil-water interactions (water-holding capacity, drainage patterns, and irrigation requirements).
• Better understanding and assessments of land suitability and land management practices that contribute to soil restoration and sustainable biomass production for food and non-food uses across Europe.
• Increased deployment of sustainable biomass production systems that improve soil health while valorising production systems’ contribution to nature restoration, climate mitigation and climate resilience adaption strategies.

Soil, as a fundamental component of terrestrial ecosystems, is crucial for biomass^[2] production and its capabilities and limitations. Hence, effective land use planning must consider the requirements and constraints associated with different soil properties. For instance, excessive nutrient export due to biomass removal can negatively impact soil health and the overall ecosystem functioning. Consequently, prioritizing land suitability, alongside other key biophysical aspects such as climate, is essential for maintaining soil health while ensuring sustainable biomass production.

When stakeholders and land managers take land suitability and soil properties into account, they can make more informed decisions about e.g., land use, land management practices, and environmental protection. This approach ultimately promotes sustainable and efficient land management strategies for biomass production.

Proposed activities should:

• Develop process-based models using various data sources including the EUSO data repository, the European Joint Programme on Agricultural Soil Management (EJP SOIL) Long Term Field Experiment^[3] and other EJP SOIL data repositories and literature review field results from ongoing EU Mission Soil projects, including the Mission Soil living labs, and other relevant Earth observations datasets. The models should simulate soil properties, land suitability, and their impact on soil health and biomass production for both food and non-food uses.
• Engage with land managers to understand their needs and challenges and develop decision tools to aid them in enhancing biomass production while maintaining soil health.
• Conduct a comprehensive literature review focusing on data to assess the conditions for optimal land suitability that contributes to improving soil health while producing sustainable biomass – considering the dynamics of soil water interactions (water-holding capacity, drainage patterns, and irrigation requirements). The analysis should include social, economic, and environmental aspects of biomass production and use.
• Broaden the scope of the findings by upscaling experimental results and models to larger scales (regional, national, European) and integrate them with social-economic data (e.g. cost, effect on local economies, job creation, social implications).

Proposals should focus the proposed activities in selecting the ten most important annual and perennial agricultural and forest crops and paludicultural plants in Europe, including peatland and marginal land biomass. Multifunctional cropping systems should be considered together with the corresponding value creation and process chains that improve the nexus of soil, water, biodiversity, climate adaption, climate protection, and overall resilience. In the specific case of peatlands, biomass should be adapted to the typical peatland vegetation for each pedoclimatic region, taking into account current and potential future rewetting actions, and never including afforestation, as rewetting is the only long-term alternative for sustainable use and restoration of drained peatlands (for both carbon sequestration and biodiversity objectives).

Proposals should outline a clear pathway towards open access, longevity, sustainability and interoperability of knowledge and outputs – including adoption of standard-based ontologies/vocabularies and data harmonization mechanisms – through close collaboration with the European Union Soil Observatory (EUSO) and the SoilWise project. Particular efforts should be made to ensure that the data produced in the context of this topic is FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable).

Proposals are encouraged to consider, where relevant, the data, expertise and services offered by European research infrastructures^[4]. Proposals should include dedicated tasks and allocate appropriate resources for coordination measures and joint activities with other relevant projects and initiatives funded under the Mission ‘A Soil Deal for Europe’, including engagement with the relevant cluster activities.

[1] See Marginal land | Knowledge for policy

[2] In this call, biomass refers to organic, non-fossil material of plant biological origin. The biomass in the scope of this call includes biomass of plants used for food, feed, ecosystem restoration and bio-based materials.

[3] See Partner countries with LTEs

[4] The catalogue of European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI) research infrastructures portfolio can be browsed from ESFRI website https://ri-portfolio.esfri.eu/.