Soil health and living labs are the pillars of EU agriculture of the future

The EU Commission released the Vision for Agriculture and Food 2040: Soil care, innovation and research are crucial to achieving climate neutrality by mid-century

by Matteo Cavallito

 

“Healthy soil is the basis for farming, today and tomorrow. At the same time, European soils are under strain from factors including climate change, biodiversity loss, pollution and in some cases unsustainable soil management. To address this, the Commission will incentivise and support farming practices that recover, maintain or improve soil health.” So says the European Commission in its Vision for Agriculture and Food, a document unveiled in recent days that outlines the future of the sector on the Continent for the next 15 years.

Launched as a priority initiative for the first 100 days of the new Commission, the Vision “aims to secure the long-term competitiveness and sustainability” of a key sector that, according to latest data, generates 900 billion euros of added value per year in Europe and provides 30 million jobs.

Four priority areas

Four main areas of intervention have been identified. First, the Commission stresses, agriculture must offer stability to attract the younger generation by ensuring fair incomes and targeted public support. In addition, the sector must be competitive with the use of harmonized production standards on pesticides and animal welfare that, the EU says, also apply to imported products.

Third, the sector must contribute to the ecological transition through to a low-carbon economy with sustainable practices that can be assessed and measured. Finally, rural areas must ensure fair living and working conditions. As part of this, the industry’s commitment to agricultural sustainability must include food accessibility, innovation and waste reduction.

Soil health is decisive

The paper, not surprisingly, therefore emphasizes the importance of soil health for the agricultural sector to achieve its goals. Food production, the authors explain, is inseparably dependent on nature: soil health, disease control, water and air quality, in this sense, are therefore the crucial factors in ensuring the sustainability of the sector. “Like no other sector, food production is based on, and inextricably linked to, nature and ecosystems,” the document states.

The agri-food sector also plays a key role in achieving climate neutrality by mid-century.

A goal that must also be met through the use of effective EU policies capable of rewarding best agricultural climate practices. “Agricultural activities can remove carbon from the atmosphere into soils and biomass,” the Commission explains. “In most cases, these activities also make food production more resilient to climate-related damage, and therefore contributing to food security.”

Research and innovation as drivers of change

The Vision emphasizes the role of knowledge and innovation according to  the Soil Strategy supported by the EU Mission A Soil Deal for Europe. This mission aims to create 100 Living Labs and Lighthouse Farms, the research and innovation facilities for soil health. The mission, the document says, “supports farmers in their transition to sustainable soil practices through a combination of R&I and on-site testing and experimentation, which should be continued to achieve healthy soils in the EU by 2050.”

Digitization, artificial intelligence, research and innovative technologies in general, the authors point out, have the potential to revolutionize agriculture and reduce costs to the benefit of farmers. In this context, Living Labs, in particular, are “an unprecedented resource to support farmers to improve their soils in the context of high inputs prices for fertilisers and water scarcity and other extreme phenomena such as floods.”