SOILCRATES EU’s Post

From October 7th to 9th, 2024, over 45 leading experts, researchers, and partners gathered in Leeuwarden, Netherlands, to officially launch the SOILCRATES project. This event marked a key milestone, bringing together 21 partners to collaborate on innovative strategies for sustainable soil management. The project’s centerpiece is the creation of four Living Labs in the Netherlands, France, Ireland, and Spain. These labs will act as innovation hubs, where stakeholders work together to address soil health challenges, improve biodiversity, and optimize crop conditions. As part of the event, participants had the chance to visit Jan Woudstra’s innovative dairy farm in Menaldum. This farm showcases sustainable practices, including a forage hedge to enhance biodiversity and soil health, and an Agricycling composting technique that transforms grass into nutrient-rich soil. Jan’s approach, reducing chemical inputs while boosting productivity, aligns perfectly with the project’s goals of sustainable farming and environmental stewardship. A special thanks to our host, the Provincie Fryslân, and all involved partners for making this a successful start. Excited to see the positive impacts on soil health across Europe! Provincie Fryslân, Universidad de Granada, Cnam (Conservatoire national des arts et métiers), Wetsus, European Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Water Technology, Wageningen University & Research, Louis Bolk Institute Technological University of the Shannon, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Amphos 21, Ballyhoura Development CLG, Bio Nouvelle-Aquitaine, LGI Sustainable Innovation, Fédération des CUMA 640, Van Hall Larenstein University of Applied Sciences, Sustainable Innovation Institute (SII), Diputación de Granada, Wild Atlantic Hemp, Vereniging Noardlike Fryske Wâlden, Cloughjordan Community Farm, Loop-Head-Together & Omed

Unlocking the Potential of the Bioeconomy: A MainstreamBIO Project Webinar Series We are thrilled to announce the start of the MainstreamBIO Webinar Series at Munster Technological University, as part of the Horizon Europe-funded MainstreamBIO project. Join us and leading experts to discuss the advances and opportunities within Europe's bioeconomy. 🔸 Webinar Topics: Circular Bioeconomy Foundations Bio-based Solutions for Agriculture Nutrient Recycling Environmental Sustainability in Agriculture Business and Social Innovations Engagement Tools for Bioeconomy Each session is designed to foster insights and promote sustainable practices across various sectors. Don’t miss out on this series of engaging discussions starting next week. https://lnkd.in/dggsNN7Y #Bioeconomy #CircularEconomy #Sustainability #Innovation #ProfessionalDevelopment

Meet Madzy Korte I find regenerative agriculture a very inspiring practice. It is a way of farming that facilitates and promotes diversity over eliminating other life forms that might threaten the productivity of your land. These kinds of approaches show me that it is actually possible to make things better. We can prove how a different way of life is possible. Read the article...... https://lnkd.in/ddukYmDT #RegenerativeAgriculture #SustainableFarming #Biodiversity #EcologicalFarming #SustainableFoodProduction #circulaireeconomie #bakkerij #NatuurlijkeLandbouw #Permacultuur #Biodiversiteit #ToekomstigeLandbouw #CirculaireLandbouw #EcologischBoeren #DuurzameVoedselproductie #NatuurinclusieveLandbouw #circulareconomy #sourdoughbakery Lenteland Eline Veninga

Meet Madzy Korte I find regenerative agriculture a very inspiring practice. It is a way of farming that facilitates and promotes diversity over eliminating other life forms that might threaten the productivity of your land. These kinds of approaches show me that it is actually possible to make things better. We can prove how a different way of life is possible. Read the article...... https://lnkd.in/duBW6WGF #RegenerativeAgriculture #SustainableFarming #Biodiversity #EcologicalFarming #SustainableFoodProduction #circulaireeconomie #bakkerij #NatuurlijkeLandbouw #Permacultuur #Biodiversiteit #ToekomstigeLandbouw #CirculaireLandbouw #EcologischBoeren #DuurzameVoedselproductie #NatuurinclusieveLandbouw #circulareconomy #sourdoughbakery Lenteland

It was great collaborating with David George and Newcastle Universities' Sustainability Team on 'The Seeds of Change: Innovating for Sustainable Agriculture' blog. It gives a comprehensive insight on the array of projects running, to address the 'S' word! It also outlines the key challenges and progress that is being made. Link is below if you want to have a quick read! https://lnkd.in/eXnJQieS

❗Attention: Inspirational Content❗ Please, take some time to discover the deeply inspiring, insightful, and thoughtful documentary of several regenerative farmers in the Altiplano Estepario (Spain) - working in one of the harshest climates of Europe. 👨🌾 https://lnkd.in/eAyAKUCD It captures so well that healthy soils not only lead to healthy ecosystems but - in the long run - also to healthy communities, with healthy social bonds preserving tradition and identity, healthy bodies via nutrient-rich and fresh food, as well as healthy minds through the return of hope, inspiration, livelihoods, and a feeling that the future is worth committing and investing energy in the present instead of moving away. 😎 Regenerative agriculture, and, beyond that, holistic ecosystem regeneration thus are such powerful levers not only for combatting the climate & biodiversity crises (30 cm of the world’s soil contains about twice as much carbon as the entire atmosphere), but also seemingly unrelated problems, e.g. restoring water cycles, loss of culture and identity, mental & physical health problems, conflicts, and collapsing (rural) economies. I'd even dare to state that it could contribute to halting social polarization (and decrease the popularity of extreme political views). 🌻 In my view, no other activity has such a deep and meaningful cross-sectional impact on many of our sustainable development goals like Ecosystem Regeneration and it deserves all the resources it needs to scale. Luckily, we are currently in the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration. 💪 In case you ask yourself how to support the movement, leave a message or comment. ✍ Big shoutout to Resilience Food Stories (Hanneke van Hintum & Ruud Sies) for this and many more wonderful portraits of how to work with nature and not against it. And of course to all the wonderful people doing their magic on the ground, like Yanniek Marijn Schoonhoven! 🙏🙏🙏

🌾Exciting News from JISEA's Sustainable Agriculture Catalyzer! 🚜 The Joint Institute for Strategic Energy Analysis (JISEA) is spearheading a transformative project focused on sustainable agriculture's impact on health, economics, and the environment. Brittany Staie of NREL leads the catalyzer, emphasizing a holistic approach to decarbonization strategies. According to Staie, "We're going to bring different partners to the table to expand our understanding of the impact these solutions can have outside of emissions reductions." 🌍 “This report highlights the leadership role that farmers and ranchers can have in the transition to a net-zero economy,” said Austin Kinzer, agrivoltaics senior technical specialist with American Farmland Trust and co-author on the article. “We are encouraged by DOE’s interest in collaborating across the energy and agriculture sectors to develop climate solutions that empower agricultural producers, strengthen farm viability, and promote an equitable energy transition.” Agricultural emissions account for 12% of total greenhouse gases in the U.S., prompting urgent calls for sustainable solutions. Jordan Macknick of NREL highlights the critical need for such strategies, stating, "The catalyzer is working to identify and quantify these cobenefits to help guide future decarbonization planning in a way that prioritizes the needs of farmers and the surrounding communities." 🌿 Stay tuned for workshops and collaborative efforts as the Sustainable Agriculture Catalyzer works towards a cleaner future! 🌟 #SustainableAgriculture #Decarbonization #ClimateAction

Our brilliant PhD student Sally Westaway has published a new paper on integrating holistic sustainability assessment tools with life cycle analysis (LCA) for a comprehensive evaluation of agroecological systems. Key takeaway: “LCA helps understand which parts of the food system have the greatest impacts and how they could become more sustainable, but it cannot determine sustainable agriculture alone. The addition of rapid farm-level multi-criteria sustainability assessment tools can complement LCA results, help reveal ‘blind spots’, and encourage adoption by farmers.” Read the full paper here: https://lnkd.in/eebEJPP4 #Sustainability #Agroecology #LifeCycleAnalysis #SustainableAgriculture #Research #EnvironmentalScience

On #WorldHabitatDay, this recent @SRUC paper from Christine Watson and collaborator show that diversification is a pathway to sustainability in agricultural systems. The paper explores case studies from around the globe, examining how diversification at different scales—from cropping and grassland to entire food systems—can provide sustainable solutions. 🌾 From China to Canada, Ethiopia to Europe, the papers showcase inter- and transdisciplinary approaches that reveal the synergies and trade-offs between social and environmental objectives. By embracing diverse crops, ecological engineering, and digitalisation, we can reshape food systems for a more sustainable future. Sustainable transformation requires interaction across all system levels—from farm plots to governance—to reinforce positive change. #Sustainability #GlobalCollaboration #Diversification https://lnkd.in/eeUc7Bgh

This is a FASCINATING study, with implications well beyond agriculture - there's a big lesson in it for anyone who works in sustainability, conservation, development, community building, or any field that tends to proceed through 'projects' The researchers compared the carbon footprint of conventional agriculture with other ways of producing food, and found that low-tech community gardens can have a lower carbon footprint. In fact, almost a quarter of community gardens were producing food with lower carbon pollution than industrial farms. However, on average, conventional agriculture still had the lower carbon footprint. Why is that? Simply because most community gardens didn't last very long - they were mainly implemented as short-term projects and only lasted a few years. They invested a lot in infrastructure with high carbon costs at the beginning (raised beds, composting infrastructure etc), but then the projects didn't keep going long enough to offset those initial costs. If we switch carbon for broader inputs and outputs, I think this applies to a lot of wonderful, highly worthwhile projects. We establish them with a lot of energy, enthusiasm, inputs and (if we're lucky) funding, but without thinking sufficiently about how to make them socially, institutionally and financially sustainable. And so, after 3 or 5 years, the projects wither and die, without ever having reached the point where they start generating sufficient benefits to have offset even the set up costs. I would love it if the NGO sector would think more in terms of outcomes than outputs.