Research project Soil biodiversity enhancement in European agroecosystems to promote their stability and resilience by external inputs reduction and crop performance increase.
General introduction
Only a generalist European policy around innovative (alternative) agricultural management practices is not sufficient to improve soil biodiversity and its ecosystem services. Regional strategies, which take into account local farming systems and ecological conditions, are also required for effective improvement of biodiversity. This is evident from the results of the SoildiverAgro project. This European-funded H2020 project consisted of a consortium of 22 partners from 7 European countries. In Belgium, ILVO, PSKW, Inagro and Pomona were the research partners. The project developed promising alternative agricultural management practices. These have been nicely summarized in a 'Management Practices Guidelines Manual '. The innovative management practices and cropping systems have in common that they reduce the need for external inputs, seek to improve crop yield and quality, and at the same time can support essential ecosystem services such as pest management, climate regulation and soil health - ultimately contributing to a more sustainable, resilient and competitive agriculture. Policy analysis and stakeholder consultation within the project helped align European agricultural legislation with national and regional policies to ensure consistency and avoid contradictions.
Research approach
At the start of the project, the status of subsurface biodiversity was assessed on 90 arable plots across 9 pedo-climatic regions in Europe. These results served as a reference for 15 field studies examining innovative management practices, such as the use of soil mycorrhizae and plant growth-promoting bacteria, alternative crop rotations, pest warning systems, nutrient capture crops, organic soil improvers and bait crops for pest control. The most promising practices and cropping systems were to receive good scores on both ecological, economic and social evaluation.
Relevance/Valorization
Loss of biodiversity in European agriculture is a growing concern. Therefore, changes are also sought in agricultural systems that bring ecological, and at the same time economic and social benefits as defined in the EU Common Agricultural Policy, the EU Thematic Soil Strategy and the EU Biodiversity Strategy. The Soildiveragro project aimed to obtain a better synergy in future agricultural management and cultivation systems between, on the one hand, the growth of agricultural crops and, on the other hand, a variety of still hidden mechanisms in the soil, especially in its ecosystem and biodiversity. The developed 'Management Practices Guidelines Manual ' will certainly contribute to this. The findings also showed that the differences in biodiversity between conventional and organic farming systems were less pronounced than expected, mainly due to overlapping agricultural practices. This overlap is a positive sign: it indicates that principles of sustainable agriculture are increasingly being adopted outside the strict legal framework of organic farming.
Financing
EU Horizon2020
