Empowering Communities for Healthy Soil. On 11 June 2025 the event in Turin

The city is hosting “Mission Soil Living Labs and Soil Literacy: Empowering Communities for Healthy soils” The event, organized by the EU projects SOILL Startup ed ECHO in collaboration with CREA, Re Soil Foundation and Trust-IT, can also be watched online

by Matteo Cavallito

 

Raising awareness about soil health, providing information on funding opportunities and developing concrete initiatives in research and innovation facilities such as Living Labs. These are just some of the purposes set by the promoters of “Mission Soil Living Labs and Soil Literacy: Empowering Communities for Healthy soils” the event scheduled for June 11 at the Polo del ‘900 in Turin, Italy.

The event, which can also be watched online, is organized by CREA – Council for Agricultural Research and Analysis of Agricultural Economics, Re Soil Foundation and Trust-IT Services. Participation is free (click here for the registration form).

The role of literacy

Launched as part of the Horizon Europe SOILL-Startup and ECHO  projects, this thematic event is aimed at educators, researchers, farmers, local authorities and citizens who want to design concrete solutions to enhance land as a vital nonrenewable resource, the degradation of which is known to threaten food security, biodiversity and climate resilience.

In this context, awareness of the problem clearly plays a crucial role. And promoting literacy on land health is the first step in implementing specific actions.

“Literacy is essential for enabling change,” the organizers remind. Indeed, this tool “empowers citizens, educators, landowners, businesses, and public authorities to understand and act on the importance of land health. Enhancing literacy helps ensure more informed engagement in Soil Health Living Labs, fosters public support, and strengthens the societal impact of the EU Mission.”

Four goals

Designed to engage a broad community of actors, the event will be held in English to allow participation by an international audience and will be followed by a convivial lunch to encourage socialization and exchange of ideas among participants. The goals of the initiative are:

• Raise awareness of the Mission Soil initiative and funding opportunities for creating Living Labs.
• Foster understanding of literacy as a driver of systemic change.
• Equip participants with examples, methodologies, and tools to promote soil literacy in Living Lab contexts.
• Inspire cross-sector stakeholders to engage in co-designing proposals addressing the Mission Soil call topics funding the establishement of Living Labs and Lighthouses.

Living Labs and Lighthouses for Soil Health

Crucial, in short, is the role of Living Labs and their ability to generate real impact. These innovation facilities are defined by the EU Mission as (physical and virtual) spaces for co-creating innovative practices that differ from techniques commonly applied in the relevant agricultural context. Co-creation occurs through the establishment of a network of farmers, technicians, researchers and other stakeholders. These players, together, collaborate to apply innovative ideas of sustainable soil management in real-world and productive contexts.

The innovative techniques applied, of course, are supported by scientific evidence to demonstrate their benefits in terms of increased “soil health” defined as the “permanent capacity of soils to support ecosystem services.” Lighthouses Farms, the demonstration farms featured in Living Labs, on the other hand, are responsible for providing effective field experimentation and innovation transfer.