Sustainable Farm Management Aimed at Reducing Threats to SOILs under climate change (SmartSOIL)
SmartSOIL is funded by the Seventh Framework Programme of the European Community and involves twelve partner organisations from Denmark, Italy, The Netherlands, Spain, France, Germany, Poland, Belgium Hungary and the UK. The CCRI is taking a key role leading one of the Work Packages. The CCRI staff members involved are Julie Ingram and Jane Mills, and the project commenced in June 2011.
The overarching aim of SmartSOIL is to contribute to reversing the current degradation trend of European agricultural soils by improving soil carbon management in
soils of arable and mixed farming systems covering intensive
to low-input and organic farming systems. This entails two overall aims:
• the application of a holistic approach to identify farming systems and agronomic practices that result in an optimised balance between crop productivity, restoration and maintenance of vital soil functions (fertility, biodiversity, water, nutrients cycling and other soil ecosystem services) and soil carbon sequestration and storage;
• development and delivery of the SmartSOIL decision support tool and guidelines to support novel approaches, techniques, and technologies adapted to different European soils and categories of beneficiaries (farmers, farm advisory and extension services, and policy makers).
