Strengthening Europe’s Soil Health: the 13 new Mission Soil projects

The EU’s Mission Soil – A Soil Deal for Europe is accelerating action to protect and restore Europe’s soils by 2030 through Living Labs, Lighthouses and cutting-edge monitoring.

Thirteen newly funded Horizon Europe projects are now launching across themes ranging from biodiversity and pollinators to carbon farming, erosion monitoring, urban soils, nitrogen fluxes and forest peatlands.

Together, they translate science into practice, engage farmers and cities, and build the data backbone for better decisions.

Starting in the Mediterranean, Nemesis builds five interconnected Living Labs in Cyprus, France, Italy, Spain and North Africa to combat desertification and restore soil health. The project will turn 60 identified pilot sites into Lighthouses, integrate soil-health descriptors across real landscapes, and hard-wire co-creation with local communities and policy actors so solutions scale and last. Coordinator: ERATOSTHENES Centre of Excellence (Cyprus). CORDIS & full partner list: Nemesis (Grant ID 101219087). CORDIS

GroundWork reinforces the Mission’s Living Lab approach by co-creating soil-health solutions with land managers and regional stakeholders in real-world settings. It focuses on context-specific barriers and adoption pathways so good practices move from pilots to mainstream. Coordinator on CORDIS & full partner list: GroundWork (Grant ID shown on CORDIS). (Project page lists coordinator and participants.) CORDIS

TRAILS4SOIL establishes five Living Labs across nine countries, spanning about 100 experimentation sites and 11 lighthouse farms to advance regenerative and conservation agriculture (ReCAP). It blends science, policy and farmer know-how into practical guidance for resilient soils. Coordinator: Universidad de Córdoba (Spain). CORDIS & full partner list: TRAILS4SOIL (Grant ID 101218949). CORDIS

URSOILL brings soil restoration into cities, creating urban Living Labs in Sweden, Spain, Greece, Italy and Luxembourg to tackle sealing, contamination and soil multifunctionality with nature-based solutions co-designed with municipalities, industry, researchers and citizens. CORDIS & full partner list: URSOILL (fact sheet and participant table on CORDIS). CORDIS

EUROSION builds a pan-European dynamic monitoring system to assess the status and spatio-temporal change of soil erosion—a policy-critical gap that directly affects productivity, carbon storage and climate resilience. CORDIS & full partner list: EUROSION (Horizon Europe / Mission Soil on CORDIS). CORDIS

NitroScope quantifies nitrogen fluxes and their uncertainties across European landscapes. It will deploy 125 monitoring sites across ≥10 pedo-climatic regions, integrate proximal/remote sensing and process-based models, and deliver region-specific emission factors and decision support so land managers can cut losses while sustaining yields. Coordinator: Ghent University (Belgium). CORDIS & full partner list (22 participants): NitroScope (Grant ID 101218902). CORDIS

ProPollSoil tackles the overlooked nexus of soil health and soil-dependent pollinators (e.g., ground-nesting bees, wasps, ants, beetles). Through a Europe-wide field campaign, eDNA/AI monitoring and case-study co-creation, it will map habitat suitability and identify management practices that protect both soils and pollinators. Coordinator: Technische Universität München (Germany). CORDIS & full partner list: ProPollSoil (Grant ID 101219108). CORDIS

SOILRES focuses on soil biodiversity as a lever for multifunctional, resilient cropping systems. It couples plant–microbe–soil interactions with agroecological methods, digital tools and multi-actor co-creation, validating solutions across diverse EU pedo-climatic regions to reduce chemical dependency and boost productivity. Coordinator: Aarhus University (Denmark). CORDIS & full partner list: SOILRES (Grant ID 101218994). CORDIS

MultiSoil co-creates, tests and demonstrates soil- and plant-health practices—from organic amendments and microbial inoculants to diversified cropping—across six pedo-climatic zones and seven countries. It complements Integrated Pest Management and builds a practical toolbox farmers can adopt. Coordinator: Luke – Natural Resources Institute Finland (Finland). CORDIS & full partner list: MultiSoil (Grant ID 101218951). CORDIS

OGCR – Intergenerational Open Geospatial Carbon Registry develops updateable baseline geospatial layers for soils, biomass and peat, a hybrid modelling framework for CAP/CRCF-aligned management changes, and an open carbon registry that makes carbon accounting fair and accessible for landholders over generations. CORDIS & full partner list: OGCR (Grant ID 101218854). CORDIS

CAFAMORE delivers an EU-wide parcel-level MRV approach and a spatially explicit carbon-farming registry, tested with farmers and certification actors in seven pilot countries. It links earth observation, soil/management data and models (SOC stocks, woody biomass, soil N₂O) to support CRCF-ready certification and credible carbon markets. Coordinator: Stichting Wageningen Research (Netherlands). CORDIS & full partner list: CAFAMORE (Grant ID 101219027). CORDIS

ForPeat advances science-based management of forest peatlands, demonstrating rewetting and water-conservation techniques in Open Labs to reconcile climate-positive outcomes with biodiversity and water quality. CORDIS & full partner list: ForPeat (Grant ID 101219060). CORDIS

Finally, AUSO – African Union Soil Observatory establishes a continent-wide soil data centre and Soil Health Dashboard, supporting 12 countries to craft soil strategies and closing the data gap that hinders effective interventions—while building on Soils4Africa and EU Soil Observatory experience. Coordinator: FARA – Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (Ghana). CORDIS & full partner list: AUSO (Grant ID 101218840). CORDIS

Mission Soil Manifesto — a growing movement

The Mission Soil Manifesto has attracted 3,520+ signatories, including 685 legal entities, from local and regional authorities, companies, research organisations, civil society and other public bodies. New signatories include the International Union of Soil Sciences, Municipality of Livorno (IT), City of Grenoble (FR) and CATIE (Costa Rica). If your organisation champions healthy soils, add your signature and join the community driving resilient landscapes across Europe and beyond.

Agriventures team is starting to plan the work for the next window of project proposal preparations. Contact us at start.agriventures.co