H2020 iSQAPER Project: Interactive Soil Quality Assessment in Europe and China for Agricultural Productivity and Environmental Resilience
- Type Project
- Status Filled
- Execution 2015 -2020
- Assigned Budget 5.375.375,00 €
- Scope Europeo
- Main source of financing H2020
- Project website Proyecto iSQAPER
The presence of farming systems under different soil and climate conditions in both Europe and China was assessed. Existing long-term experiments (LTE) available for iSQAPER in Europe and China were analyzed. The effects of four management practices on five soil quality indicators were evaluated. A multivariate analysis of the effect of tillage and organic amendments was performed based on LTE data.
A critical review of soil quality concepts was conducted. The review describes the crucial steps in scientifically sound soil quality assessment to support management and policy decisions that consider soil multifunctionality. Innovative soil quality indicators were tested, and recommendations were made. The final version of the Soil Quality Application (SQAPP) has been published. The application was developed through multi-stakeholder processes and provides access to global spatial soil data, informs land users about the relative soil quality of their land, and provides them with recommendations for soil improvement.
For the 14 case study sites, a stakeholder inventory was conducted, a total of 148 plots/farms covering eight climatic regions and the most common soil types within each region were identified, and the effects of 14 innovative MPAs on soil quality were inventoried at 24 test sites. A systematic review of EU-level and national-level policies in Europe and China impacting soil protection on agricultural land was conducted. Five policy briefs on specific topics related to soil quality were produced. A set of five tools for policymakers, researchers, and land managers was prepared. The iSQAPERiS website (www.iSQAPER-is.eu) has been finalized as the primary platform for communicating research results. Approximately 25 infographics and 24 short videos covering various aspects of the project were produced.
Given the importance of soils for crop and livestock production, as well as for providing broader ecosystem services, maintaining good soil condition is of vital importance. Decision-makers need science-based, easy-to-apply, and cost-effective tools to assess soil quality and function, accompanied by recommendations relevant to the land user at a given time and location. iSQAPER aimed to:
- To integrate existing information related to soil quality with characterizations of agricultural and livestock systems in various pedoclimatic zones in Europe and China.
- To synthesize evidence of the effects of agricultural management provided by long-term field trials in Europe and China on soil physical, chemical, and biological properties, including interactions, and related ecosystem services, such as crop productivity and yield stability.
- To derive and identify innovative soil quality indicators that can be integrated into an interactive and easy-to-use soil quality assessment tool that accounts for the effects of agricultural land management practices and related impacts on ecosystem services.
- To develop, with input from diverse stakeholders, a multilingual Soil Quality Application (SQAPP) for field-based soil quality assessment and monitoring as an example of social innovation that enables interaction between actors at multiple levels.
- Testing, refining, and implementing SQAPP in Europe and China as a new standard for the holistic assessment of agricultural soil quality.
- Use a transdisciplinary, multi-stakeholder approach to validate and support SQAPP and make it truly relevant to agricultural practice across a wide range of circumstances.
- Develop scenarios for how the widespread application of improved agricultural management practices can contribute to a lower soil environmental footprint at the continental scale (Europe and China), while maintaining or increasing crop productivity and yield stability.
- Conduct an integrated assessment of existing EU and national (including Chinese) soil and agricultural policies and make recommendations for their improvement, i.e., through the post-2020 CAP.
- Disseminate project results using a variety of formats and media to inform and engage targeted stakeholders, from land users to high-level policymakers and the general public.
iSQAPER has developed a toolkit for policymakers, researchers, and land managers to better monitor and assess soils at local, regional, and continental scales, enabling better decision-making and improved soil quality.
- A set of soil quality indicators: To assess soil quality, a set of indicators consisting of chemical, physical, and biological indicators with guidance for interpreting indicator values is recommended.
- Field Soil Assessment: Empowering Farms and Land Users: Visual Soil Assessment (VSA), combined with simple field assessment techniques, provides a reliable basis for the ongoing evaluation of key soil quality parameters on farms.
- The SQAPP (smartphone app), which integrates soil and landscape data to develop on-farm recommendations, provides an overview of an unprecedented number of soil quality indicators and threats for any location in the world.
- Informed Decision-Making: Facilitates the adoption of Improved Agricultural Management Practices in Europe by systematically linking soil quality monitoring with Agricultural Management Practices (AMPs). Customized AMPs are proposed as effective solutions to location-specific soil quality problems.
- Modeling and scenario analysis conducted to scale up the adoption of PGAs have identified that targeted interventions in the most vulnerable regions can produce dramatic improvements in soil quality and associated ecosystem services.
Knowledge about the complex interaction between agricultural land use and management and soil quality and function is fragmented and incomplete, particularly with regard to the underlying principles and regulatory mechanisms.
The main objective of iSQAPER is to develop an interactive Soil Quality Assessment Tool (SQAPP) for agricultural land users that integrates the understanding of newly derived processes and considers the impact of agricultural land use and management on soil properties and functions, and related ecosystem services. To this end, over 30 long-term experimental field trials in the EU and China will be analyzed to derive guiding principles for integration into SQAPP. SQAPP will be developed using a multi-stakeholder approach with the aim of facilitating social innovation and providing land users with options for cost-effective farm management activities to improve soil quality and crop productivity. SQAPP will be extensively tested at 14 dedicated case study sites in the EU and China covering a wide spectrum of farming systems and pedoclimatic zones, and subsequently deployed across all continents. Within the case study sites, a variety of alternative agricultural practices will be selected, implemented, and evaluated for their effects on improving soil quality and crop productivity.
Proven practices will be evaluated for their potential applicability at the EU and Chinese levels, and to assess the related soil environmental footprint under current and future agricultural trends and various agricultural policy scenarios. How the Soil Quality Tool can be used for different policy purposes, e.g., gaps in cross-compliance and agri-environment measures, will also be investigated and demonstrated. A comprehensive dissemination and communication strategy, including a web-based information portal, will ensure that project results are available to a variety of stakeholders at the right time and in appropriate formats to improve soil quality and productivity in the EU and China.
The iSQAPER project has created an app for all stakeholders in agriculture who want to preserve soils for future generations. It provides valuable data and recommendations on best agricultural practices, based on soil and climate conditions and the local farming system. Agriculture is undoubtedly the foundation of an organized and stable society. But it is also a constant reminder of how unsustainable our current production models are. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), topsoil—which we need to grow 95% of our food—could disappear within 60 years.
If that were to happen, nature would take 1,000 years to rebuild. What's more, many questions related to creating a more sustainable soil management model remain unanswered. We don't know, for example, which soil properties can be used as reliable indicators of improved soil quality. And when researchers do identify something that works, policies often fall short, and stakeholder support is lacking due to a lack of involvement across the entire value chain from the outset. "A French mayor told us that all he needed to protect soils was more information," says Luuk Fleskens, Associate Professor of Sustainable Soil Management at Wageningen University. "That's why we decided to launch the iSQAPER (Interactive Soil Quality Assessment in Europe and China for Agricultural Productivity and Environmental Resilience) project, which aims to provide science-based, easy-to-implement, and cost-effective tools for assessing soil quality and function."
Reliable recommendations in the palm of your hand. With the reliable knowledge and data provided by iSQAPER, land users can assess the quality of their soils and make informed decisions about their use. They can do this by downloading SQAPP, a soil quality app for iOS and Android. It has been developed, tested, evaluated, and improved by farmers, scientists, practitioners, agricultural service providers, and policymakers. “SQAPP offers free access to soil maps and data for any location. It assesses the most likely threats to soil quality status and offers targeted advice on how to improve it. Users can also interact with the databases and upload local data to refine our analyses and recommendations,” explains Fleskens. The project team fed their app with valuable data from 14 study sites in Europe and China. In Europe, they could benefit from highly diverse soil and climate conditions within a common EU context to address the problem of soil quality deterioration and its mitigation.
Access to China, on the other hand, was made possible thanks to the EU-China Working Group on Food, Agriculture and Biotechnology (FAB), established in 2013. “Our four study sites there are in quite different soil and climate zones than those we find in Europe. However, they face similar soil quality and management issues,” says Fleskens. In total, the project identified 138 different agricultural practices and assessed their impact on soil quality in eight different climate zones and 32 potential farming systems. It offers valuable advice to all stakeholders, regardless of context and location. In Crete, for example, Fleskens and his team focused on comparisons between conventional tillage, no-till with pesticides, and no-till without pesticides.
The impact of each combination on soil erosion and organic matter loss—the main threats facing farmers on the island—was analyzed and compared with alternatives. In addition to SQAPP, the project team has also developed a set of tools for policymakers, researchers, and land managers wishing to monitor and assess soils at the local, regional, or continental scale. In the long term, the team anticipates significant adoption of appropriate agricultural and farm management practices. In Portugal, for example, farmers sharing their experiences with a multidisciplinary audience has already sparked important discussions about agricultural practices in the country.
iSQAPER helped define a combination of soil properties to effectively assess how soil quality interacts with land use, soil type, and climatic conditions to influence the biomass production (agronomic) function of soils.
The project also investigated the effect of agricultural management practices on changes in soil physical and chemical properties and the soil biological community through long-term field trials, laboratory experiments, and field-based experiments. iSQAPER also addressed a gap in easy-to-apply tools for assessing soil quality at the plot, farm, and regional levels. The Soil Quality Application (SQAPP) advances the current state of the art through social mapping of soil quality as a novel, bidirectional methodology for data collection and advice presentation, allowing tool recommendations to improve over time. iSQAPER has achieved the following five impacts to date:
- To explore, in more detail than currently available, the interactions between land management practices and changes in soil properties and function.
- Development of a set of tools for assessing and monitoring agricultural soil quality, based on the integration of cutting-edge physical, chemical, and biological knowledge with site-specific data, indicators, and modeling approaches.
- Maintain and, preferably, increase crop productivity and yield stability by introducing and adopting agricultural land management practices that ensure a certain level of soil quality.
- Quantified relationship between soil quality, crop productivity and yield stability, and ecosystem services for agricultural activities implemented by land users in different farming systems across major soil and climate zones in Europe and China.
- Offer tools to incorporate into the policy architecture of the European Green Deal to improve the resource efficiency and environmental performance of the agricultural sector and reduce its impact on soil, water, air, biodiversity, and the landscape.
- WAGENINGEN UNIVERSITY (WU)
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