AREFLH is a partner of the EU project LivingSoiLL. Its motto is  “Healthy Soil to Permanent Crops Living Labs”. It is a new Horizon Europe project funded by the European Commission within the framework of the EU MISSION ‘A Soil Deal for Europe’. The Soil Mission aims to lead the transition to healthy soils via sustainable soil management. Indeed, the issue of healthy soils is at the heart of the European Green Deal and one of the main targets of the Mission Board.

 

LivingSoiLL project will establish five Living Laboratories focused on promoting soil health for five permanent crops:  

grape, olive, chestnut, hazelnut, and apple.

With the involvement of companies, public administrations, universities and other research agents, farmers, agricultural consultants, and local communities, the labs will become participatory innovation ecosystems. Each Living Lab will be a forum for exchanging experiences and best practices in soil management, where formal, scientific knowledge meets know-how based on farmers' experience.

 

One of the Living Lab in northern Portugal and in Galicia in Spain focuses on vineyards and olive groves.

It is UTAD in addition to the general coordination of the project, that will be responsible for coordinating these labs, the two most important permanent crops in these area. This Living Laboratory includes a group of 14 partners, with a strong collaboration between teaching/research institutions (UTAD, University of Porto, University of Vigo) and the wine and olive-growing business sector.

 

The following international partners are coordinating the remaining four Living Laboratories (LV):

• the University of Turin (Italy),
• the LV NW Italy-Piemonte, dedicated to vines, chestnut trees and hazelnuts;
• the University of Jaen (Spain), coordinating the LV Andaluz, dedicated to olive groves;
• the Warsaw University of Life Sciences (Poland), coordinating the LV Grójec, dedicated to apple growing;
• and the French Vine and Wine Institute (France), coordinating the LV Loire Valley & Beaujolais, dedicated to vines.

 

The actions in the five countries will be autonomous, but interconnected through the exchange of good practices and knowledge applied to the various regional realities. In all the Living Labs, the focus will be on promoting healthy soils and ecosystem services, through the co-creation and co-implementation of innovative solutions to reduce erosion, improve soil structure, reduce the impacts of the intensive use of fertilizers and pesticides, increase water storage, strengthen biodiversity and overall soil resilience.

 

The project's main objectives include, on the one hand, increasing literacy on this subject in society and, on the other, producing policy recommendations on the best soil management practices for permanent crops. This initiative aims to include at least 50 experimental sites and 10 lighthouses, with the active participation of more than 2,000 local actors. With this pioneering approach at the European level, the LivingSoiLL project aims to help the European Union maintain healthy soils for future generations, resulting in more sustainable food production, water and climate regulation, and biodiversity conservation.

  

Know more about the project 

• Website : livingsoill.eu

• X : @livingsoiLL

• LinkedIn

• YouTube

• Instagram : @LivingSoiLL

• You an also read all previous articles written by AREFLH on this project here

This project receives funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe Research and Innovation Programme under Grant Agreement Nr. 101157502.