Agriculture soils are being heavily affected by climate change and are highly vulnerable to degradation and desertification, particularly in the Mediterranean and southern regions of the EU. If climate change is not mitigated, yields of crops like wheat, maize and sugar beet could decrease in southern EU by up to 50 % by 2050. Although agriculture has been signalled as a significant contributor to GHG emissions (13% of EU total emissions), it is also one of the sectors with the biggest potential to adapt to and mitigate climate change. In this sense, Carbon Farming appears as a promising solution for soils’ health and for the sustainability of EU agriculture. LILAS4SOILS will put in place 5 Living Labs (LLs) in 6 countries to co-create the adoption of Carbon Farming solutions within farmers, agri-food businesses, researchers and local authorities, and implement Carbon Farming Practices -CFPs- (peatland management, agroforestry, livestock and manure management, and nutrient management, maintaining soil organic carbon) in 85-100 demo-sites. CFPs impact on soil carbon sequestration and environmental co-benefits will be assessed through the adoption of homogeneous Monitoring, Reporting and Verification (MRV) technologies. The 5-year project involves 24 expert partners, +25 stakeholders will part of each LL for interdisciplinary knowledge exchange (20 co-creation workshops to be held) and +71 farmers will be engaged in CFPs implementation, ensuring the multi-actor approach. 10 training workshops (supported by 21 materials), 10 policy workshops (supported by 2 sets of recommendations per LL), 8 cross-fertilisation and synergies workshops and 2 replication workshops within other regions in EU are envisaged as part of the project's focus on knowledge transfer. Through directed Open Calls, LILAS4SOILS will encourage the participation of 35-50 additional farmers and support the testing of 15 MRV innovative technologies that overcome the limitations of the conventional ones.

Soil health is crucial for challenges related to climate, environment and society. As such, this Soil Health and Food Mission proposal directly links in to the other HE missions, as well as to the European Green Deal and Farm to Fork strategies. Both public and private sectors are proposing a sustainable vision, that depends on a reliable assessment of the effects of management and policy innovations on soil health. Therefore, there is an urgent need to ensure that the EU sets the benchmark of a reliable cost-effective framework for measuring soil health. In alignment with existing initiatives such as EU Soil Observatory, EJP Soil and the LUCAS Topsoil survey, and using open science approaches, the BENCHMARKS consortium will co-design an Integrated Soil Health Monitoring Framework. This framework will build upon the assessment of soil-based ecosystem functions to co-develop an interactive soil health dashboard for (1) the selection of appropriate soil health indicators, (2) soil health assessment and indexation, and (3) recommendation of management practices to support soil health. The dashboard will be suitable at local, landscape, regional and European scales for a variety of stakeholders in urban, agricultural and forestry land use systems. BENCHMARKS indicators will be relevant to the stakeholder’s objectives, applicable to the different land use systems and pedo-climatic zone and appropriate in terms of logistical, financial and sensitivity requirements. To inform on the appropriate spatial resolution of indicators, the Soil Health Mission and BENCHMARKS proposed indicators (sample-based measurements, stats (data and model derived measurements), space (earth observation techniques)) and citizen science observations will be tested in 24 Living Labs across Europe. Finally, BENCHMARKS will support policy development and value-chain innovation through increased evidence on the links between soil health, functions and ecosystem services.