H2020 LANDMARK Project: LAND Management: Assessment, Research, Knowledge Base

Guided by the multiple, complex, and sometimes conflicting demands on land, LANDMARK worked with stakeholders—from farmers to policymakers—to develop sustainable land management tools. The EU-funded LANDMARK (Soil Management: Assessment, Research, Knowledge Base) project comprised a pan-European consortium of leading academic and applied research institutes, chambers of agriculture, and policymakers, tasked with developing a framework for soil management that supports sustainable European food production. “Our functional approach views soil as a farmer-managed resource that provides not only food but also ecosystem services for humanity,” says LANDMARK project coordinator Rachel Creamer from Wageningen University, the project host.

The Soil Navigator Following a literature review, stakeholder consultations, and data analysis, project experts developed scientific models of soil function to better understand how soils respond to different management practices under varying climatic conditions. This led to the development of www.soilnavigator.eu (“Soil Navigator”), a tool that allows the assessment of practical and cost-effective measures for more sustainable and context-sensitive soil management. Users input soil data, obtained through field sampling and analysis, and the system assesses current capacity for key soil functions: primary productivity; water filtration and purification; carbon management and climate regulation; habitat provision for biodiversity; and nutrient provision and cycling. Each function is assigned a high, medium, or low score based on the data. Users select the capacities they want to improve, and the system recommends solutions. The Monitoring Plan The team used the Soil Navigator to develop a monitoring plan.

The tool was applied to 94 participating sites, across 13 European countries covering two land-use types (crop and grassland) and five climate zones: South Alpine, Atlantic, Continental, North Mediterranean, and Pannonian. “Many sites scored highly for two or three soil functions, showing that managing multifunctionality is not only possible, but already quite common,” explains Creamer. “While it would be uncommon for all functions to be performed optimally, achieving three out of five at the field level would mean that all functions are covered on a larger scale.” Conversations with farmers about the management practices being applied to their land made it possible to identify the best functions relevant to them that would enable successful delivery. Using these sites, the team also identified synergies and trade-offs. “We found that synergies and trade-offs varied depending on the climatic region of these management systems and their land use,” adds Creamer. "For example, there was a synergistic relationship between biodiversity and climate regulation in some European regions, such as Pannonia, while under Atlantic conditions this relationship is negative in grassland systems."

Supply- and Demand-Driven Policies Using pan-European datasets, LANDMARK modeled the supply of soil functions across the EU along with the societal demands for them. When ranking the demands, marked differences between countries were found. “Since it is difficult to meet all societal demands everywhere at once, our analyses offer guidance for more targeted interventions to close the gaps between supply and demand,” notes Creamer. LANDMARK developed 11 formal policy options, including measures that could be adopted under the Common Agricultural Policy, with an emphasis on the need for National Strategic Plans. The project also suggested prioritizing those soil functions that were furthest from meeting their functional and societal demands. Lighthouse Farms, those prepared for tomorrow’s sustainability challenges, were highlighted as inspiring approaches. The findings were presented to the European Commission and stakeholders at the LANDMARK Final Conference in Brussels, as well as at the Wageningen Soils Conference in September 2019.

The results provided valuable input into the development of an EU mission in the area of soil health and food. Work on the Soil Navigator continues in several countries, and the results of the soil monitoring scheme have already informed discussions about future updates to the LUCAS Soil Surface Survey.