Horizon Europe Hort2thefuture Project: Horticultural innovations in soil-friendly practices to ensure a sustainable future

European horticultural production systems face three main sustainability challenges:

1. The continued reliance on peat-based growing media and the disadvantages of current peat alternatives.
2. The inefficient or inappropriate use of agricultural inputs.
3. Poor soil health due to unsustainable management practices. The multi-stakeholder project Hort2thefuture will address these three challenges over four years with research partners, suppliers, retailers, and growers from eleven European countries.

The activities are divided into seven work packages that correspond to the key objectives of the project, along with project management.

The objectives are:

1. Develop a methodological framework and tools for effective sustainability analysis/life cycle assessment.
2. To create and promote the commercial adoption of relatively inexpensive, reliable, and scalable growing media in horticulture, using raw materials of European origin and with substantially lower carbon and environmental footprints than peat.
3. Develop and market new products and production systems that reduce the use of inputs in horticulture.
4. Develop and market new products that improve soil structure and mitigate soil compaction in horticulture.
5. Facilitate behavioral change toward more sustainable practices through living laboratories and policy measures.
6. Communicate, disseminate, and exploit project results effectively to seven stakeholder audiences, increasing soil literacy.

The project will generate outputs on Land Reference Levels (TRLs 5-7) for decision support and life cycle assessment (LCA) tools, an in-plant nitrate monitoring electrode, new commercialized peat-free alternatives based on wood fiber, nano/micro-irrigation products developed to improve irrigation efficiency and soil health, and commercialized biological, chemical, and mechanical solutions to reduce/prevent soil compaction, restore compacted soils, and improve soil structure. These outputs will contribute to the achievement of the objectives of Mission: Soil Health, engaging stakeholders along the agri-food chain and in cooperation with FAO.