SMARTSOIL – Sustainable farm Management Aimed at Reducing Threats to SOILs under climate change
Good Practices Category
Good Practices Summary
To identify farming systems and agronomic practices that result in an optimised balance between crop productivity, restoration and maintenance of vital soil functions (fertility, biodiversity, water, nutrients cycling and other soil ecosystem services) and soil carbon sequestration and storage.
To develop and deliver of the SmartSOIL decision support tool and guidelines to support novel approaches, techniques, and technologies adapted to different European soils and categories of beneficiaries (farmers, farm advisory and extension services, and policy makers).
Mitigation
The Project has created a Decision Support Tool to help overcome the barriers for implementation of sustainable soil carbon management in arable and mixed farming systems in Europe.
Replicability/Knowledge Transfer
The dissemination of the project was initiated very early in the project with preliminary consultation with farmers representatives, leading farmers and policy makers to identify and explore the range of awareness, extent of implementation of soil carbon management measures, barriers for and incentives to and advice for, the uptake of practices that can enhance soil carbon stocks, and preferred formats for decision support. Real Life Case leaflets and videos were also developed. Six FactSheets were prepared, which described the key principles of how the practices benefit the soil and potentially crop yield. The Project also developed various project deliverables, numerous scientific publications, meetings, conferences and workshops.
Resources
The Project has develop a ‘Toolbox’, aimed to help farmers achieve a good balance between crop productivity, soil health and soil carbon storage. The Toolbox includes:
- A Decision Support Tool to see the effect of changes in practice on yields and soil carbon.
- FactSheets summarising benefits, costs and experiences associated with the different management practices which increase or sustain soil carbon.
- Real Life Cases from selected farmers in six different European countries showing the benefits, drawbacks and costs of implementing these practices.
- Videos demonstrating the application of different management practices.
- Policy options to promote beneficial management practices at national and EU level.
- Maps to indicate areas at risk of losing soil organic carbon, and current carbon stocks in the EU.
Target Audience
Policy Implications
SmartSOIL project is highly relevant for policy makers on both regional, national, and in European context. An outcome from the SmartSOIL is a series of policy options to promote beneficial management practices and measures at national and EU levels. All these recommendations are further elaborated on the SmartSOIL website.
Social Dimension
Part of the objective of the SmartSOIL was to collect knowledge about agronomic practices and approaches for managing soil carbon to aid EU policy development for soil protection. This resulted in guidelines describing the most suitable practices and measures for different beneficiary groups. Stakeholders were identified as agricultural advisors, farmer representatives, leading farmers, and policy makers and were selected from six regions of the EU, representing a range of biophysical, farming system, and socio-economic contexts.
Innovation Type
Awareness, Guidelines, Methodology, Technology, ToolkitInnovation
SmartSOIL has focused on arable and mixed farming systems in Europe and has developed an innovative approach using the soil carbon flow and stocks concept to assess the impact of C management on crop productivity, soil organic carbon stocks and other ecosystem services.
Outcome/Barriers
SmartSOIL identified, studied, and evaluated the effect on soil carbon and yield of different measures such as minimum and zero tillage, application of animal manure, residue incorporation, cover and/or catch crops, fertiliser input and conservation agriculture practices. Not all measures were economically feasible in all regions of Europe and it underlines the importance of carefully choosing the most beneficial measures for each region and even farm.