Introducing the EJP SOIL, a major international initiative to build an integrated research community for climate-smart agricultural soil management

Launched in February 2020 and lasting 5 years, the European Joint Programme on Soil – or EJP SOIL for short – is bringing together 26 partners from 24 European countries with a total budget of nearly EUR 80 million (with EUR 40 million provided directly by the EU). Its purpose? To create an enabling environment to enhance the contribution of agricultural soils to key societal challenges such as climate change adaptation and mitigation and sustainable agricultural production.

Whilst officially launched as a Horizon 2020 project, the EJP SOIL will closely align and link with future work to be developed under the EU’s newest research and innovation programme, Horizon Europe, including the proposed EU mission in the area of Soil health and food: Caring for soil is caring for life. The project’s work is also expected to contribute to the ambitious climate targets outlined in the European Green Deal and its strategies including the Biodiversity Strategy, the Farm to Fork Strategy, the Adaptation Strategy and the European Climate Pact.

The research team, coordinated by the French National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment (INRAE), have some extremely busy years ahead of them.One of their key targets is the strengthening of the European research community addressing agricultural soil management. This will be achieved through an alignment and implementation of research, education, training and capacity building, as well as developing harmonised agricultural soil information systems and promoting their adoption to achieve global consistency and applicability of agricultural soil information. This would include the crucial issues surrounding soil carbon (essential for climate change mitigation efforts).

From a scientific perspective, new insights are hoped to be gained on climate-smart agricultural soil management and to quantify trade-offs and synergies between sustainable agricultural production, climate change adaption and mitigation, soil degradation, soil quality and other ecosystem services, such as soil control. Through these insights, new knowledge will be developed of carbon sequestration in agricultural soils under different conditions across Europe and its contribution to climate change mitigation.

Of course, all of this new knowledge will also be used as the bedrock for detailed and evidence-based recommendations and advice for policy at EU, national, regional and local level.

Finally, alongside these policy ambitions, the EJP SOIL aims to raise people’s awareness on key issues surrounding soil health and foster improved societal understanding of agricultural soil management and its contribution to sustainable agriculture, the fight against climate change and the wider aspects of environmental protection.