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.

Climate Farm Demo is a unique pan-European network of Pilot Demo Farmers (PDFs) covering 28 countries and all pedo-climatic areas. Its overall aim it to accelerate the adoption of Climate Smart Farming (CSF) practices and solutions by farmers and all actors of the Climate Smart Agriculture Knowledge & Innovation Systems with a view of adapting agricultural production systems to climate change and of achieving a carbon neutral agricultural sector by 2050, thereby meeting the targets of the EU Climate strategy. To reach this objective, the project adopts a Multi-Actor approach by connecting 1500 Pilot Demo Farmers and their Climate Farm Advisors (CFAs) at European and national levels to increase knowledge exchange & cross-fertilisation in their respective AKIS. The CFA’s will support the PDF’s in implementing Adaptation and Mitigation Measures suggested by contextualised guidelines and will assess & monitor their environmental performance thanks to harmonized methodologies & tools. Technical and social innovations covering a broad range of thematic areas will be demonstrated to the wider farming community across six annual demo-campaigns (4500 demo-events) supporting interactive and peer to peer learning. New and innovative CSF solutions will be co-created in 10 Living Labs spread across Europe and lessons learned from multi-actor innovation will be shared and scaled. A set of public and private rewarding mechanisms will be identified, proposed and demonstrated to the AKIS actors, thus incentivising the uptake of CSF solutions while ensuring sustainable business models. Strategic and operational cooperation will be organised with projects, flagship initiatives and policy-makers at European and national levels in order to share knowledge, organize coordinated actions, and produce policy briefs. Finally, to accelerate the wide spreading and uptake of results, an ambitious dissemination, exploitation and communication strategy will be deployed at EU and national levels