BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//pretalx//pretalx.earthmonitor.org// BEGIN:VEVENT UID:pretalx-soil-health-now-2025-A7CQBD@pretalx.earthmonitor.org DTSTART:20250408T093000Z DTEND:20250408T100000Z DESCRIPTION:Please include an abstract at your earliest convenience. This t ext is merely descriptive and should be replaced before the official progr am is published.Please include an abstract at your earliest convenience. T his text is merely descriptive and should be replaced before the official program is published.Please include an abstract at your earliest convenien ce. This text is merely descriptive and should be replaced before the offi cial program is published.Please include an abstract at your earliest conv enience. This text is merely descriptive and should be replaced before the official program is published.Please include an abstract at your earliest convenience. This text is merely descriptive and should be replaced befor e the official program is published.Please include an abstract at your ear liest convenience. This text is merely descriptive and should be replaced before the official program is published.Please include an abstract at you r earliest convenience. This text is merely descriptive and should be repl aced before the official program is published.Please include an abstract a t your earliest convenience. This text is merely descriptive and should be replaced before the official program is published.Please include an abstr act at your earliest convenience. This text is merely descriptive and shou ld be replaced before the official program is published.Please include an abstract at your earliest convenience. This text is merely descriptive and should be replaced before the official program is published.Please includ e an abstract at your earliest convenience. This text is merely descriptiv e and should be replaced before the official program is published.Please i nclude an abstract at your earliest convenience. This text is merely descr iptive and should be replaced before the official program is published. DTSTAMP:20260613T182144Z LOCATION:HugoTECH SUMMARY:Soil health and EU soil policies: the role of the EU Soil Observato ry - Nils Broothaerts URL:https://pretalx.earthmonitor.org/soil-health-now-2025/talk/A7CQBD/ END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:pretalx-soil-health-now-2025-GVZ39A@pretalx.earthmonitor.org DTSTART:20250408T100000Z DTEND:20250408T103000Z DESCRIPTION:Machine learning is promoted as a game-changer for soil health assessment\, offering new ways to model complex relationships and generate high-resolution soil property maps. However\, while ML has shown promise\ , its application in soil science is often met with overstated expectation s and underappreciated limitations. This keynote critically examines the r ole of ML in space-time soil mapping for soil health\, highlighting both i ts strengths and pitfalls.\n\nML has certainly advanced soil mapping in an unprecedented way to achieve continental and even global maps at high res olution for numerous soil properties. Entangled soil processes and the var iability of locations\, all nearly having an individual set of soil-formin g factors\, result in complex space-time soil patterns. In the commonly us ed mapping approach\, ML has to learn all this complexity fully data-drive n from the surveyed soil samples and the environmental predictors such as remote sensing data or elevation models. For cases where no environmental predictor dataset can differentiate the observed soil property patterns\, ML predictions will play save and predict the average observed value for s imilar locations. From a soil process knowledge perspective\, the mean mig ht often not be the best prediction. For example\, a forest topsoil may be buffered by carbonates and have a pH around 8 or its pH might already hav e dropped to reach the aluminum buffer range of around 4. A mean pH of 5-6 likely to be predicted by ML is not often observed within unfertilized fo rests and\, hence\, is rather unlikely.\n\nSimilar limitations also appear while quantifying prediction uncertainty at each location. ML-based predi ction intervals often contain value ranges that\, from a soil process view point\, we already know are very unlikely. While certainly more field surv eying is due to support unbiased mapping\, it does not resolve the challen ge. The marginal benefit of more data points for fully-data driven ML ofte n decreases rapidly\, more so in the presence of measurement errors. Soil sampling will always only provide a tiny fraction of the total 3D soil con tinuum we are interested in. Data-hungry ML techniques such as deep learni ng are therefore unlikely to excel in space-time soilmapping of soil healt h indicators. DTSTAMP:20260613T182144Z LOCATION:HugoTECH SUMMARY:Machine learning for soil health - Is the horizon the limit? Flaws\ , potentials and future challenges - Madlene Nussbaum URL:https://pretalx.earthmonitor.org/soil-health-now-2025/talk/GVZ39A/ END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:pretalx-soil-health-now-2025-KBQWDZ@pretalx.earthmonitor.org DTSTART:20250408T103000Z DTEND:20250408T110000Z DESCRIPTION:Soil health indicators cover the biological\, chemical and phys ical domains of soils. In this respect\, just selecting agreed indicators of soil health\, and measuring them\, is difficult. Soil organic matter (w hich is about 58% carbon) is a headline indicator of soil health\, but est ablishing a monitoring\, verification and reporting (MRV) framework for ju st this one indicator is a challenge. I will present experiences of develo ping MRV frameworks for changes on soil carbon\, and reflect upon how thes e could be built upon to untimately develop an MRV framework for for soil health\, reflecting on the technological and scientific challenges in doin g so. \n\nI will briefly review methods and challenges of measuring SOC ch ange directly in soils\, before examining some recent novel developments t hat show promise for quantifying SOC. I will describe how repeat soil surv eys are used to estimate changes in SOC over time\, and how long-term expe riments and space-for-time-substitution sites can serve as sources of know ledge and can be used to test models\, and as potential benchmark sites in global frameworks to estimate SOC change. I briefly consider models that can be used to simulate and project change in SOC and examine the MRV plat forms for soil organic carbon change already in use in various countries / regions. In the part of the talk\, I will bring together the various comp onents described in this review\, to describe a new vision for a global fr amework for MRV of soil organic carbon change\, and discuss how this relat ed to soil health\, to support national and international initiatives seek ing to effect change in the way we manage our soils. DTSTAMP:20260613T182144Z LOCATION:HugoTECH SUMMARY:Monitoring\, reporting and verification of soil health - what can w e learn from the soil carbon experience - Pete Smith URL:https://pretalx.earthmonitor.org/soil-health-now-2025/talk/KBQWDZ/ END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:pretalx-soil-health-now-2025-GWZWX8@pretalx.earthmonitor.org DTSTART:20250408T113000Z DTEND:20250408T120000Z DESCRIPTION:Please include an abstract at your earliest convenience. This t ext is merely descriptive and should be replaced before the official progr am is published.Please include an abstract at your earliest convenience. T his text is merely descriptive and should be replaced before the official program is published.Please include an abstract at your earliest convenien ce. This text is merely descriptive and should be replaced before the offi cial program is published.Please include an abstract at your earliest conv enience. This text is merely descriptive and should be replaced before the official program is published.Please include an abstract at your earliest convenience. This text is merely descriptive and should be replaced befor e the official program is published.Please include an abstract at your ear liest convenience. This text is merely descriptive and should be replaced before the official program is published.Please include an abstract at you r earliest convenience. This text is merely descriptive and should be repl aced before the official program is published.Please include an abstract a t your earliest convenience. This text is merely descriptive and should be replaced before the official program is published.Please include an abstr act at your earliest convenience. This text is merely descriptive and shou ld be replaced before the official program is published.Please include an abstract at your earliest convenience. This text is merely descriptive and should be replaced before the official program is published.Please includ e an abstract at your earliest convenience. This text is merely descriptiv e and should be replaced before the official program is published.Please i nclude an abstract at your earliest convenience. This text is merely descr iptive and should be replaced before the official program is published. DTSTAMP:20260613T182144Z LOCATION:HugoTECH SUMMARY:TBC - Tobias Bandel URL:https://pretalx.earthmonitor.org/soil-health-now-2025/talk/GWZWX8/ END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:pretalx-soil-health-now-2025-7VUQEH@pretalx.earthmonitor.org DTSTART:20250408T140000Z DTEND:20250408T153000Z DESCRIPTION:About 60% of European soils are currently polluted\, contaminat ed\, or in many ways compromised by centuries of urbanisation\, industrial and rural development\, and careless waste management. The EU Mission Soi l\, the EU Soil Observatory\, the Soil Strategy and the Soil Monitoring La w represent a soild european basis to counteract such a negative evidence and trend. However\, the issue of soil health - on top of its global relev ance and urgency - also embeds a deep local meaning\, in that it interfere s in many respects with land destination and use regulations\, practices a nd interests – therefore with spatial planning and governance decisions that are peculiar to local and regional policy and administrations. In thi s context is necessary the establishment of constructive dialogues among p ublic authority representatives\, academia\, citizens\, businesses\, assoc iations and other Quadruple Helix stakeholders to help policy makers to un derstand the problems of their soils and find viable solutions together. D uring the SOIL HEALTH NOW! workshop the participants will simulate the und ertaking of all necessary steps to reintroduce soil related issues into th e political agendas as priorities in a respectful\, constructive and trans formative manner. The workshop will present the instruments and use the to ols developed by the HuMUS project and others Mission Soil projects and be yond\, to facilitate the dialogue and the decision making processes on soi l health. DTSTAMP:20260613T182144Z LOCATION:Expert Room 7 SUMMARY:Soil Health governance: tools and methods to enhance soil literacy and facilitate the decision making processes - Annalaura Vannuccini URL:https://pretalx.earthmonitor.org/soil-health-now-2025/talk/7VUQEH/ END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:pretalx-soil-health-now-2025-QL9BBG@pretalx.earthmonitor.org DTSTART:20250408T140000Z DTEND:20250408T141500Z DESCRIPTION:The Waste4Soil project is focused on developing sustainable\, c ost-effective fertilizing products from recycled biowastes sourced from lo cal food industries. By recycling food processing residues (FPR) into soil improvers (SI)\, Waste4Soil aims to reduce environmental impacts while en hancing food security across Europe. The project’s main objective is to create viable pathways for recycling biowastes within a circular\, regiona l\, and systemic framework that involves all actors in the food chain\, th us closing essential nutrient\, organic matter\, and water loops.\nThe Was te4Soil approach is implemented through Living Labs (LL) established in se ven EU countries: Hungary\, Finland\, Spain\, Greece\, Italy\, Poland\, an d Slovenia. These LLs facilitate experimentation in real-life settings\, e ngaging key stakeholders—such as food industry representatives\, waste m anagers\, fertilizer manufacturers\, commercial farms\, and citizens—in collaborative activities that emphasize “show me” and “ready for pra ctice” demonstrations of best practices. Through this co-creative approa ch\, LLs aim to provide practical examples of sustainable waste-to-fertili zer applications that are regionally adaptable and environmentally benefic ial.\nCentral to achieving Waste4Soil’s goals is the active involvement of diverse stakeholders at every stage of the project. From co-creating so lutions to participating in planning\, demonstrations\, dissemination\, an d further demonstration phases\, each actor plays a critical role. The pro ject promotes ecosystem-based collaboration among farmers and their networ ks\, food industries\, waste management companies\, fertilizer producers\, research and educational institutions\, local and regional authorities\, and civil society. By fostering these collaborations\, Waste4Soil aims to develop ecosystem solutions that improve FPR management practices\, making soil improvers economically viable\, environmentally sustainable\, and so cially acceptable\, thereby advancing the circular economy in agriculture. DTSTAMP:20260613T182144Z LOCATION:HugoTECH SUMMARY:Advancing circular agriculture: The Waste4Soil Project for sustaina ble fertilizer development from food processing residues. - Vera Proskynit opoulou URL:https://pretalx.earthmonitor.org/soil-health-now-2025/talk/QL9BBG/ END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:pretalx-soil-health-now-2025-URVU9E@pretalx.earthmonitor.org DTSTART:20250408T140000Z DTEND:20250408T141500Z DESCRIPTION:Soil health is foundational to sustainable agriculture\, water resource management\, and climate mitigation. However\, the effectiveness of global soil health efforts is constrained by fragmented\, inconsistent\ , and often inaccessible soil datasets. To address this\, Varda has develo ped SoilHive\, an interactive platform that aggregates and harmonizes soil data from various global sources\, promoting open access and collaboratio n. \n\nSoilHive is a central open repository\, integrating and harmonizing diverse datasets to provide a comprehensive overview of soil data in any region. This benefits researchers\, the private sector\, multilateral orga nizations\, and policymakers. The platform’s Data Availability Framework assesses the spatial distribution of soil data\, aggregates it at multipl e resolutions\, identifies underserved areas\, and guides targeted efforts to address data gaps. This approach encourages users to contribute data\, fostering a culture of sharing and collaboration. \n\nTo further expand s oil data access and facilitate soil data exchange\, SoilHive has been deve loping ad hoc tools for data management and dissemination within research and collaborative projects. A private data hub enables stakeholders to sec urely share and access proprietary data\, addressing privacy and intellect ual property concerns while promoting interoperability and reusability. Ea ch hubs allow organizations to share soil data for specific project durati ons while ensuring the discoverability of their metadata as well as access to to SoilHive’s broader dataset. Upon project completion\, data can be released to the public domain via SoilHive. \n\nIn alignment with its br oader mission\, SoilHive also contributes directly to the EU-funded DeepHo rizon project by enhancing data management and promoting data sharing and discoverability. This initiative involves extending existing ontologies to incorporate subsoil domains and functions\, facilitating data sharing amo ng diverse stakeholders\, and creating the first European-level subsoil da taset. Furthermore\, SoilHive enhances its capabilities to improve the dis covery of subsoil data\, including the ability to search at the horizon le vel. \n\nIn conclusion\, SoilHive democratizes access to existing soil dat a while respecting data provenance and owner rights\, fostering internatio nal collaboration and innovation. By engaging with both public and private entities\, SoilHive enhances the breadth of available soil data\, support ing global innovation and increasing our shared understanding of the soil system. DTSTAMP:20260613T182144Z LOCATION:Expert Room 11 SUMMARY:Expanding access to soil data: SoilHive strategy to promote global collaboration - Ester Miglio URL:https://pretalx.earthmonitor.org/soil-health-now-2025/talk/URVU9E/ END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:pretalx-soil-health-now-2025-QVKCMV@pretalx.earthmonitor.org DTSTART:20250408T141500Z DTEND:20250408T143000Z DESCRIPTION:Sustainable soil management has been proposed as an effective n ature-based solution to enhance the delivery of nature’s contributions t o people (NCP). Sustainable soil management principles are at the core of organic farming. The European Commission has set a target of at least 25% of the EU’s agricultural land to be under an organic farming system by 2 030 under the European Green Deal. To reach this target\, farmers and poli cy makers need to be able to make informed decisions on what sustainable s oil management practices to implement.\n\nWe present a framework to unders tand how soil management practices and key external drivers\, like climate change and soil degradation\, influence the delivery of NCPs. We develope d a set of conceptual evidence chains that link management practices\, key drivers\, soil biodiversity\, ecosystem properties\, functions\, and good s. For each of these linkages we performed a literature search to determin e the direction of effect and the strength of evidence. This set of eviden ce chains provided the basis for informed data-driven analyses of these li nkages between individual components in the system to quantify the effects . This operationalization was constrained by the availability of observati onal data to train the models that make up the linkages\, as well as spati al data to predict at a European scale.\n\nHere\, we illustrate this frame work with a case study\, where we predict the effect of converting farm ma nagement from a conventional to an organic system on the delivery of NCPs including climate regulation\, water quantity and flow regulation\, and fo od production\, and their economic valuation\, across Europe. These models also enable exploration of different climate and policy scenarios. Furthe rmore\, as the models are based on the conceptual evidence chains that inc lude strength of evidence\, each model output is associated with a level o f confidence\, related to the scientific consensus and the availability an d quality of data\, that can be reported along with the results. This mode lling framework and its model predictions can support farmers and policy m akers in understanding trade-offs and synergies that are associated with s oil management practices to make informed decisions. DTSTAMP:20260613T182144Z LOCATION:HugoTECH SUMMARY:Using evidence chains to predict nature’s contributions to people (NCPs) under conventional and organic farming systems across Europe - Els Dhiedt URL:https://pretalx.earthmonitor.org/soil-health-now-2025/talk/QVKCMV/ END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:pretalx-soil-health-now-2025-3RAMEE@pretalx.earthmonitor.org DTSTART:20250408T141500Z DTEND:20250408T143000Z DESCRIPTION:David A. Robinson (1)\, Grant Campbell (2)\, Pete Smith (2).\n( 1) UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology\, (2) University of Aberdeen\n\nSoil provides environmental\, social and economic functions (Blum\, 2005). Reco gnizing the importance of soil functions\, different frameworks have been proposed to convey the importance of soils to society. Such frameworks usu ally have a construct based on values\, where the definition of value is “a framework for identifying positive (better) or negative (worse) quali ties in events\, objects\, or situations” (Edwards-Jones et al.\, 2000). Quality is something often sought after but difficult to define. Ultimate ly\, quality matters because decision making\, and subsequent actions take n\, are often contingent on the interpretation of quality framings. Qualit y means different things in different contexts and can thus lead to freque nt misunderstandings. Quality can refer to excellence (the degree of disti nction or superiority)\, a standard (how good or bad something is)\, or a characteristic (a feature of something) (Cambridge Dictionary Online). Mor eover\, quality can be classified into five categories according to its us age\, 1) exception\, 2) perfection\, 3) fit for purpose\, 4) value for mon ey and 5) transformative. In this presentation these framings are examined in the context of soil health and the Mission soil. Different framings ar e suitable for different scales and purposes\, but also determine to some extent how indicators are selected\, thresholds determined\, and results i nterpreted. \n\nEdwards-Jones\, G.\, B. Davies\, and S. Hussain. 2000. Eco logical economics: An introduction. Blackwell Science\, Oxford\, UK DTSTAMP:20260613T182144Z LOCATION:Expert Room 11 SUMMARY:The quality paradigm and selecting soil indicators - David Robinson URL:https://pretalx.earthmonitor.org/soil-health-now-2025/talk/3RAMEE/ END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:pretalx-soil-health-now-2025-PAWSSN@pretalx.earthmonitor.org DTSTART:20250408T143000Z DTEND:20250408T144500Z DESCRIPTION:Developing Robust MRV Systems for Carbon Farming: Insights from the MARVIC and Credible Projects\n\nXu Hui1*\, Ruysschaert Greet1\, D’H ose Tommy1\n\n1 Flanders Research Institute for Agriculture\, Fisheries an d Food (ILVO)\, Merelbeke-Melle\, Belgium\n\n*corresponding author\n\nSoil Organic Carbon is a fundamental component of healthy soils and plays a cr ucial role in many ecological processes. With the increasing interest in c arbon farming—which involves capturing and storing carbon in soils and w oody plants—it's essential to develop robust systems for monitoring\, re porting\, and verification (MRV) and credible business models. Our study a ddresses this need by designing and testing a reliable MRV framework throu gh the MARVIC project and by building a European network for carbon farmin g to collaboratively address current challenges through the CREDIBLE proje ct.\n\nFunded under the Soil Mission to support the Carbon Removal and Car bon Farming (CRCF) Regulation\, MARVIC aims to create a framework for desi gning harmonized yet context-specific MRV systems applicable to diverse la nd uses such as arable land\, grasslands\, agroforestry/woody crops\, and managed peatlands. This project explores the integration of various compon ents like benchmark sites\, sampling schemes\, data layers\, farm data\, r emote sensing\, and modeling to establish comprehensive monitoring systems and operational processing chains. Additionally\, the MARVIC team is acti vely engaged in the CRCF expert group and further contributes to discussio ns to achieve a good balance between minimizing risks of unjust payments\, maximizing progress in the LULUCF sector\, and minimizing costs.\n\nAt th e 2nd Carbon Farming Summit organized by the CREDIBLE project\, we will co -organize several sessions aimed at fostering collaboration between the pu blic and private sectors on technical aspects like baseline approaches\, d ata sharing and harmonizing. We will also engage with stakeholders—inclu ding farmers and companies—to build acceptance of the CRCF regulation\, thereby promoting transparency and actionable steps.\n\nIn the conference\ , we will share our reflections on the Carbon Farming Summit. We will high light key insights from our collaborative sessions on baselines\, data sha ring\, harmonization\, and strategies for farmer acceptance of the CRCF re gulation. DTSTAMP:20260613T182144Z LOCATION:HugoTECH SUMMARY:Developing Robust MRV Systems for Carbon Farming: Insights from the MARVIC and Credible Projects - H. Xu URL:https://pretalx.earthmonitor.org/soil-health-now-2025/talk/PAWSSN/ END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:pretalx-soil-health-now-2025-H3LSEN@pretalx.earthmonitor.org DTSTART:20250408T143000Z DTEND:20250408T144500Z DESCRIPTION:Most soil properties are continuously varying over different sc ales in both space and time. An analysis of field sampled soil is the most accurate method for estimating the spatial distribution of soil propertie s and health indicators at field scale. The field scale spatiotemporal var iation in properties\, however\, requires an effective\, well selected and unbiased probability distribution based sampling framework leveraging the in-situ variability of the relevant environmental covariates. Covariates that can be used for modeling the soil properties over the entire study ar ea. Typically such covariates are represented at spatial rasters derived f rom e.g. topographic data and satellite imagery. In this work\, we introdu ce the probability based balanced stratified sampling algorithm compatible with the proposed European Soil Monitoring law. The algorithm distributes doubly balanced sampling locations over both geographical and feature spa ce constrained by a maximum allowed error – in our case the coefficients of variation. The geographical feature space input data are selected cova riates from the Soil Health Data Cube (https://shdc.ai4soilhealth.eu/). We target the covariates that reflect the distribution of soil health indica tors tested or developed by the EU funded project AI4SoilHealth (https://a i4soilhealth.eu). To begin this process\, a Bethel-inspired optimization a pproach is applied to stratify the study areas. The strata are then used f or computing the approximately equal inclusion probabilities for all units and the number of samples for each strata allocated based on the availabl e auxiliary information. The second stage of the process involves doubly b alancing the algorithm\, with the aim to select the optimal sampling locat ions over geographical and feature space with respect to the stratificatio n. In our study\, we compare the algorithm with 1) simple random sampling\ , 2) feature space coverage sampling and\, 3) the EU wide Land Use and Cov er Area frame Survey (LUCAS) algorithm using legacy data. The advantages o f the novel algorithm are demonstrated in the optimized number of samples while preserving the accuracy of target estimates and mapping accuracy. In the first experiment\, we subsample the legacy random grid samplings. In the second (numerical) experiment\, we use the soil property maps of the S oil Health Data Cube as observed values to design new optimized sampling n etworks with no gridded location constraints. DTSTAMP:20260613T182144Z LOCATION:Expert Room 11 SUMMARY:Probability based stratified sampling for both mapping and estimati ng the population parameters of the soil health indicators at field scale - Thomas Gumbricht\, Jasmin Fetzer\, Konstantinos Karyotis\, Robert Minari k\, Thomas Gumbricht\, Monika Zovko URL:https://pretalx.earthmonitor.org/soil-health-now-2025/talk/H3LSEN/ END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:pretalx-soil-health-now-2025-GWWLLS@pretalx.earthmonitor.org DTSTART:20250408T144500Z DTEND:20250408T150000Z DESCRIPTION:This work presents a comprehensive framework for soil organic c arbon density (SOCD) (kg/m3) modeling and mapping\, based on spatiotempora l Random Forest (RF) and Quantile Regression Forests (QRF). 22\,428 SOCD m easurements and a wide range of covariate layers—particularly the 30m La ndsat-based spectral indices were used to fit models and produce 30m SOCD maps for the entire EU at four-year intervals from 2000 to 2022 and for fo ur soil depth intervals (0--20cm\, 20--50cm\, 50--100cm\, and 100--200cm) each accompanied by per-pixel 95% probability prediction intervals (PI\, b etween P0.025 and P0.975). The results of model evaluation indicate consis tent accuracy of the predictions: based on both 5--fold spatial cross-vali dation with model refitting (MAE = 8.64 kg/m3\, MedAE = 4.31 kg/m3\, MAPE = 0.54 kg/m3 and bias = -2.95 kg/m3)\, and on independent testing (MAE = 7 .73 kg/m3\, MedAE = 3.54 kg/m3\, MAPE = 0.45 kg/m3\, and bias = -3.04 kg/m 3)\, with both R2 values exceeding 0.7 and concordance correlation coeffic ients (CCC) greater than 0.8. Validation of PI estimation confirmed that P Is effectively capture uncertainty intervals\, although with reduced accur acy for higher SOCD values. Exploratory analysis using Shapley values iden tified soil depth as the most important feature\, with vegetation (Landsat biophysical indices) and long-term bio-climate features as the two main c ontributing feature groups. Although the uncertainty of the prediction per pixel is significant\, further spatial aggregation has been shown to redu ce the uncertainty by about 70%. Suggested uses of the data include: (1) t ime-series / trend analysis to detect potential land degradation hotspots\ , (2) optimization of sampling designs based on prediction uncertainty\, a nd (3) prediction of future soil carbon potential by extrapolating models under different land use / climate scenarios. The data and code used are p ublicly available under an open license from https://doi.org/10.5281/zenod o.13754344 and https://github.com/AI4SoilHealth/SoilHealthDataCube/. DTSTAMP:20260613T182144Z LOCATION:HugoTECH SUMMARY:Spatiotemporal prediction of soil organic carbon density for Europe (2000--2022) in 3D+T and its uncertainty - Xuemeng Tian URL:https://pretalx.earthmonitor.org/soil-health-now-2025/talk/GWWLLS/ END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:pretalx-soil-health-now-2025-BBGPEH@pretalx.earthmonitor.org DTSTART:20250408T144500Z DTEND:20250408T150000Z DESCRIPTION:There is a strong need to investigate soil health due to its bi g role in environmental and human health. In terms of this issue\, there c ould be some elements to be explored. Heavy metals are important among the se elements since their increase from specific thresholds would lead to so il pollution and ultimately impact human health. One of the heavy metals w ith a high influence on soil health is nickel (Ni). It is becoming more im portant in urban areas because of the high potential for growth through he avy transportation. In this study\, 89 surface soil samples (0-20 cm) were collected from traffic areas nearby streets in Berlin\, Germany in 2018. Then they were sieved and dried in the laboratory. Next\, the amount of Ni and spectra in VNIR-SWIR bands were measured in the laboratory for each s ample with an ASD FieldSpec5 spectroradiometer under controlled illuminati on conditions. The spectral reflectance data were transformed to absorbanc e values as a preprocessing method. In the next step\, the data were split into two groups: training (80%) and test (20%) data. The first group was fed into random forest algorithm to develop a model for predicting Ni. The n the test set was utilized to validate the predicting ability of the mode l. Regarding the hyperparameter tuning of the model\, GridSearchCV method was applied to find the best values for n_estimators\, and max_depth. Wha t is not considered in most of the similar studies is interpretability of a machine learning model produced leaving that in a black-box situation. H ence\, in this study two explainable machine learning (eXML) methods\, inc luding MDI (Mean Decrease in Impurity)\, and permutation were applied to d etermine VNIR-SWIR bands with higher importance in the modeling and predic ting of Ni. When it comes to the results\, the validation of the random fo rest model yielded an R2 of 0.74 and an RMSE of 2.01. This proves that the models’ predictions align well with the actual Ni values. Furthermore\, the results achieved from MDI method specified the wavelengths 2418nm\, 2 127nm\, and 2147nm (short wave infrared) as three most important features in the random forest model generated for Ni. On the other hand\, the feat ures 2127nm\, 401nm\, and 2147nm were determined the most important featur es by permutation method for the model trained. This information could be very useful in using remote sensing sensors in Ni prediction in large scal es specifically in an urban area. DTSTAMP:20260613T182144Z LOCATION:Expert Room 11 SUMMARY:Exploring key VNIR-SWIR bands for predicting nickel in an urban soi l using eXML - Mahsa Nakhostinrouhi\, Sibylle Itzerott\, Robert Milewski\, Sabine Chabrillat\, Mohammadmehdi Saberioon URL:https://pretalx.earthmonitor.org/soil-health-now-2025/talk/BBGPEH/ END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:pretalx-soil-health-now-2025-DXEYHK@pretalx.earthmonitor.org DTSTART:20250408T150000Z DTEND:20250408T151500Z DESCRIPTION:The soil water retention curve (SWRC) represents the relationsh ip between soil water content and matric potential\, explaining how soil r etains and releases water under various moisture conditions. Information o n matric potential is vital for assessing soil's ability to store water fo r plant growth\, and for quantification of its mechanical stability to pre vent compaction damage. However\, when direct measurements of matric poten tial are unavailable\, and only soil water content data is accessible (e.g .\, from satellite observations)\, estimating matric potential becomes par ticularly challenging and relies on knowledge of SWRC. This complexity is further compounded by the highly variable\, site-specific nature of the re lationship between soil water content and matric potential\, influenced by factors such as soil structure\, seasonal fluctuations\, and environmenta l stressors like drought. As a result\, conventional methods based on an u nambiguous pressure-saturation relationship often fail in capturing the dy namic behavior of soil moisture over time.\nIn this study\, we address the se challenges by employing a combined approach involving Seasonal-Trend de composition using Locally estimated smoothing (STL) and an autoencoder ne ural network to monitor and predict changes in SWRC. STL is utilized to is olate seasonal patterns and long-term trends in water content data\, captu ring how environmental factors\, especially prolonged drought\, impact SWR C across multiple sites in Germany. The autoencoder neural network then co mpresses this information into a site- and period-specific feature called the "AUV" (Autoencoder Value)\, which represents the soil's water-holding properties and its response to changing environmental conditions. This AUV value is subsequently used to predict shifts in SWRC by modeling changes in matric potential resulting from significant alterations in the seasonal amplitude of water content or shifts in long-term trends following dry ev ents.\nOur approach was tested across several sites\, where\, in some loca tions\, prolonged drought caused a noticeable reduction in seasonal amplit ude and a decrease in trend values\, which led to a corresponding decline in the AUV value. This decline in AUV was found to be indicative of reduce d water retention capacity and decreased soil resilience. Overall\, this m ethod offers a practical solution to (i) predict dynamic changes in matric potential using only soil water content measurements\, (ii) monitor shift s in SWRC over time to reflect changes in soil health and (iii) provide a scalable tool for assessing soil resilience to climate variability\, makin g it particularly useful in regions where direct measurements of soil matr ic potential are not available. DTSTAMP:20260613T182144Z LOCATION:Expert Room 11 SUMMARY:Monitoring Soil Resilience: A Combined STL and Autoencoder Approach to Dynamic SWRC Prediction - Nedal Aqel URL:https://pretalx.earthmonitor.org/soil-health-now-2025/talk/DXEYHK/ END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:pretalx-soil-health-now-2025-8SEMNU@pretalx.earthmonitor.org DTSTART:20250408T150000Z DTEND:20250408T151500Z DESCRIPTION:This study aims to identify critical soil health challenges in Southwest Europe\, focusing on the Granada region\, using an innovative qu adruple helix approach that unites insights from scientists\, local stakeh olders\, industry\, and government entities. Given the widespread issues a ffecting soils in this area—including structural degradation\, biodivers ity loss\, and reduced agricultural productivity—our project seeks a com prehensive understanding of these localized challenges to inform sustainab le solutions. The first step of this work will conduct surveys with key st akeholders who rely on soil for their activities\, including farmers and c ooperatives in the Granada region. These surveys will aim to identify and understand the specific soil health challenges they face\, such as soil de gradation and nutrient loss. Additionally\, we will gather information to understand basic aspects that will inform the design and implementation of effective strategies to improve soil health. By collecting this data\, we aim to develop sustainable solutions tailored to local needs and enhance collaboration among the various actors involved in soil management.Finding s from this study will directly contribute to the goals of SOILCRATES by s upporting the development of science-backed\, sustainable management strat egies that address the specific needs of this region. Our approach will em power stakeholders in Granada with actionable\, innovative solutions to mi tigate soil degradation and protect the agricultural resources aligns with the EU Mission ‘A Soil Deal for Europe’. DTSTAMP:20260613T182144Z LOCATION:HugoTECH SUMMARY:Mapping Soil Issues in Southwest Europe for Sustainable Land Manage ment Solutions - ANA ROMERO FREIRE URL:https://pretalx.earthmonitor.org/soil-health-now-2025/talk/8SEMNU/ END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:pretalx-soil-health-now-2025-9PXJGW@pretalx.earthmonitor.org DTSTART:20250408T151500Z DTEND:20250408T153000Z DESCRIPTION:Compaction reduces the infiltration capacity of the soil surfac e and may result in water ponding during heavy rainfall events. The same p onding effect is expected for soils with low organic content\, limiting th e formation of structural pores with high drainage capacity. The resulting presence of ponding water generates run-off and anaerobic conditions in t he topsoil\, increasing erosion rate and reducing the biological activity and productivity. The longer the duration of a rainfall event\, the lower the infiltration capacity of the soil and the higher the risk that the inf iltration capacity becomes limiting\, defining the ‘ponding time’ as t he time of onset of water accumulation at the surface. The ponding time is a comprehensive soil physical property\, integrating aspects of soil wate r retention\, hydraulic conductivity\, and initial water content. The lowe r the ponding time for a certain precipitation rate\, the more frequent is the expected occurrence of water ponding at the surface. In this study\, we apply an analytical expression for ponding time to compute it at the Pa n-European scale. Using maps of basic soil information (soil texture\, org anic carbon\, and bulk density)\, we can estimate values of ponding time a nd thus the frequency of ponding (and run-off) by infiltration excess. Thi s map provides a reference for the quantification of soil health by reduci ng ponding time by compaction and loss of organic carbon (‘unhealthy’) and increasing ponding time by structure formation (‘healthy’). Apply ing pedotransfer functions linking soil hydraulic properties with basic so il information and land use\, we provide a sensitivity map to estimate the change in ponding time statistics by modifying land management. The gener ated maps have a spatial resolution of 1 km and allow a comparison with na tional statistics of hydromorphic constraints\, revealing the relationship between infiltration excess and saturation excess. To apply ponding maps in soil health assessment and land use management\, they must be developed at higher resolution. We will show the potential of providing ponding map s at higher resolution (30 m\, Soil Health Data Cube for Europe) and link ing them to remote sensing observations of ponding using satellite data. DTSTAMP:20260613T182144Z LOCATION:HugoTECH SUMMARY:Pan-European mapping of ponding time as soil health indicator for a bsence of compaction and structure formation - Peter Lehmann\, Annett Wani a URL:https://pretalx.earthmonitor.org/soil-health-now-2025/talk/9PXJGW/ END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:pretalx-soil-health-now-2025-MJRGQU@pretalx.earthmonitor.org DTSTART:20250408T151500Z DTEND:20250408T153000Z DESCRIPTION:One of the main objectives of Soil Mission ‘A Soil Deal for E urope’ is to develop a harmonised soil monitoring framework to assess po licy impacts and trends in soil health. It is therefore necessary to integ rate the current knowledge on existing monitoring programmes and harmonise the approaches used across Europe. It was emphasized in the Soil Mission implementation plan that current EU monitoring is hampered by inadequate o r inactive soil monitoring programs in many EU Member States and limited a vailability or lack of relevant data. One of the current gaps in soil moni toring is the insufficient coverage of soils located in urban\, forest or industrial areas. This is being addressed by the PREPSOIL project\, whose main objective is to implement the 'A Soil Deal for Europe' mission in Eur opean regions\, by helping key actors to reduce soil degradation\, while i ncreasing soil awareness and knowledge.\nA detailed review of projects fun ded by the European Union related to soil monitoring issues and the soil h ealth indicators used was carried out. In addition\, existing national exp eriences on monitoring with a special focus on non-agricultural area were analysed. These results may constitute the basis for a broader discussion on future monitoring of non-agricultural soils especially in a context of implementation new directive on soil monitoring and resilience.\n\nAcknowl edgements\nThis research has been carried out within the framework of the PREPSOIL project ‘Preparing for the ‘Soil Deal for Europe’ Mission ’ founded by European Union’s Horizon Europe programme under grant agr eement No 101070045. DTSTAMP:20260613T182144Z LOCATION:Expert Room 11 SUMMARY:Soil health monitoring of non-agricultural areas – gaps identific ation - Agnieszka Klimkowicz-Pawlas URL:https://pretalx.earthmonitor.org/soil-health-now-2025/talk/MJRGQU/ END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:pretalx-soil-health-now-2025-YNATSY@pretalx.earthmonitor.org DTSTART:20250408T160000Z DTEND:20250408T163000Z DESCRIPTION:This workshop is an extension to the submitted oral talk “Pro bability based stratified sampling for both mapping and estimating the pop ulation parameters of the soil health indicators at field scale”. In the beginning of the workshop\, the participants will become familiar with th e appropriate (fit-for-purpose) sampling designs for monitoring the soil h ealth indicators at the field based on the presence/absence of the legacy sampling data and environmental covariates. The brief introduction will be followed by practical coding secession in R using premade computational n otebooks. The participants will compare the novel probability based balanc ed stratified sampling algorithm with 1) simple random sampling\, and 2) f eature space coverage sampling algorithm using legacy data. In the first e xperiment\, the aim will be to optimize the number of sampling locations o f the classic grid sampling performed in a real-world field using the avai lable auxiliary Earth observation environmental layers from the Soil Healt h Data Cube (https://shdc.ai4soilhealth.eu/). In the second experiment\, w e will use the available soil maps from the datacube to design a new optim ized sampling network for spatiotemporal predictive modeling. The target group of the workshop are non experts in the topic\, i. e. soil managers\, advisors\, young researchers or soil scientists. DTSTAMP:20260613T182144Z LOCATION:Expert Room 7 SUMMARY:Optimization of sampling designs for monitoring the soil health ind icators - Tom Hengl (OpenGeoHub) URL:https://pretalx.earthmonitor.org/soil-health-now-2025/talk/YNATSY/ END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:pretalx-soil-health-now-2025-D3QHP7@pretalx.earthmonitor.org DTSTART:20250408T160000Z DTEND:20250408T161500Z DESCRIPTION:The Soils4Africa project\, funded under the EU H2020 programme\ , aims to develop a soil information system that serves information on the prevalence and spatial distribution of soil quality indicators and constr aints relevant for sustainable intensification of agriculture in Africa\, that can be used as baselines for monitoring changes in soil conditions in the future.\n\nSoil samples are currently being collected at over 16\,000 locations for two depths across agricultural land. Uniform procedures for fieldwork as well as lab analysis\, combining wet chemistry with spectros copy analyses\, are used to ensure consistency. Here we present the sampli ng scheme designed for continental assessment and monitoring of soil condi tions of the agricultural land in Africa. The design is a three-stage samp ling design with stratified random sampling (with stratification based on farming system) in the first stage\, and simple random sampling in the se cond and third stage. Using probability sampling allows model-free and unb iased estimation of the soil (health) parameters of interest of the sample population (or relevant sub-areas thereof such as for land cover types\, agro-ecological zones\, etc.) and their associated uncertainty. Additional ly we will showcase the design and functionality of the emerging\, contine ntal soil information system that will eventually be hosted by an Africa-b ased institution. DTSTAMP:20260613T182144Z LOCATION:HugoTECH SUMMARY:Soils4Africa: a continent-wide soil information system for monitori ng and assessment of soil health in Africa - Bas Kempen URL:https://pretalx.earthmonitor.org/soil-health-now-2025/talk/D3QHP7/ END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:pretalx-soil-health-now-2025-HHAWJP@pretalx.earthmonitor.org DTSTART:20250408T160000Z DTEND:20250408T163000Z DESCRIPTION:A cutting-edge molecular tracking technology for microbial-base d products used in agriculture: There is a pressing need for farmer-friend ly technologies allowing to detect and monitor microorganisms applied to s oil as biostimulants or biopesticides. These technologies would optimise t heir application method (in terms of dose and timing) fostering efficacy. Researchers are increasingly committed to developing sensors to detect spe cies-specific target microorganisms in soil. In SPIN-FERT\, researchers fr om three Italian partners (CREA\, CNR-NANO and INTA) are working together to scale up and validate a portable device for tracking and monitoring a b eneficial bacterium (B. subtilis) in the soil.  The device is based on a chip containing a biological sensor (an aptamer)\, which was developed and patented by @crearicerca researchers in a previous EU-funded project ( @excaliburh2020). This kind of device is expected to provide a breakthroug h in the method of monitoring microbial-based products and evaluate also t heir impact on soil health and plant productivity.  A paper we recently published (the second one\, regarding the device\, will be submitted soon) : https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-023-12765-0\n\nThe website of SPIN-FERT i s https://spinfert.eu/overview/.\nYou can also follow us on Instagram @spi nfert.eu. DTSTAMP:20260613T182144Z LOCATION:Expert Room 11 SUMMARY:A cutting-edge molecular tracking technology for microbial-based pr oducts used in agriculture - Loredana Canfora\, Eligio URL:https://pretalx.earthmonitor.org/soil-health-now-2025/talk/HHAWJP/ END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:pretalx-soil-health-now-2025-WBXQWD@pretalx.earthmonitor.org DTSTART:20250408T161500Z DTEND:20250408T163000Z DESCRIPTION:A detailed understanding of temporal and spatial dynamics of so il organic carbon is becoming of increasing global importance\, as soil or ganic carbon is directly linked to greenhouse gas emissions and soil carbo n sequestration. Additionally\, soil organic carbon is a vital element in soil health\, affecting many essential soil functions. Therefore\, the imp ortance of soil inventories at various scales\, from national to pan-Europ ean\, for quantifying soil organic carbon dynamics has increased. Conseque ntly\, numerous spatial and spatio-temporal predictions of soil organic ca rbon have been produced in recent years. However\, it is currently unknown to what extent these inventories and their derived predictions align in t erms of the magnitude and direction of soil organic carbon change. \nUsing data from repeated soil inventories at national and regional scales and d ata from LUCAS\, we compare trends in soil organic carbon across Europe\, focusing on mineral soils of agricultural land. For selected regions\, the trends of soil organic carbon change are also compared to estimates from the recent maps of soil organic carbon density trends produced by the AI4S oilHealth project. These comparisons are somewhat limited due to differenc es in sampling and calculation methodology between countries\, varying def initions of land uses\, and differences in the time periods covered by the various data sources. Overall\, the comparison of soil organic carbon dyn amics across Europe is complex\, and increased collaboration between count ries can improve comparability of results and improve alignment of the est imates of soil organic carbon dynamics at both national and European scale s. \n\nAuthors: Laura Sofie Harbo\, Ali Sakhaee\, Florian Schneider DTSTAMP:20260613T182144Z LOCATION:HugoTECH SUMMARY:Comparison of SOC trends from national soil monitoring networks and soil carbon maps - Laura Sofie Harbo URL:https://pretalx.earthmonitor.org/soil-health-now-2025/talk/WBXQWD/ END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:pretalx-soil-health-now-2025-ACN3EW@pretalx.earthmonitor.org DTSTART:20250408T163000Z DTEND:20250408T164500Z DESCRIPTION:Soils are increasingly rediscovered as a vital resource that un derpins many natural and societal services. Over more than half a century\ , agricultural mechanization and a singular focus on plant production\, su pported by chemical fertilizers\, have led to widespread soil degradation. This reductionistic perspective has relied on soil observations focused o n physico-chemical properties\; properties that can be boosted by chemical additions but ignore the biological and ecological status and functions o f the soil. Recognizing the importance of natural soil processes\, which h ave evolved and been fine-tuned over billions of years\, a new set of indi cators for describing soil health beyond the physico-chemical properties i s required. These indicators should preferably be observable and analyzabl e by farmers\, advisors\, extension workers and other citizen scientists. Methods that directly or indirectly capture the biological and ecological functions include\, for instance i) environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding to characterize the diversity and composition of soil microbial communiti es\, ii) activity rates of key enzymes involved in the main biogeochemical cycles\, iii) the ratio of soil fungi to bacteria\, an indicator of the e xtent of disturbance in soil ecosystems\, iv) aggregate stability\, which is important for soil erosion resistance\, and water and nutrient holding capacity\, and v) water infiltration capacity as a key measure of the soil water absorption\, holding and release potentials. While eDNA requires sp ecialist laboratories and databases\, the other methods are currently avai lable for “Do-It-Yourself” (DIY) testing. In this study\, as part of t he EU-funded project AI4SoilHealth (https://ai4soilhealth.eu) we sampled s oils in Greece\, Sweden\, Finland\, Croatia and Denmark. We applied the ou tlined methods alongside traditional wet chemistry analysis of properties such as carbon\, pH and electrical conductivity\, and the particle size di stribution. These properties were also estimated by leveraging their corre lations with diffuse reflectance Near InfraRed (NIR) spectra and applying machine learning models. We are testing both the robustness of the novel m ethods and their interdependence with more traditional physico-chemical pr operties and soil spectroscopy. We hypothesize that there is a significant positive correlation between novel indicators (e.g. eDNA richness is corr elated to enzymatic activity\, which is correlated to aggregate stability\ , which in turn is correlated to infiltration capacity) and that high scor es of the biological and ecological properties are correlated with\, for i nstance\, soil carbon content. This study explores the potential of these novel methods for more holistic understanding of soil health. DTSTAMP:20260613T182144Z LOCATION:HugoTECH SUMMARY:In-situ soil health indicators beyond physico-chemical properties - Lur Epelde\, Sonia Meller\, Fatemeh Hateffard\, Peter Lehmann\, Jasmin Fe tzer\, Konstantinos Karyotis\, Hsiang-Ju Fan\, Robert Minarik\, Thomas Gum bricht URL:https://pretalx.earthmonitor.org/soil-health-now-2025/talk/ACN3EW/ END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:pretalx-soil-health-now-2025-3VGNVG@pretalx.earthmonitor.org DTSTART:20250408T163000Z DTEND:20250408T170000Z DESCRIPTION:Soil Aggregate stability is an important indicator of soil heal th. Aggregate stability corelates to critical soil ecosystem functions inc luding water infiltration and storage\, erosion resistance\, and plant roo ting. Unfortunately\, traditional measures of soil aggregate stability are time- and labor-intensive which limits the applicability of aggregate sta bility as a widely available soil health indicator. Recent research effort s have developed image-based methods for aggregating stability measurement s which generate comparable results to traditional methods in significantl y less time. The Soil Health Institute and their partners at the Universit y of Sydney have developed a smartphone application for measuring soil agg regate stability using image-based methods. The application\, Slakes\, is available for free on both android and iOS devices. was created by the Soi l Health Institute in conjunction with the University of Sydney. The app c alculates an aggregate stability index by monitoring changes in aggregate size before and after being submerged in water for 10 minutes. This method \, while different from traditional approaches\, has been shown to be sens itive to changes in agricultural management practices (e.g. cover crops an d reduced tillage) and is a viable indicator of soil health. In this works hop\, we will discuss the measurements of soil aggregate stability\, guide users through aggregate stability measurements using Slakes\, and discuss integrating Slakes results into soil health monitoring efforts. DTSTAMP:20260613T182144Z LOCATION:Expert Room 11 SUMMARY:Slakes: a free smartphone application for measuring soil aggregate stability - Jason Ackerson URL:https://pretalx.earthmonitor.org/soil-health-now-2025/talk/3VGNVG/ END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:pretalx-soil-health-now-2025-EAGZR3@pretalx.earthmonitor.org DTSTART:20250408T163000Z DTEND:20250408T171500Z DESCRIPTION:A holistic approach that acknowledges the vital functions of so il is fundamental to soil health. Beyond crop production\, soil health enc ompasses the soil's ability to mobilize and buffer nutrients\, store carbo n\, filter and retain water\, and support biological activity. Measuring a nd predicting these ecosystem services through soil health indices is esse ntial for future generations of farmers to ensure sustainable field manage ment.\nHowever\, soil health indices are still largely based on primary so il properties. Advances in instrument manufacturing\, computational power\ , and artificial intelligence have enabled rapid and accurate assessments of these properties. Among emerging analytical methods\, diffuse reflectan ce spectroscopy has demonstrated reliability in predicting soil chemical p arameters and providing indirect insights into soil physical properties in -situ. \nAgroCares offers an integrated solution that combines a portable soil spectroscopy sensor\, a comprehensive soil database\, and advanced de ep learning algorithms to predict soil properties under field conditions. This approach has successfully provided a reliable assessment of soil chem ical status and a semi-quantitative evaluation of physical properties whic h might be used for an estimation of the soil health in-situ by the farmer s or land managers. In collaboration with the scientific community\, Agro Cares is willing to take up the challenge of inferring soil health via spe ctroscopy. By integrating chemical\, physical\, and biological properties\ , this solution aims to drive progress toward real-time\, in situ soil hea lth assessment. DTSTAMP:20260613T182144Z LOCATION:Expert Room 7 SUMMARY:Advancing In-Situ Soil Health Assessment and Sustainable Land Manag ement through Soil Spectroscopy - Matteo Poggio URL:https://pretalx.earthmonitor.org/soil-health-now-2025/talk/EAGZR3/ END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:pretalx-soil-health-now-2025-YKLU8X@pretalx.earthmonitor.org DTSTART:20250408T164500Z DTEND:20250408T170000Z DESCRIPTION:The widespread use of conventional fertilizers during the 20th century was driven by the need to support global population growth\, enhan ce crop yields\, and improve soil fertility [1]. However\, these fertilize rs are prone to significant losses due to leaching or volatilization\, lea ding to both economic inefficiencies and environmental challenges\, such a s eutrophication and ecosystem destabilization [2]. As a result\, there is a growing interest in more sustainable alternatives. Among these\, contro lled release fertilizers (CRFs)\, particularly those developed from biocha rs\, offer a promising solution\, enabling a more gradual release of nutri ents while also enhancing soil structure and health [3]. \nThis study focu ses on the production and optimization of CRFs using biochar produced from vineyard prunings\, an undervalued agro-industrial residue with limited e conomic value. Four distinct biochars were prepared using different condit ions: 1) untreated biochar produced at an industrial oven (Ibero Massa Flo restal company) (BIMF)\, 2) thermal condition under CO2 flow (BCO2)\; and biochars chemically pre-treated with 3) magnesium chloride (BMgCl2) and 4) aluminium chloride (BAlCl3). The adsorption capacities for nitrogen (N)\, phosphorous (P) and potassium (K) were evaluated across a pH range betwee n 2 and 13. Subsequent optimizations were carried out for N adsorption at pH 2 using the BIMF material and for P adsorption at pH 8 using the BMgCl2 material. After adsorption conditions optimization\, the maximum Langmuir adsorption capacities were 10.4 mg N/g for BIMF and 12.7 mg P/g for BMgCl 2. Current investigations are focusing on the nutrient release kinetics fr om the CRFs\, aiming to assess their potential for gradual nutrient delive ry and long-term soil fertility improvement. \nThis work highlights the p otential of vineyard pruning biochars as a sustainable material to prepare CRFs\, offering both agricultural and environmental benefits. \n\nBibliog raphy \n[1]. Wang\, C. et al. Biochar-based slow-release of fertilizers fo r sustainable agriculture: A mini review. Environ. Sci. Ecotechnology 10\, 100167 (2022).\n[2]. Tomczyk\, A.\, Kondracki\, B. & Szewczuk-Karpisz\, K . Chemical modification of biochars as a method to improve its surface pro perties and efficiency in removing xenobiotics from aqueous media. Chemosp here 312\, 137238 (2022).\n[3]. Biswas\, B. et al. Magnesium doped biochar for simultaneous adsorption of phosphate and nitrogen ions from aqueous s olution. Chemosphere 358\, 142130 (2024). DTSTAMP:20260613T182144Z LOCATION:HugoTECH SUMMARY:Enhancing Nutrient Efficiency: Adsorption and Release Kinetics of V ineyard Prunings Biochar - Olena Dorosh URL:https://pretalx.earthmonitor.org/soil-health-now-2025/talk/YKLU8X/ END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:pretalx-soil-health-now-2025-SADJJP@pretalx.earthmonitor.org DTSTART:20250408T180000Z DTEND:20250408T190000Z DESCRIPTION:The comprehensive characterization of soil microbiomes is pivot al for understanding ecosystem functions and managing soil health. The aim of the study is to develop a standardized metabarcoding pipeline utilizin g universal genetic markers\, such as the 16S rRNA and ITS and it is also possible for specific markers that target genes associated with critical m etabolic functions. Sequencing is conducted using the MinION platform by O xford Nanopore Technologies\, enabling real-time data acquisition and anal ysis.\n\nA key component of this pipeline is the creation of a qualified d atabase comprising accurately annotated sequences derived from standardize d metabarcoding protocols. This database\, enhanced by the custom analysis tools available through the EPI2ME labs platform\, serves as a foundation al tool for ensuring reproducibility and comparability across studies\, ad dressing the current challenge of data heterogeneity due to varied experim ental and analytical methodologies. This database not only enhances the ta xonomic resolution but can also potentially enrich the functional profilin g of soil microbiomes.\n\nThe research incorporates two distinct series of soil samples: one from wheat fields cultivated in Sicily and another from greenhouse-grown tomatoes. These diverse agricultural settings provide tw o case studies with a broad spectrum of microbial communities\, to test th e robustness and applicability of the metabarcoding pipeline.\n\nThe stand ardized data from this qualified database can be exploited to train artifi cial intelligence (AI) models\, aiming to identify predictive signatures o f soil health and potential for reclamation from pollutants. By applying m achine learning techniques to metabarcoding data\, this approach promises to uncover novel correlations between microbial communities and soil condi tions\, potentially leading to innovative strategies for soil management a nd rehabilitation.\n\nIn summary\, the establishment of a standardized met abarcoding pipeline and a qualified database on the MinION platform\, enri ched with data from diverse agricultural soils\, represents a significant advancement in soil microbiology. This framework not only enhances our und erstanding of microbial diversity and function but also offers the possibi lity to apply AI technologies to predict and improve soil health on a glob al scale. DTSTAMP:20260613T182144Z LOCATION:W - Invite SUMMARY:Standardized metabarcoding pipeline for soil microbiome analysis on MinION platform. - Fabio Fracchetti URL:https://pretalx.earthmonitor.org/soil-health-now-2025/talk/SADJJP/ END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:pretalx-soil-health-now-2025-C8YECK@pretalx.earthmonitor.org DTSTART:20250408T180500Z DTEND:20250408T180900Z DESCRIPTION:More than 90% of soils in Europe have been declared unhealthy\, largely as a result of injudicious use of synthetic fertilizers and overe xploitation of soil. This calls for an increased use of more sustainable t ypes of fertilizers and soil amenders rich in carbon. \nThe Anaerobic dige stion (AD)\, a process that is used to produce renewable energy with low C O2 footprint\, can produce a valuable by-product\, the digestate\, that is used in agricultural activities as a soil improver or for fertilization o f the fields. The digestate is actually the by-product of the valorizatio n of waste materials. A wide variety of organic wastes-manure\, food proce ssing residues\, municipal solid waste\, and agricultural residues\, are u sed in AD plants and the produced digestate is returned back to the fields \, closing the loop in a circular economy approach.\nHowever\, it has been identified that the direct application of digestate is associated to seve ral environmental issues. It is therefore required that the digestate is p re-processed in order that the nutrients\, the carbon and water can be rec overed and efficiently utilized\, while potential pollutants are removed a nd not released to the environment\, optimizing in this way the products ’ composition according to particular agricultural needs with the adopti on of an adequate separation system.\nThis work executes a Life Cycle Asse ssment on a membrane-based treatment process including a solid-liquid sepa ration system with a screw press\, microfiltration (MF)\, and ultrafiltrat ion (UF) to produce a phosphorus- and potassium-rich soil amender and a Se lective ElectroDialysis unit (SED) for nutrient recovery to produce fertil izers such as ammonium sulfate and struvite. Furthermore\, reverse osmosis (RO) is applied for the recovery of clean water. \nThe environmental impa cts that were considered and studied\, were the greenhouse gas emissions\, terrestrial acidification and eutrophication\, ecotoxicity in freshwater\ , and marine environments\, using input from experimental testing in the p ilot scale and in real environment. The results showed that an integrated approach could achieve significant environmental improvements and enhance soil health\, compared to conventional applications. DTSTAMP:20260613T182144Z LOCATION:W - Invite SUMMARY:Integrated Membrane-Based Treatment of Digestate for Soil Amender P roduction: A Life Cycle Assessment Approach. - Vera Proskynitopoulou URL:https://pretalx.earthmonitor.org/soil-health-now-2025/talk/C8YECK/ END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:pretalx-soil-health-now-2025-D9993T@pretalx.earthmonitor.org DTSTART:20250408T181000Z DTEND:20250408T181400Z DESCRIPTION:This study addresses the critical role of soil organic carbon ( SOC) in maintaining soil health\, particularly regarding compaction\, infi ltration\, runoff\, and erosion. SOC plays a vital role in maintaining soi l structure and function\, and its depletion is increasingly linked to red uced water retention and increased bulk density\, and greater susceptibili ty to erosion and compaction. Conventional farming\, with its intensive us e of synthetic fertilisers and tillage\, has been shown to have a negative effect on SOC\, while organic farming practices are recognised for enhanc ing SOC through organic amendments and reduced soil disturbance. We modell ed the effect of a 5% bulk density decrease on soil hydraulic properties a cross Europe. Using SoilGrids data – bulk density\, SOC\, volumetric wat er content at field capacity and the permanent wilting point\, and soil te xture –\, we modelled hydraulic conductivity and soil water potential fo r mineral soils using Rosetta and Hydrus-1D\, two widely used tools for pr edicting soil hydraulic properties. This modelling provides crucial insigh ts into how organic and conventional practices influence soil water retent ion and erosion potential\, and the importance of integrating SOC-enhancin g practices into national and international soil monitoring systems. By un derstanding how a shift to organic farming influences soil health\, we can better inform agricultural policies that aim to promote both productivity and sustainability in farming systems across Europe. DTSTAMP:20260613T182144Z LOCATION:W - Invite SUMMARY:From conventional to organic: modelling the effects of changes in s oil organic carbon on soil hydraulic properties. - Maud van Soest URL:https://pretalx.earthmonitor.org/soil-health-now-2025/talk/D9993T/ END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:pretalx-soil-health-now-2025-DUGJUT@pretalx.earthmonitor.org DTSTART:20250408T181000Z DTEND:20250408T191000Z DESCRIPTION:Transient soil properties are informative of many aspects of so il health. First\, the directly measured properties such as drying rate an d coloration changes can be informative of soil texture and mineral conten ts. Second\, the changes in vegetation cover and the dynamics of biomass a ccumulation can serve as a proxy of the soil productivity and suitability for biomass production. Many of these traits can be readily retrieved from satellites\, however\, with limited temporal resolution. We developed a m odular\, low power IoT device combining multispectral radiometric capabili ties (6 – 12 channels\, 450 – 860nm) with simple weather station. The device harbors powerful industry-level SoC with onboard processing capabil ity showing low power consumption\, retrieving data in 15 minute intervals for two years on a single battery. During 2023 and 2024 five devices were set to maize crop fields for vegetation monitoring. The devices were posi tioned with GPS tracker to positions always covered by Sentinel 2-A tiles. Data analysis showed very strong correlations between proximally and remo tely obtained vegetation indices. The usability of such data might be used during the cloudy days to support decision making processes. Moreover\, t he data can be interpolated to predict the regional dynamics during the cl oudy weather. Such devices might also improve the monitoring capability of soil dynamics in forest vegetation where soil dynamics are not visible by optical sensing echnologies due to the tall vegetation cover. The usabili ty of such devices will be discussed. DTSTAMP:20260613T182144Z LOCATION:W - Invite SUMMARY:Dense temporal multispectral radiometry as a proxy for soil health assesment - Vlatko Galic URL:https://pretalx.earthmonitor.org/soil-health-now-2025/talk/DUGJUT/ END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:pretalx-soil-health-now-2025-AFPJXT@pretalx.earthmonitor.org DTSTART:20250408T181500Z DTEND:20250408T181900Z DESCRIPTION:Soil salinization\, referring to the excessive accumulation of soluble salt in soils\, adversely influences nutrient cycling\, microbial activity\, biodiversity\, plant growth and crop production thus affecting soil health and ecosystem functioning. Soil salinity quantification is a m ajor step toward mitigation of its effects. Therefore\, developing quantit ative tools to predict soil salinity at regional and continental levels un der different boundary conditions and scenarios is crucial for sustainable soil management and security of natural resources. This study proposes an AI-driven soil salinity quantification and projection approach focused on EU soils using a set of environmental covariates which consist of soil pr operties\, terrain attributes\, climate\, and remotely sensed variables. A key aspect of this study is integration of the soil salinity point data f rom the LUCAS survey in the AI model\, complemented by the WoSIS dataset. To improve the model performance\, forward feature selection technique was applied. AI algorithms including Random Forest\, LightGBM\, and XGBoost w ere used in this study enabling us to evaluate the performance of each alg orithm in predicting soil salinity across EU with the XGBoost algorithm pr oducing the most accurate results. The output of the predictive model will be a gridded dataset illustrating the spatial and temporal (yearly) distr ibution of soil salinity across the EU\, accompanied by the corresponding uncertainty map with the spatial resolution of 1-km. This information is c rucial for identifying regions with elevated salinity levels and formulati ng necessary action plans to mitigate the situation. DTSTAMP:20260613T182144Z LOCATION:W - Invite SUMMARY:Advancing Toward Predictive Soil Salinity Mapping Across the EU - M ohammad Aziz Zarif URL:https://pretalx.earthmonitor.org/soil-health-now-2025/talk/AFPJXT/ END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:pretalx-soil-health-now-2025-YGCUE7@pretalx.earthmonitor.org DTSTART:20250408T182000Z DTEND:20250408T182400Z DESCRIPTION:The advent of modern satellite constellations–combined with s ignificant advances in computational technology and resources–enables th e systematic mapping of agricultural areas in high spatiotemporal resoluti on and through this provides a foundational building-block for the study a nd monitoring of soil health. In this context\, parts of the Earth Observa tion and Machine Learning community have placed a growing focus on the dev elopment of capabilities to remotely identify crop types growing on agricu ltural cropland. These capabilities can support soil health monitoring ef forts by providing systematic insights into crop rotations and cropping pr actices that affect soil health (e.g. cover crops). End users of these cap abilities desire high accuracy across large areas with diverse agro-enviro nmental conditions\, as early in the season as possible.\n\nWhilst recent efforts have typically shown strong performance on datasets that express l imited spatial and/or temporal variability\, the community is yet to explo re performance across an adequate number of years at the pan-European scal e to assess robustness both to the spatial variations between environmenta l & political zones and to the full range of variations in interannual we ather patterns. To do so\, there is still a need for datasets that provide sufficient spatial and temporal depth.\n\nIn Europe\, the public release of historical LPIS and GSAA datasets by EU member states at either regiona l or national scales has made high quality crop type ground-truth data mor e available than ever before. The RapidCrops dataset combines these datase ts across a range of countries and multiple years to provide a deep spatio -temporal stack of crop type ground-truth data\; enabling assessments of g eneralization across both space and time. The dataset leverages harmonizat ion standards developed under the EuroCrops initiative to standardize data from different countries. It adopts & extends the fiboa (https://fiboa.or g) field boundaries data standard to make parcel boundaries and crop type labels available in an open\, interoperable format. Finally\, the dataset provides additional usability metrics for each parcel to help users identi fy and access the data most appropriate to their context\, quickly. DTSTAMP:20260613T182144Z LOCATION:W - Invite SUMMARY:RapidCrops: A pan-European label dataset for large-scale crop class ification - Piers Holden\, Annett Wania URL:https://pretalx.earthmonitor.org/soil-health-now-2025/talk/YGCUE7/ END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:pretalx-soil-health-now-2025-CJYR3A@pretalx.earthmonitor.org DTSTART:20250408T182500Z DTEND:20250408T182900Z DESCRIPTION:Peatlands are unique ecosystems with high biodiversity and envi ronmental services such as water filtration and retention as well as carbo n storage. Interestingly\, however\, in contrast to other soils and ecosys tems\, little is known about the extent and health of European peatlands ( Andersen et al.\, 2017). With increasing human-induced drainage\, degradat ion and restoration\, there is an even greater need to monitor the extent and health of European peatlands (Andersen et al.\, 2017). We developed a conceptual framework to (1) distinguish between (unforested) peatlands and surrounding areas (forest and grassland)\, and (2) separate drained/degra ded from natural/rewetted peatlands. Our study includes 11 European peatla nds across three Köppen-Geiger climate classes (Kottek et al.\, 2006). We use remote sensing data because they provide objective\, spatially explic it and temporally extensive data (Chasmer et al.\, 2020). We use Sentinel 2 and Planet Scope optical bands with high spatial and temporal resolutio n\, focusing on red\, red edge\, near infrared (NIR)\, and shortwave infra red (SWIR) band reflectances to discriminate between peatland vegetation a nd surrounding areas (Burdun et al.\, 2023). Normalized Difference Vegetat ion Index (NDVI)\, Enhanced Vegetation Index Red (EVI). Green Normalized V egetation Index (gNDVI)\, and Greenness Index (GI) were used as indicators of vegetation composition and health (Burdrun et al.\, 2023\; Räsänen et al\, 2022)\, while Normalized Moisture Index (NDMI) was used as measure for vegetation water stress (Räsänen et al.\, 2022). Ground truthing of our data was performed with biogeochemical analyses\, including pyrolysis gas chromatography with integrated mass spectroscopy (PYGCMS) to study th e molecular composition of surface soils. In particular\, we investigated molecules specific to different vegetation classes and their transformatio n products. To verify our results\, we also used established biogeochemica l parameters such as C:N ratio and oxidation state (Cox)\, which are indic ators of the degree of microbial transformation and decomposition processe s in soils (Leifeld et al.\, 2020). As a first step\, we separated peatlan ds from surrounding forest using existing European Forest layers. We furth er distinguished grasslands from peatlands using red edge and NIR reflecta nce data\, which were significantly higher for grasslands than for peatlan ds (p<0.001). To distinguish between natural/rewetted and degraded/drained sites\, we will correlate the specific reflectance with the molecular and biochemical data to establish a framework for an inventory of peatland si tes and their health on a regional scale using a machine learning approach . DTSTAMP:20260613T182144Z LOCATION:W - Invite SUMMARY:Remote Sensing-Based Framework for Differentiating between Natural and Drained Peatlands in Europe - Miriam Gross-Schmoelders URL:https://pretalx.earthmonitor.org/soil-health-now-2025/talk/CJYR3A/ END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:pretalx-soil-health-now-2025-KNYVPZ@pretalx.earthmonitor.org DTSTART:20250408T183000Z DTEND:20250408T183400Z DESCRIPTION:Soil water repellency (SWR) affects water dynamics from nano to ecosystem scales\, and it is driven by intricate interactions between cli mate\, vegetation\, soil properties\, and microorganisms. However\, the sp atial distribution of SWR at ecosystem level as well as the underlying dri vers across diverse habitats\, land uses and soils textures remain underex plored. This study presents a comprehensive survey of SWR in Denmark\, wit h approximately 7\,500 samples\, and its predicted spatial distribution. W e used digital soil mapping methods (Quantile Random Forest) to map and id entify the relationship between SWR and various environmental variables\, including vegetation (via satellite imagery)\, soil properties (texture an d soil organic carbon)\, and landforms (slope and wetness index). The pred icted maps at 10 m resolution revealed that SWR varies across different la nd uses and vegetation types\, with higher values in natural areas (e.g.\, heathlands and coniferous forests) compared to grasslands and croplands ( mostly hydrophilic). The analysis also identified soil organic carbon\, Se ntinel band 2 (SB3_spring) and clay content as key drivers of spatial vari ation in SWR at national level. Within natural habitats and grasslands\, w e found that soil texture significantly influences SWR intensity\, which g enerally decreases as clay content increases across most habitat types\, e xcept for heathlands. While the predicted maps provided valuable insights into SWR distribution and its environmental drivers\, further research is needed to explore the spatio-temporal dynamics of SWR within each habitat\ , particularly in relation to soil moisture changes. This study highlights the potential of combining machine learning and remote sensing to advance knowledge of SWR\, and it can provide crucial spatial information for man aging water resources and enhancing soil health and ecosystem resilience i n the face of climate change. DTSTAMP:20260613T182144Z LOCATION:W - Invite SUMMARY:Mapping the potential soil water repellency in Denmark - Lucas Gome s URL:https://pretalx.earthmonitor.org/soil-health-now-2025/talk/KNYVPZ/ END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:pretalx-soil-health-now-2025-VBMNHA@pretalx.earthmonitor.org DTSTART:20250408T183500Z DTEND:20250408T183900Z DESCRIPTION:Policy demands for robust soil health monitoring are steadily g rowing. Given that soil biota are critical to the ecosystem services soils provide\, biological properties are well-suited as relevant indicators\, complementing physicochemical characteristics. However\, biological proper ties are highly dynamic across spatial and temporal scales\, which present s a challenge when using them for monitoring purposes.\nAs part of AI4Soil Health project\, we conducted a comprehensive soil health assessment in th e experimental grasslands of NEIKER\, where a rotational grazing system ha s been in place since 2013\, compared to a free grazing system. Our object ives were to test innovative methods for measuring soil health and to anal yze the temporal dynamics of soil biological properties in relation to cli matic and pasture conditions.\nPlant and soil samples were collected every three weeks from April to November 2024 at two depths (0-20 cm and 20-50 cm). A broad array of descriptors related to pasture quality\, production\ , and soil physicochemical and biological properties were assessed. Novel methods tested and compared to conventional approaches included: (i) Digit Soil – a tool that measures enzymatic activity\, providing real-time dat a on organic matter decomposition and other key biological processes\; (ii ) microBIOMETER – a portable kit measuring microbial biomass and the fun gi-to-bacteria ratio\; (iii) Slakes – assessing aggregate stability thro ugh a mobile app\; (iv) eDNA and eRNA metabarcoding of 16S rRNA and ITS\, to differentiate total and active prokaryotic and fungal communities\; (v) remote sensing from Planet to provide data on vegetation growth and green ness.\nThe novel diagnostic tools provided cost-effective and high quality soil health assessments. Nevertheless\, preliminary results suggest that differences in soil biological properties were more pronounced across soil depths and over time than between grazing types. Therefore\, their spatia l and temporal variability must be considered when designing a soil health monitoring program. DTSTAMP:20260613T182144Z LOCATION:W - Invite SUMMARY:Novel diagnostic tools for studying the dynamics of soil biological properties under different grazing systems - Lur Epelde\, Sonia Meller\, Lexy Ratering Arntz\, Asier Uribeetxebarria\, Jasmin Fetzer URL:https://pretalx.earthmonitor.org/soil-health-now-2025/talk/VBMNHA/ END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:pretalx-soil-health-now-2025-DSL3JA@pretalx.earthmonitor.org DTSTART:20250408T183500Z DTEND:20250408T183900Z DESCRIPTION:Reduced tillage is an effective measure to increase soil organi c carbon (SOC) contents in agricultural soils. However\, most of the studi es in the literature refer to gains of SOC at the top surface layer. Ignor ing the subsoil carbon dynamics in deeper layers of soil fails to recogniz e potential opportunities for soil C sequestration and may lead to false c onclusions about the impact of management practices on C sequestration. Th e global objective was to evaluate total SOC (and different pools) under t hree different sustainable management practices (no tillage\, reduced till age and reduced tillage plus green manure) compared to the traditional man agement in a 0-60 cm soil profile and go deeper on how different OC pools contribute to total SOC storage in depth. To reach these objectives five s oil profiles from two experimental farms with similar environmental charac teristics were sampled at the intervals 0-15\, 15-30\, 30-50 and 50-60 cm depth. In addition\, a reference profile at each site\, in an undisturbed natural area next to the woody orchards were sampled. Per each interval wi thin a profile\, three disturbed and undisturbed samples were collected. B ulk density\, total OC and different OC pools (particulate organic carbon (POC)\, mineral associated organic carbon (MAC)\, hot water extractable ca rbon (HWC)\, short mineralization carbon (SMC)) and texture were analyzed. Aboveground carbon inputs in each management were also considered. Prelim inary results indicate\, a different pattern in the SOC stock with depth d epend on the management and experimental farm and an increase in SOC stock at all depths when reduce tillage plus green manure and no tillage are im plemented respect to the traditional management. Moreover\, higher increas e in SOC stock under reduce tillage plus green manure compared to traditio nal tillage was observed when considering the 0-60 cm profile than when co nsidering the first 30 cm of soil indicating the importance of studying th e OC at deeper layers. The contribution of labile OC pools to total SOC de creased\, in general and about 50% from the surface layer to the deepest o ne in cultivated soils (regardless\, intensive or reduced tillage) and abo ut 10-20% under undisturbed natural conditions. The labile OC pool more se nsitive to changes in management was POC and HWOC depending on the experim ental farm. DTSTAMP:20260613T182144Z LOCATION:W - Invite SUMMARY:Impacts of reduced tillage in woody crop systems on soil carbon seq uestration in surface and subsurface soils under semiarid Mediterranean co nditions - Cristina Fernández-Soler URL:https://pretalx.earthmonitor.org/soil-health-now-2025/talk/DSL3JA/ END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:pretalx-soil-health-now-2025-UDLHQY@pretalx.earthmonitor.org DTSTART:20250408T184000Z DTEND:20250408T194000Z DESCRIPTION:There are approximately twelve million hectares devoted to oliv e groves in the world\, and around seven million hectares are cultivated w ith vineyards. The majority of this cultivated area is located in the Medi terranean basin\, with Spain and Italy being among the countries dedicatin g the largest area of land to these crops. Historically\, these woody crop s have been managed with traditional tillage to prevent competition for wa ter and nutrients with the underlying vegetation. The use of alternative m anagement practices such as cover crops improves the physical-chemical and biological properties of the soil\, preventing erosion and enhancing soil structure due to increased levels of organic matter in the soil\, while a lso improving other ecosystem services. Biological properties are generall y sensitive to changes in soil management\, with enzymatic activities bein g one of the most commonly used biological indicators for studying these p rocesses. This study aims to compare the impact of contrasting soil manage ment (traditional tillage versus management with spontaneous vegetation co ver)\, on the soil enzymatic activities in olive groves and vineyards loca ted in Sardinia (Italy). Two vineyards situated in Central and Eastern Sar dinia\, and two olive groves in North-western Sardinia were selected. In e ach of these locations\, soil samples in the selected grove with vegetatio n cover and a nearby tilled plot were collected. Three composite samples w ere taken at two depths (0-10 cm and 10-30 cm). In each soil sample\, β-g lucosidase\, arylsulfatase\, urease and phosphatase activities were determ ined following ISO20130. An analysis of variance was performed with a gene ral linear model (Statgraphics Centurion XVIII) considering soil managemen t and depth as factors. Significant differences were found in all studied enzymatic activities except for phosphatase. Sardinian vineyards with cove r crops showed significantly higher enzymatic activities than tilled viney ards for the enzymes β-glucosidase\, arylsulfatase and urease. Oppositely \, in the studied olive groves\, enzymatic activity of β-glucosidase\, ar ylsulfatase\, and urease was higher in tilled olive groves than in those w ith cover crops. In conclusion\, the use of cover crops in woody crops aff ects the activity of soil microorganisms. Nevertheless\, factors such as m ain crop and plant cover characteristics as the inputs of organic matter\, as well as soil type and soil physicochemical properties have to be taken into account to interpret the results. DTSTAMP:20260613T182144Z LOCATION:W - Invite SUMMARY:Effect of cover crop management on enzymatic activity in olive grov es and vineyards in Sardinia - Javier González Canales URL:https://pretalx.earthmonitor.org/soil-health-now-2025/talk/UDLHQY/ END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:pretalx-soil-health-now-2025-XJSES7@pretalx.earthmonitor.org DTSTART:20250408T184000Z DTEND:20250408T184400Z DESCRIPTION:Soil degradation poses critical challenges to sustainable food production and environmental stability. In this study\, we integrate simul ations from 18 global climate models under two combined SSP-RCP scenarios (SSP2-4.5 and SSP5-8.5) with land use fractions from the Land Use Harmoniz ation (LUH2) dataset to assess future soil degradation risks across Europe . We adopt a machine learning framework to link a Soil Degradation Proxy ( an index integrating multiple soil health indicators including erosion rat e\, pH\, electrical conductivity\, and soil organic carbon\; SDP) to topog raphy\, soil characteristics\, climatic factors\, and land use practices\, enabling projections of how these factors collectively influence future s oil degradation trends.\nOur projections indicate that under the higher-em ission SSP5-8.5 scenario\, approximately 54% of European soil observation sites could face increased vulnerability to degradation by the far future (2071–2100). This heightened degradation risk is especially evident in n orthern European regions\, such as Estonia and Latvia\, where SDP may rise by up to 16%\, largely influenced by changing climate conditions. In cont rast\, southern regions of Europe (e.g.\, Spain and Italy) could experienc e a decrease in SDP\, suggesting potential improvements in soil health tie d to evolving land use practices.\nBy combining climate projections\, land use practices\, and soil type\, this work provides new insights into futu re trends and patterns of soil degradation across Europe. These findings s upport the urgent need for developing targeted soil management strategies to mitigate the negative impacts of climate and land use change on soil he alth conditions. DTSTAMP:20260613T182144Z LOCATION:W - Invite SUMMARY:Soil Degradation in Europe under Changing Land Use and Climate - Da vid Robinson\, Panos Panagos\, Mehdi H. Afshar\, Amirhossein Hassani\, Pas quale Borrelli\, Dani Or\, Nima Shokri URL:https://pretalx.earthmonitor.org/soil-health-now-2025/talk/XJSES7/ END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:pretalx-soil-health-now-2025-GYGUJ8@pretalx.earthmonitor.org DTSTART:20250408T184500Z DTEND:20250408T184900Z DESCRIPTION:Soil organic carbon (SOC) concentration is the fundamental indi cator of soil health\,\nunderpinning food production and climate change mi tigation. SOC storage is highly\nsensitive to several dynamic environmenta l drivers\, with approximately one third of\nsoils degraded and losing car bon worldwide. Digital soil mapping illuminates where\nhotspots of SOC sto rage occur and where losses to the atmosphere are most likely.\nYet\, atte mpts to map SOC often produce widely differing results for the same region \,\nowing to differences in methodology and the representativeness of inpu t data for\npredictive mapping. Here we compare national scale SOC concent ration map\nproducts for Great Britain – a country where several digital SOC maps are available\nand consists of soils spanning the full range of SOC concentrations. Our results\nreveal generally strong agreement of data in mineral soils\, with progressively poorer\nagreement in organo-mineral and organic soils. Divergences in map predictions from\neach other and su rvey data widen in the high SOC content land types we stratified.\nGiven t he disparities are highest in carbon rich soils\, efforts are required to reduce\nthese uncertainties to increase confidence in mapping SOC storage and predicting\nwhere change may be important at national to global scales . This is particularly\nimportant because the decline in SOC stocks from r ising temperatures scales\nproportionally with the size of the standing SO C stocks\; thus\, current uncertainties in\ntotal SOC stocks presents a ba rrier to fully understanding the land carbon-climate\nfeedback. Our map co mparison results could be used to identify SOC risk where\nconcentrations are high and should be conserved\, and where uncertainty is high and\nfurt her monitoring should be targeted. Reducing inter-map uncertainty will rel y on\naddressing limitations with how representative observational data ar e for a region of\ninterest\, as well as including covariates that capture the convergence of physical\nfactors that produce high SOC contents. DTSTAMP:20260613T182144Z LOCATION:W - Invite SUMMARY:Multiple soil map comparison highlights challenges for predicting t opsoil organic carbon concentration at national scale - Chris Feeney URL:https://pretalx.earthmonitor.org/soil-health-now-2025/talk/GYGUJ8/ END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:pretalx-soil-health-now-2025-CWJJDJ@pretalx.earthmonitor.org DTSTART:20250408T185000Z DTEND:20250408T195000Z DESCRIPTION:The SOILCRATES project\, funded by the Horizon Europe Mission S oil programme\, aims to enhance and monitor soil structure\, biodiversity\ , and crop-growing conditions in mineral soils through the establishment o f four living labs across the Netherlands\, France\, Ireland\, and Spain. This poster focuses on the Irish living lab\, highlighting the specific so il challenges faced in Ireland\, the corresponding soil health indicators\ , and the key partners involved in the initiative.\n\nThe SOILCRATES proje ct\, funded by the Horizon Europe Mission Soil programme\, aims to enhance and monitor soil structure\, biodiversity\, and crop-growing conditions i n mineral soils through the establishment of four living labs across the N etherlands\, France\, Ireland\, and Spain. This poster focuses on the Iris h living lab\, highlighting the specific soil challenges faced in Ireland\ , the corresponding soil health indicators\, and the key partners involved in the initiative.\n\nThe SOILCRATES project\, funded by the Horizon Euro pe Mission Soil programme\, aims to enhance and monitor soil structure\, b iodiversity\, and crop-growing conditions in mineral soils through the est ablishment of four living labs across the Netherlands\, France\, Ireland\, and Spain. This poster focuses on the Irish living lab\, highlighting the specific soil challenges faced in Ireland\, the corresponding soil health indicators\, and the key partners involved in the initiative.\n\nThe SOIL CRATES project\, funded by the Horizon Europe Mission Soil programme\, aim s to enhance and monitor soil structure\, biodiversity\, and crop-growing conditions in mineral soils through the establishment of four living labs across the Netherlands\, France\, Ireland\, and Spain. This poster focuses on the Irish living lab\, highlighting the specific soil challenges faced in Ireland\, the corresponding soil health indicators\, and the key partn ers involved in the initiative. DTSTAMP:20260613T182144Z LOCATION:W - Invite SUMMARY:SOILCRATES Living Lab Ireland - Lena Madden URL:https://pretalx.earthmonitor.org/soil-health-now-2025/talk/CWJJDJ/ END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:pretalx-soil-health-now-2025-7LQQJ3@pretalx.earthmonitor.org DTSTART:20250408T185500Z DTEND:20250408T185900Z DESCRIPTION:Agroforestry (AF) is a nature based intensive land management p ractice where trees and shrubs are intentionally integrated into crop and livestock management practices to optimize benefits arising from biophysic al interactions among the components. Due to the interactions among the co mponents\, AF provides numerous ecosystem services including soil health ( SH) benefits. Agroforestry was approved by both the afforestation and refo restation programs and under the Clean Development Mechanisms of the Kyoto Protocol for carbon sequestration (CS). The objective of this long-term a lleycropping AF practice was to evaluate changes in soil carbon (SC) and s elected soil physical parameters (infiltration\, saturated hydraulic condu ctivity\, porosity\, and aggregate stability). Soil samples were collected from corn-soybean crop alleys\, tree buffers\, grass buffers\, and grass waterways to quantify differences in SC and physical parameters by treatme nts. Results of the study indicated that SC%\, stocks\, and the rate of SC accumulation were greater in AF areas and grass buffer areas than crop ar eas. Soil C stocks were 106\, 102\, and 91 Mg ha-1 for tree buffer\, grass buffer\, and crop areas 25 years after establishment of buffers. Soil wat er infiltration\, saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ksat)\, porosity\, and aggregate stability were greater in tree buffer areas than the crop areas . Improvements in SH indicators can be attributed to increased litter mate rial\, roots\, activities of soil fauna\, and reduced disturbance. Results of the study show that adoption of agroforestry in corn-soybean rotations improve SH including soil carbon (SC)\, physical properties\, and thereby enhance water quality and land productivity. DTSTAMP:20260613T182144Z LOCATION:W - Invite SUMMARY:Agroforestry for Soil Health - Ranjith Udawatta and Darshani Kumara gamage URL:https://pretalx.earthmonitor.org/soil-health-now-2025/talk/7LQQJ3/ END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:pretalx-soil-health-now-2025-PZWXFA@pretalx.earthmonitor.org DTSTART:20250408T190000Z DTEND:20250408T190400Z DESCRIPTION:Boermarke-Zeijen is a 350-year old farmers collective in the No rth of the Netherlands. The farmer collective\nowns 1200 hectares of land and consists of five dairy farms\, four arable farms\, two mixed farms\, a nd one chicken\nfarm. The farmers are developing economically and ecologic ally sustainable farming practices to strengthen soil\nfertility and biodi versity at company and regional scale. The soils are sandy with peat patch es\, which is\nrepresentative of the soils of the Netherlands. The farmers producing agricultural crops face subsoil compaction\nand soil crusting\, leading to decreased infiltration capacity. Some of the dairy farms face phosphate deficiencies.\nAs part of AI4SoilHealth project\, Planet Labs is teaming up with the farmer collective and the regional water\nboard Noord erzijlvest\, to correlate in-situ measurements with Planet’s satellite d ata products to demonstrate its\nvalue for monitoring and decision making. The farmers have a specific interest in monitoring nutrient fluxes\, soil \nmoisture\, land surface temperature and biomass conditions\, specificall y for the sustainable application of\nfertilizer.\nThe in-situ monitoring network collects location-specific\, real-time information about the weath er outlook\, the\nlevel of surface water and groundwater\, the moisture co ntent of the topsoil and the water quality. Legacy data\nincludes in-situ samples and soil profiles covering a range of soil parameters. A field sam pling campaign is\nplanned in April 2025 to collect the AI4SoilHealth base line indicators (texture\, SOC\, pH\, CEC\, nutrients\, density)\nand addi tional indicators (e.g. enzymatic activity\, eDNA\, Macrofauna\, NIR-spect roscopy).\nWe have used Planet’s high spatial and temporal resolution sa tellite data [Planet Product] to monitor and\ncharacterize the landscape o f Boermarke Zijen\, by looking at Vegetation health [PlanetScope\, Crop Bi omass]\;\nWater balance [Soil Water Content]\; Environmental stresses [Lan d Surface Temperature]\; Soil health [Tanager\,\nSentinel\, PlanetScope] a nd Above ground carbon [Forest Carbon\, Crop Biomass]. With the recent lau nch of\nPlanet’s Hyperspectral Mission Tanager\, the pilot at Boermarken Zijen will also facilitate investigations into the\nfeasibility of soil p roperty estimation using spaceborne hyperspectral sensors. Using our satel lite data products\nin combination with the in-situ sample data\, will eva luate the water regime and the potential and effects of\nyear-round greene ry to address some of the challenges that the farmers at Boermarke Zijen a re facing. DTSTAMP:20260613T182144Z LOCATION:W - Invite SUMMARY:Testing EO products as building blocks for Soil Health Indicators: the AI4SoiHealth pilot site in Boermarke Zijen (Netherlands) - Lexy Rateri ng Arntz\, Piers Holden\, Annett Wania\, Pierre Guillevic\, Jannes Schenke l\, Durk Bakker\, Gerko Brink URL:https://pretalx.earthmonitor.org/soil-health-now-2025/talk/PZWXFA/ END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:pretalx-soil-health-now-2025-SCYMZE@pretalx.earthmonitor.org DTSTART:20250408T191000Z DTEND:20250408T191400Z DESCRIPTION:Biological indicators play a critical role in assessing soil fu nctions and overall soil health\, yet they remain underrepresented compare d to chemical and physical indicators. Soil health is strongly influenced by biological activity\, which is essential for nutrient cycling\, organic matter decomposition\, and overall ecosystem productivity. Extracellular enzymatic activities (EEA)\, in particular\, provide valuable insights int o how soil biological activity responds to external factors such as manage ment practices\, climatic changes\, or pollutants. However\, traditional m ethods for measuring EEA typically require complex laboratory setups\, whi ch limits their application in real-time field assessments.\nIn this study \, we introduce a novel\, laboratory-independent soil enzyme activity read er (SEAR). SEAR utilizes an approach where soil enzymes react with fluorog enic substrates embedded in a transparent gel. Upon contact\, the enzymes catalyze a reaction\, producing fluorescent products that are detected on the opposite side of the gel. This enables a rapid and efficient assessmen t of multiple enzymatic activities\, with the potential for analytical rep licates and controls through the use of reaction plates with multiple gel compartments.\nWe validated SEAR by spiking sand samples with varying conc entrations of different enzymes\, thereby establishing operational limits for rate detection\, precision\, and substrate concentration ranges. Our r esults demonstrate that SEAR performs reliably across a wide range of soil types\, including sandy to silty clay loam soils\, acid forest soils (pH < 4)\, carbonate-containing agricultural soils\, and soils with up to 18% organic carbon content. Furthermore\, the device was tested under various environmental conditions\, including soil moistures ranging from 2% to 173 % of water holding capacity and temperatures from 6°C to 50°C\, successf ully demonstrating its versatility for field applications.\nWith SEAR\, so il EEA measurements can be conducted quickly in the field\, eliminating th e need for laboratory access\, sample storage\, or pretreatment\, which ca n alter results. The use of industrially manufactured reaction plates with strict specifications\, combined with an automated data analysis pipeline \, ensures standardized measurements without requiring specialized laborat ory skills.\nIn conclusion\, SEAR represents a significant advancement in soil biological assessment by enabling fast\, accurate\, and field-ready m easurements of EEA. Its potential for standardization and ease of use posi tions it as a powerful tool for soil scientists and environmental managers to assess soil health and functionality in real time across diverse lands capes and conditions. SEAR will also enable ongoing monitoring of soil bio logical activity\, supporting long-term studies and adaptive management pr actices for sustainable land use. DTSTAMP:20260613T182144Z LOCATION:W - Invite SUMMARY:Novel\, laboratory-independent device to measure extracellular enzy matic activity in soils - Jasmin Fetzer URL:https://pretalx.earthmonitor.org/soil-health-now-2025/talk/SCYMZE/ END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:pretalx-soil-health-now-2025-KYN3TE@pretalx.earthmonitor.org DTSTART:20250408T191500Z DTEND:20250408T191900Z DESCRIPTION:Divya Pandey\, Valentina Tassone\, Camilla Ramezzano\nSocial Sc iences Group (Chair group: Education and Learning Sciences)\, Wageningen U niversity & Research\n\nThe EU project LOESS* aims to identify strategies to reorient education in Europe to strengthen soil health awareness. Here\ , we present findings from research conducted within LOESS\, investigating the current ‘state’ of soil health education and the ‘wishes’ for its transformation across 15 LOESS partner countries. In each country\, a triangulated approach combining desk-research\, one focus group\, and ten interviews was conducted to explore educational design at various levels (primary\, secondary\, tertiary\, vocational and general public) investiga ting six dimensions: purpose (for what)\, collaborations (with whom)\, lea rning space (where)\, learning process (how)\, learning activities\, and p aradigm (from what assumption/worldview). The analyses followed an integra tion of knowledge from academic and practical expertise\, and included a t hematic analysis of focus groups and interviews. \nA key finding was the g eneral absence of the term 'soil health' within educational offerings. Her e\, the term soil (health) encompasses both explicit and broader content r elevant for soil health. Current soil (health) education emphasizes knowle dge acquisition (knowing) and\, to a lesser extent\, skills development (d oing). Fostering personal connections to soil (being) is largely missing. The wishes are to strengthen experiential\, doing-based activities (e.g.\, soil monitoring) and cultivating values and attitudes (being) (e.g.\, car ing for soil) rather than relying on predominantly instructive activities (e.g.\, lectures). Additionally\, there is a strong wish to shift from ind oor (e.g.\, classrooms) to outdoor settings (e.g.\, gardens\, forests) for immersive and sensory-rich learning. This further aligns with the wish to move beyond the dominant mechanistic paradigm—focusing on individual so il components towards an ecological paradigm that acknowledges the soil’ s complexity and interconnections with ecosystems and humans.\nTo bridge t hese gaps changes are needed at the classroom (micro-level) and at system\ , policy and structural level (macro-level). A key micro-level need if to improve educator’s training specifically focusing on soil (health) relat ed content and pedagogical skills for outdoor\, doing-based\, emancipatory and more systems-oriented approaches. At the macro-level\, revising curri cula to explicitly include soil (health) topics and highlight their connec tions to sustainability goals emerged as crucial. Additionally\, structura l support is needed to enhance collaborations and facilitate outdoor learn ing opportunities.\n*https://loess-project.eu/ DTSTAMP:20260613T182144Z LOCATION:W - Invite SUMMARY:Unveiling the State and Wishes for Soil Health Education in Europe. - Divya Pandey URL:https://pretalx.earthmonitor.org/soil-health-now-2025/talk/KYN3TE/ END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:pretalx-soil-health-now-2025-JWRMQA@pretalx.earthmonitor.org DTSTART:20250408T192000Z DTEND:20250408T202000Z DESCRIPTION:The increasing use of neodymium (Nd) in high-tech industries\, particularly in electronics\, renewable energy\, and other advanced techno logies\, raises concerns about their accumulation in soils and potential l ong-term ecological impacts. As demand for these rare earth elements grows \, understanding their environmental fate and behavior is crucial. This st udy assesses the bioavailability\, ecotoxicological effects\, and enzymati c responses in three soils with contrasting properties\, each contaminated with varying concentrations of Nd\, to provide a comprehensive understand ing of their potential toxic or beneficial effects on soils and resident o rganisms. Additionally\, it explores the biogeochemical cycles of these el ements within the technosphere and their possible biological roles. The re sults will help to indicate if Nd\, as a representative technology-critica l element\, is bioavailable\, and therefore accessible for biological upta ke. If so\, we expect that high concentrations of these elements\, due to increased use\, could induce stress responses in soil organisms\, potentia lly disrupting vital metabolic pathways and contributing to a decline in s oil health. Our findings will help elucidate whether Nd\, despite offering technological benefits\, might present ecological challenges if its envir onmental footprint is left unmanaged. Overall\, this study underscores the importance of understanding the behavior of Nd in soil systems—not only to mitigate its potential ecological risks but also to inform future guid elines for sustainable industrial use of these technology-critical element s. DTSTAMP:20260613T182144Z LOCATION:W - Invite SUMMARY:Exploring the Ecological Footprint of Technology-Critical Elements: The Case of Neodymium in Soils - María Higueras Valdivia URL:https://pretalx.earthmonitor.org/soil-health-now-2025/talk/JWRMQA/ END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:pretalx-soil-health-now-2025-9BZRTA@pretalx.earthmonitor.org DTSTART:20250408T192500Z DTEND:20250408T202500Z DESCRIPTION:As soil health becomes a pivotal focus in sustainable agricultu re\, the role of soil functions in delivering ecosystem services has garne red increasing attention. Key soil functions include primary productivity\ , nutrient cycling\, water purification & regulation\, climate regulation & carbon sequestration\, and biodiversity & habitat provision. To evaluate these functions and guide management practices\, we developed a suite of qualitative multi-criteria assessment models tailored to the North China P lain\, building on the EU Soil Navigator framework. These models enable a systematic assessment of soil function performance and support decision-ma king for improved field management.\n\nTo illustrate\, we present the nutr ient cycling model as an example. This approach integrates key inputs—so il properties\, climatic variables\, and agricultural practices—to class ify nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) cycling performance into “Suitable\, ” “Neutral”\, or “Unsuitable” categories. It incorporates hiera rchical evaluations of N and P cycling based on processes related to nutri ent availability\, risk of nutrient losses\, and crop uptake. The framewor k was developed by integrating knowledge from literature\, process-based n utrient models\, and expert judgements. The model was tested using dataset s from long-term field experiments and smallholder farms\, with N and P us e efficiencies serving as proxy indicators. Furthermore\, the model was ap plied to evaluate optimized management strategies\, such as manure applica tion\, enhanced-efficiency fertilizers\, and fertigation\, demonstrating t heir potential to improve nutrient cycling and mitigate environmental risk s.\n\nThe nutrient cycling model is one component of a broader suite of so il health assessment models\, each designed to evaluate a specific soil fu nction. Future integration of these models will provide a comprehensive\, multi-functional evaluation framework for soil health. This example highli ghts the broader potential of our soil health models as diagnostic and pre scriptive tools\, enabling end-users like farmers\, farm advisors\, and re searchers to evaluate soil health and implement targeted interventions tha t enhance soil multifunctionality and promote sustainable agroecosystem ma nagement. DTSTAMP:20260613T182144Z LOCATION:W - Invite SUMMARY:Optimizing nutrient cycling within a soil health assessment framewo rk: A modelling approach - Yizan Li URL:https://pretalx.earthmonitor.org/soil-health-now-2025/talk/9BZRTA/ END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:pretalx-soil-health-now-2025-KAGMDB@pretalx.earthmonitor.org DTSTART:20250408T193000Z DTEND:20250408T193400Z DESCRIPTION:Authors: Ali Sakhaee\, Laura Sofie Harbo\, Florian Schneider\n\ nHigh-resolution spatio-temporal predictions of various soil health indice s\, such as soil organic carbon density (SOCD)\, for the period 2000 to 20 23 have recently been published at a pan-European scale by the AI4SoilHeal th project. These data offer new opportunities to deepen our understanding of changes in soil health indices and address challenges in sustainable l and management by identifying areas at risk of degradation as well as thos e areas with potential for improvement of soil health\, for example by inc reasing SOCD. Such insights are essential for both policymakers and farmer s to make informed\, data-driven decisions to protect and improve soil hea lth in Europe.\nIn this study\, we applied linear regression models to ass ess spatial predictions of soil health indices at 30-meter resolution and to analyze trends over time. Our findings reveal patterns of both increase and decrease of soil health indices across European regions. The largest decrease in SOCD of the top 10 cm of the soil is observed in the eastern and southern parts of Europe\, while the largest increase in SOCD for the same layer is found in northern and central regions of Europe. These insig hts provide a clearer picture of soil health dynamics in Europe and highli ght areas where targeted interventions are crucial for effective soil mana gement for improved soil health. DTSTAMP:20260613T182144Z LOCATION:W - Invite SUMMARY:Soil health trends in Europe - Ali Sakhaee URL:https://pretalx.earthmonitor.org/soil-health-now-2025/talk/KAGMDB/ END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:pretalx-soil-health-now-2025-TTWC8B@pretalx.earthmonitor.org DTSTART:20250408T193500Z DTEND:20250408T193900Z DESCRIPTION:Droughts and heat waves jeopardize terrestrial ecosystem carbon sequestration and hinder EU's goal of being climate-neutral by 2050. Deve loping an open digital twin of the soil-plant system can help monitor and predict the impact of extreme events on ecosystem functioning. We illustra te how our recently developed STEMMUS-SCOPE model\, via linking comprehens ive soil-plant processes to novel satellite observables (e.g. solar-induce d chlorophyll fluorescence)\, contributes to building such a digital twin. This approach allows a mechanistic window for tracking above- and below-g round ecophysiological processes with remote sensing techniques. Following Open Science and FAIR principles for data and research software\, we pres ent the soil-plant digital twin's building blocks that include three pilla rs: process-based soil-plant model\, physics-informed machine learning\, a nd the assimilation of Earth Observation data. \nApplying the soil-plant d igital twin to simulate the ecosystem's water-energy-carbon fluxes facilit ates a swirled evolving loop between the digital twin and the soil-plant p hysical twin\, in terms of enhancing the digital representation of physica l system. Such swirled evolving process pushes the frontiers of process-ba sed model developments\, for example\, to include dynamic vegetation growt h\, integrated unsaturated-saturated processes\, and explicit plant hydrau lic pathways into the STEMMUS-SCOPE model. However\, it also leads to a ma jor bottleneck of applying such advanced process-based model at regional t o global scale\, due to the expensive computational cost. The machine lear ning algorithm helps enable a computationally effective yet physically con sistent technique to approximate the original model with a surrogate model to bypass such computational burden. This study emphasizes the importance of FAIR-enabling digital technologies\, which translate research needs an d developments into reproducible and reusable software\, data and knowledg e. DTSTAMP:20260613T182144Z LOCATION:W - Invite SUMMARY:Towards a Climate-Resilient Production System with the Soil-Plant D igital Twin based on STEMMUS-SCOPE Model - Yijian URL:https://pretalx.earthmonitor.org/soil-health-now-2025/talk/TTWC8B/ END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:pretalx-soil-health-now-2025-R8R9GT@pretalx.earthmonitor.org DTSTART:20250408T194000Z DTEND:20250408T194400Z DESCRIPTION:This study presents an integrated data preprocessing framework tailored to monitor peatland degradation across diverse climate zones\, le veraging the high-resolution capabilities of hyperspectral imagery\, Synth etic Aperture Radar (SAR)\, and LiDAR data. Peatlands are vital carbon sin ks that face threats from environmental changes and human activities\, mak ing their effective monitoring critical. However\, differences in climate and ecosystem characteristics across peatland zones\, from temperate to bo real\, pose unique challenges in data integration and preprocessing. We ad dress these by aligning multi-sensor data sources to enable seamless analy sis of peatland degradation patterns.\n\nTo capture intricate peatland fea tures\, we incorporate spectral bands from hyperspectral sensors\, SAR dat a for moisture and structural insights\, and LiDAR data to detail elevatio n and topographic changes. Our data integration strategy harmonizes these data layers\, facilitating a multi-dimensional view of peatland health. Fu rthermore\, preprocessing steps are adapted based on climate zone characte ristics\, accounting for variations in spectral reflectance\, moisture con tent\, and vegetation structure typical of each zone. This climate-sensiti ve approach addresses issues in standardizing data resolution and spectral calibration\, enhancing the accuracy of degradation assessments.\n\nTo st reamline the high-dimensional data and retain critical spectral informatio n\, we utilize autoencoders and deep autoencoders. These deep learning mod els effectively reduce data complexity\, extracting essential spectral sig natures that characterize peatland degradation indicators without signific ant information loss. This approach ensures a rich yet manageable dataset that supports fine-grained analysis across different peatland types.\n\nOv erall\, this framework provides a robust foundation for analyzing peatland degradation\, offering climate-specific\, high-resolution insights critic al for conservation and sustainable land management. By enhancing peatland monitoring across diverse environmental conditions\, the proposed methodo logy facilitates more informed decision-making in peatland preservation ef forts. DTSTAMP:20260613T182144Z LOCATION:W - Invite SUMMARY:Integrated Multi-Sensor Data Preparation Framework for Climate-Spec ific Peatland Degradation Monitoring - Harsha Vardhan Kaparthi URL:https://pretalx.earthmonitor.org/soil-health-now-2025/talk/R8R9GT/ END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:pretalx-soil-health-now-2025-L9REDV@pretalx.earthmonitor.org DTSTART:20250408T195000Z DTEND:20250408T195400Z DESCRIPTION:Authors: \nPatrik Heintze (1\,2)\, Amirhossein Hassani (3)\, P anos Panagos (4)\, Alberto Orgiazzi (4\,5)\, Julia Köninger (6)\, Maëva Labouyrie (4\,7\,8)\, Nima Shokri (1\,2) \n1 Institute of Geo‐Hydroinfo rmatics\, Hamburg University of Technology\, Hamburg\, Germany. \n2 Unite d Nations University Hub on Engineering to Face Climate Change at the Hamb urg University of Technology\, United Nations University Institute for Wat er\, Environment and Health (UNU‐INWEH)\, Hamburg\, Germany. \n3 The Cl imate and Environmental Research Institute NILU\, Kjeller\, Norway. \n4 E uropean Commission\, Joint Research Centre (JRC)\, Ispra\, VA\, Italy. \n 5 European Dynamics\, Brussels\, Belgium. \n6 Departamento de Ecología y Biología Animal\, Universidade de Vigo\, Vigo\, Spain. \n7 Department o f Plant and Microbial Biology\, University of Zurich\, Zurich\, Switzerlan d. \n8 Plant-Soil-Interactions\, Research Division Agroecology and Enviro nment\, Agroscope\, Zurich\, Switzerland. \n\nDiverse microbial communiti es are fundamental to healthy and productive soils\, accommodating essenti al ecosystem services including nutrient cycling\, organic matter decompos ition\, land-atmosphere carbon exchange\, water and climate regulation\, a nd contaminant control. The immense taxonomic and functional diversity of soil microorganisms makes deciphering the intricate interactions between s oil\, its inhabitants\, and the far-extending effects for life on earth a complex challenge. Advances in the analysis of eDNA\, like metabarcoding t o determine community composition from soil samples\, enable large-scale a ssessments across manifold habitat conditions. Based on the LUCAS 2018 soi l biodiversity datasets\, we aim to (i) identify key drivers shaping soil microbial community composition\, and (ii) quantify marginal changes in so il microbial abundance\, richness\, and diversity forced by soil propertie s\, climatic\, and anthropogenic pressures. To improve the understanding o f interactions between external drivers and soil microbial communities\, w e employ machine learning algorithms\, in particular generalized additive models for increased interpretability (Hassani et al.\, 2024)\, to investi gate and identify the parameters influencing the observed soil microbial d iversity and richness in the LUCAS datasets. Our modeling efforts will ena ble us to predict changes in soil biodiversity under the influence of anth ropogenic pressures and projected climate scenarios. Such an analysis can further support decision-making in land management with potential policy i mplications on a pan-European scale.\n\nReferences\nHassani\, A.\, Smith\, P.\, & Shokri\, N. (2024). Negative correlation between soil salinity and soil organic carbon variability. Proceedings of the National Academy of S ciences\, 121(18)\, e2317332121. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2317332121 DTSTAMP:20260613T182144Z LOCATION:W - Invite SUMMARY:Effects of soil\, climatic\, and anthropogenic drivers on the abund ance\, richness\, and diversity of soil microbial communities: A European perspective - Patrik Heintze URL:https://pretalx.earthmonitor.org/soil-health-now-2025/talk/L9REDV/ END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:pretalx-soil-health-now-2025-EZGZKN@pretalx.earthmonitor.org DTSTART:20250409T093000Z DTEND:20250409T100000Z DESCRIPTION:Please include an abstract at your earliest convenience. This t ext is merely descriptive and should be replaced before the official progr am is published.Please include an abstract at your earliest convenience. T his text is merely descriptive and should be replaced before the official program is published.Please include an abstract at your earliest convenien ce. This text is merely descriptive and should be replaced before the offi cial program is published.Please include an abstract at your earliest conv enience. This text is merely descriptive and should be replaced before the official program is published.Please include an abstract at your earliest convenience. This text is merely descriptive and should be replaced befor e the official program is published.Please include an abstract at your ear liest convenience. This text is merely descriptive and should be replaced before the official program is published.Please include an abstract at you r earliest convenience. This text is merely descriptive and should be repl aced before the official program is published.Please include an abstract a t your earliest convenience. This text is merely descriptive and should be replaced before the official program is published.Please include an abstr act at your earliest convenience. This text is merely descriptive and shou ld be replaced before the official program is published.Please include an abstract at your earliest convenience. This text is merely descriptive and should be replaced before the official program is published.Please includ e an abstract at your earliest convenience. This text is merely descriptiv e and should be replaced before the official program is published.Please i nclude an abstract at your earliest convenience. This text is merely descr iptive and should be replaced before the official program is published. DTSTAMP:20260613T182144Z LOCATION:HugoTECH SUMMARY:Creating a business case for soil health in food and ag value chain s - Anne-Sophie Leroy URL:https://pretalx.earthmonitor.org/soil-health-now-2025/talk/EZGZKN/ END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:pretalx-soil-health-now-2025-EVDXRU@pretalx.earthmonitor.org DTSTART:20250409T100000Z DTEND:20250409T103000Z DESCRIPTION:Soil as an Asset Class\nCentering science\, stewardship\, and t he farmer’s voice\n\nAs soil emerges on the radar of global markets and sustainability metrics\, this keynote reframes it not just as a carbon sin k or yield substrate — but as a living\, multifunctional asset. It chall enges us to go beyond measurement and toward meaning: recognizing that tru e soil health cannot be divorced from the people who steward it. Blending scientific rigor with the lived wisdom of farmers\, this talk explores how epistemic humility\, systems thinking\, and inclusive research can shape a regenerative future — one where soil is valued\, not just valued at.\n \nSoil as an Asset Class\nCentering science\, stewardship\, and the farmer ’s voice\n\nAs soil emerges on the radar of global markets and sustainab ility metrics\, this keynote reframes it not just as a carbon sink or yiel d substrate — but as a living\, multifunctional asset. It challenges us to go beyond measurement and toward meaning: recognizing that true soil he alth cannot be divorced from the people who steward it. Blending scientifi c rigor with the lived wisdom of farmers\, this talk explores how epistemi c humility\, systems thinking\, and inclusive research can shape a regener ative future — one where soil is valued\, not just valued at. DTSTAMP:20260613T182144Z LOCATION:HugoTECH SUMMARY:Soil as an asset class - Anouk Schoors URL:https://pretalx.earthmonitor.org/soil-health-now-2025/talk/EVDXRU/ END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:pretalx-soil-health-now-2025-U7MKG8@pretalx.earthmonitor.org DTSTART:20250409T103000Z DTEND:20250409T110000Z DESCRIPTION:Please include an abstract at your earliest convenience. This t ext is merely descriptive and should be replaced before the official progr am is published.Please include an abstract at your earliest convenience. T his text is merely descriptive and should be replaced before the official program is published.Please include an abstract at your earliest convenien ce. This text is merely descriptive and should be replaced before the offi cial program is published.Please include an abstract at your earliest conv enience. This text is merely descriptive and should be replaced before the official program is published.Please include an abstract at your earliest convenience. This text is merely descriptive and should be replaced befor e the official program is published.Please include an abstract at your ear liest convenience. This text is merely descriptive and should be replaced before the official program is published.Please include an abstract at you r earliest convenience. This text is merely descriptive and should be repl aced before the official program is published.Please include an abstract a t your earliest convenience. This text is merely descriptive and should be replaced before the official program is published.Please include an abstr act at your earliest convenience. This text is merely descriptive and shou ld be replaced before the official program is published.Please include an abstract at your earliest convenience. This text is merely descriptive and should be replaced before the official program is published.Please includ e an abstract at your earliest convenience. This text is merely descriptiv e and should be replaced before the official program is published.Please i nclude an abstract at your earliest convenience. This text is merely descr iptive and should be replaced before the official program is published. DTSTAMP:20260613T182144Z LOCATION:HugoTECH SUMMARY:Soil improvement meets social innovation - Geert van der Veer URL:https://pretalx.earthmonitor.org/soil-health-now-2025/talk/U7MKG8/ END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:pretalx-soil-health-now-2025-8FM8PN@pretalx.earthmonitor.org DTSTART:20250409T113000Z DTEND:20250409T120000Z DESCRIPTION:Please include an abstract at your earliest convenience. This t ext is merely descriptive and should be replaced before the official progr am is published.Please include an abstract at your earliest convenience. T his text is merely descriptive and should be replaced before the official program is published.Please include an abstract at your earliest convenien ce. This text is merely descriptive and should be replaced before the offi cial program is published.Please include an abstract at your earliest conv enience. This text is merely descriptive and should be replaced before the official program is published.Please include an abstract at your earliest convenience. This text is merely descriptive and should be replaced befor e the official program is published.Please include an abstract at your ear liest convenience. This text is merely descriptive and should be replaced before the official program is published.Please include an abstract at you r earliest convenience. This text is merely descriptive and should be repl aced before the official program is published.Please include an abstract a t your earliest convenience. This text is merely descriptive and should be replaced before the official program is published.Please include an abstr act at your earliest convenience. This text is merely descriptive and shou ld be replaced before the official program is published.Please include an abstract at your earliest convenience. This text is merely descriptive and should be replaced before the official program is published.Please includ e an abstract at your earliest convenience. This text is merely descriptiv e and should be replaced before the official program is published.Please i nclude an abstract at your earliest convenience. This text is merely descr iptive and should be replaced before the official program is published. DTSTAMP:20260613T182144Z LOCATION:HugoTECH SUMMARY:What lies beneath: using biodiversity to understand and measure soi l health - Kat Bruce URL:https://pretalx.earthmonitor.org/soil-health-now-2025/talk/8FM8PN/ END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:pretalx-soil-health-now-2025-ZCHNJU@pretalx.earthmonitor.org DTSTART:20250409T140000Z DTEND:20250409T153000Z DESCRIPTION:Automated Machine Learning (AutoML) is today of interest to man y production teams looking for faster and more robust data production (see e.g. https://youtu.be/aiM_9r5strw). Large-scale soil property mapping is challenging due to the significant computational resources required and th e extensive human effort needed to locate\, harmonize\, and prepare data ( including measurements and covariates) that align with the target spatial and temporal modeling scales. To address these challenges\, we developed a modular framework EO-soilmapper that automates the workflow as much as po ssible (read more in: https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-5128244/v1). Our fr amework introduces three main components: (1) ready-to-use EU-scale covari ate layers—a comprehensive and consistent set of covariates along with t he process for their preparation\, (2) a harmonized EU soil property point database that integrates and quality-controls soil point data from multip le sources\, and (3) “scikit-map” (https://github.com/openlandmap/scik it-map) a Python package that enables a highly automated execution pipelin e\, minimizing manual operation. Scikit-map supports spatial-temporal poin t overlay\, spatial machine learning\, spatial-temporal mapping\, parallel ized processing\, etc. Together\, these components streamline workflows\, reduce manual input\, and ensure consistency across large datasets. These tools and resources can be readily adapted for other machine learning appl ications in environmental modeling and mapping\, further supporting the op en-source soil data communities. DTSTAMP:20260613T182144Z LOCATION:Expert Room 7 SUMMARY:Automated Machine Learning for soil data: EO-soilmapper - Xuemeng T ian URL:https://pretalx.earthmonitor.org/soil-health-now-2025/talk/ZCHNJU/ END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:pretalx-soil-health-now-2025-H7T7PY@pretalx.earthmonitor.org DTSTART:20250409T140000Z DTEND:20250409T141500Z DESCRIPTION:Soil water repellency (SWR) significantly impacts water infiltr ation and soil health\, influencing ecological processes across various ha bitats. Although many of the mechanisms behind SWR are still unclear\, stu dies have shown that different soil and biological properties influence SW R. Hydrophobic compounds produced by plants and microorganisms can increas e SWR\, but microorganisms can also reduce SWR by degrading the compounds. While several studies have examined SWR in agricultural soils\, fewer stu dies have focused on natural habitats. This study investigates the relatio nship between soil properties\, prokaryotic communities\, and potential SW R in soil samples collected from natural and semi-natural habitats across Denmark. We analysed 1\,153 soil samples covering 33 habitat types to exam ine how well SWR can be explained by the soil’s prokaryotic communities and other selected soil properties. Furthermore\, we assessed the degree o f SWR in the habitats and identified prokaryotic genera indicating a speci fic degree of SWR. Our findings highlight the influence of prokaryotic com munities on the degree of SWR while confirming the relationship between SW R and carbon content. Using path model analysis\, we show that both biotic and abiotic factors contribute significantly to SWR. A model including pH \, electrical conductivity (EC)\, total carbon content (TC)\, and prokaryo tic community composition (β-diversity) could explain ~50% of the variati on in SWR\, with β-diversity and TC being the most important properties. Furthermore\, we reveal distinct variations in SWR across habitat types\, which cover a wide range of hydrophobicity\, from hydrophilic to strongly hydrophobic. Prokaryotic α-diversity was negatively correlated to the deg ree of SWR\, and we found a clear gradient in β-diversity from the highes t to the lowest degree of SWR. The degree of SWR was divided into classes\ , and we identified 69 genera indicating one or a combination of the SWR c lasses\, which could potentially be used as indicators of the degree of SW R. This research underscores the importance of including the microbial com munities in studies examining SWR. In perspective\, the observed relations between SWR and soil prokaryotic diversity and community composition also imply SWR could become a key biophysical indicator of soil health. DTSTAMP:20260613T182144Z LOCATION:Expert Room 11 SUMMARY:Soil water repellency in natural and semi-natural habitats is influ enced by carbon and prokaryotic communities - Anne-Cathrine Storgaard Dani elsen URL:https://pretalx.earthmonitor.org/soil-health-now-2025/talk/H7T7PY/ END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:pretalx-soil-health-now-2025-TKTVFU@pretalx.earthmonitor.org DTSTART:20250409T140000Z DTEND:20250409T141500Z DESCRIPTION:Please include an abstract at your earliest convenience. This t ext is merely descriptive and should be replaced before the official progr am is published.Please include an abstract at your earliest convenience. T his text is merely descriptive and should be replaced before the official program is published.Please include an abstract at your earliest convenien ce. This text is merely descriptive and should be replaced before the offi cial program is published.Please include an abstract at your earliest conv enience. This text is merely descriptive and should be replaced before the official program is published.Please include an abstract at your earliest convenience. This text is merely descriptive and should be replaced befor e the official program is published.Please include an abstract at your ear liest convenience. This text is merely descriptive and should be replaced before the official program is published.Please include an abstract at you r earliest convenience. This text is merely descriptive and should be repl aced before the official program is published.Please include an abstract a t your earliest convenience. This text is merely descriptive and should be replaced before the official program is published.Please include an abstr act at your earliest convenience. This text is merely descriptive and shou ld be replaced before the official program is published.Please include an abstract at your earliest convenience. This text is merely descriptive and should be replaced before the official program is published.Please includ e an abstract at your earliest convenience. This text is merely descriptiv e and should be replaced before the official program is published.Please i nclude an abstract at your earliest convenience. This text is merely descr iptive and should be replaced before the official program is published. DTSTAMP:20260613T182144Z LOCATION:HugoTECH SUMMARY:An intergenerational Soil Carbon Registry for Europe - Ichsani Whee ler URL:https://pretalx.earthmonitor.org/soil-health-now-2025/talk/TKTVFU/ END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:pretalx-soil-health-now-2025-93MMAV@pretalx.earthmonitor.org DTSTART:20250409T141500Z DTEND:20250409T143000Z DESCRIPTION:Increasing soil organic carbon (SOC) confers benefits to soil h ealth\, biodiversity\, underpins carbon sequestration and ameliorates land degradation. One recommendation is to increase SOC such that the SOC to c lay ratio (SOC/clay) exceeds 1/13\, yet normalising SOC levels based on cl ay alone gives misleading indications of soil structure and the potential to store additional carbon. Building on work by Poeplau & Don (2023) to be nchmark observed against predicted SOC\, we advance an alternative indicat or: the ratio between observed and “typical” SOC (O/T SOC) for pan-Eur opean application. Here\, “typical” SOC is the average concentration i n different pedo-climate zones\, PCZs (which\, unlike existing SOC indicat ors\, incorporate land cover and climate\, alongside soil texture) across Europe\, determined from mineral (<20 % organic matter) topsoils (0–20 c m) sampled during 2009–2018 in LUCAS\, Europe's largest soil monitoring scheme (n = 19\,855). Regression tree modelling derived 12 PCZs\, with typ ical SOC values ranging 5.99–39.65 g/kg. New index classes for compariso n with SOC/clay grades were established from the quartiles of each PCZ's O /T SOC distribution\; these were termed: “Low” (below the 25th percent ile)\, “Intermediate” (between the 25th and 50th percentiles)\, “Hig h” (between the 50th and 75th percentiles)\, and “Very high” (above the 75th percentile). Compared with SOC/clay\, O/T SOC was less sensitive to clay content\, land cover\, and climate\, less geographically skewed\, and better reflected differences in soil porosity and SOC stock\, supporti ng 2 EU Soil Health Mission objectives (consolidating SOC stocks\; improvi ng soil structure for crops and biota). These patterns held for 2 independ ent datasets\, and O/T SOC grades were sensitive enough to reflect land ma nagement differences across several long-term field experiments. O/T SOC u sed in conjunction with several other physical\, chemical and biological s oil health indicators can help support the EU Soil Monitoring Law and achi eve several United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. DTSTAMP:20260613T182144Z LOCATION:Expert Room 11 SUMMARY:Benchmarking soil organic carbon (SOC) concentration provides more robust soil health assessment than the SOC/clay ratio at European scale - Chris Feeney URL:https://pretalx.earthmonitor.org/soil-health-now-2025/talk/93MMAV/ END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:pretalx-soil-health-now-2025-DBYBZN@pretalx.earthmonitor.org DTSTART:20250409T141500Z DTEND:20250409T143000Z DESCRIPTION:SOILCRATES is a project funded by HORIZON Research and Innovati on to support the implementation of mission A Soil Deal for Europe\, runni ng in 2024-2028 and focused on developing innovative solutions to enhance soil quality and promote sustainable soil management practices. Collaborat ing with leading experts\, researchers\, and living labs\, SOILCRATES aims to address critical challenges related to soil health\, biodiversity\, an d ecosystem services.\n\n \n\nInspired by Socrates’ philosophy of inquir y\, dialogue and collective learning\, SOILCRATES (Soil-crates) is a colla borative project focused on restoring and preserving soil quality across E urope by developing soil literacy and monitoring soil structure\, soil lif e\, and crop-growing conditions of mineral soils. With 21 partners\, from academia\, agricultural stakeholders\, and local authorities\, SOILCRATES co-creates\, tests and implements sustainable soil practices. This initiat ive addresses the pressing need to manage soil as a living resource\, esse ntial to food security\, biodiversity\, and climate resilience.\n\n \n\nSO ILCRATES aims at establishing 4 regional and interconnected user-centred L iving Labs (LLs) in\n\nFrance (Landes)\, Spain (Granada)\, Ireland (Southw est Ireland) and the Northern Netherlands (Fryslân\, Groningen\, Drenthe) . The 4 Living Labs aim to function as user-centred\, place-based and tran sdisciplinary research and innovation ecosystems that involve multiple par tners (e.g.\, land managers\, scientists\, citizens\, businesses\, and loc al authorities) to co-design\, test\, monitor and evaluate solutions in re al-life settings for improving soil health. With an integrated approach\, the project enables the co-development of solutions in the LL and testing and replication in the Experimental Sites and Lighthouses. DTSTAMP:20260613T182144Z LOCATION:HugoTECH SUMMARY:SOILCRATES: SOil Innovation Labs: Co-Regenerating And Transforming European Soils - Ciska Nienhuis\, Marjoleine Hanegraaf\, Emiel Elferink\, Jildou de Raad URL:https://pretalx.earthmonitor.org/soil-health-now-2025/talk/DBYBZN/ END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:pretalx-soil-health-now-2025-PNTQN3@pretalx.earthmonitor.org DTSTART:20250409T143000Z DTEND:20250409T144500Z DESCRIPTION:Soil microorganisms are strongly impacted by anthropogenic acti vities and the ongoing global climate change [1]. Understanding the how mi crobial information may be used to support soil health assessments is cruc ial for both scientific and policy perspectives to anticipate the function al consequences of future climatic conditions or land use pressures on soi l systems [2].\nMeasurements of soil biology are similar to soil physical and chemical properties in that the interpretation of what constitutes a " good" level for soil health is highly context-specific [3]. The taxonomic and functional diversity of soil microbiome is closely linked to soil heal th due to soil’s role in dynamic ecosystem processes and the biota’s s ensitivity to land management practices [4]. Therefore\, selecting microbi al metrics to measure soil health depends on the specific soil\, site\, an d aspects of interest.\nDenmark is responding to the growing number of EU initiatives to protect soils and the environment by gathering data on comp lex soil properties that provide a richer picture of soil health. We colle cted over 7000 topsoil samples from natural and agricultural areas across Denmark\, and analyzed their bacterial composition through a DNA metabarco ding approach. We calculated α-diversity and potential functions to bacte rial communities. We used spatial layers of soil properties\, climate\, ve getation\, geomorphology\, and parent materials to map the α-diversity\, and the relative abundance of denitrifiers\, methanotrophs and nitrite-oxi dizing bacteria.\nWe used spatialized soil health indicators namely\, SOC concentration\, bulk density\, pH\, EC\, soil hydrophobicity\, SOC sequest ration potential\, tillage erosion\, water erosion\, and nitrogen leaching to map the simultaneous presence of potential threats to soil health in D enmark. We considered potential threats to those soils characterized by be low-typical SOC and pH values\, and above-typical values of pH\, BD\, EC c lay-to-SOC ratio\, soil hydrophobicity\, SOC loss\, tillage erosion\, wate r erosion\, and nitrogen leaching. We did not directly include the soil mi crobial data as soil health indicator. Instead\, we explored the relations hip between potential threats and our microbial data to understand how tax onomical and functional diversity respond to different soil degradation co nditions.\nThe α-diversity and the relative abundance of functional group s did not decrease as the potential threats to soil health increased. It i s possible that threatening soil conditions\, which may physically or chem ically inhibit\, injure\, or eliminate certain microbial communities\, cre ate opportunities for other organisms to grow and reproduce\, thereby incr easing diversity in these areas. DTSTAMP:20260613T182144Z LOCATION:HugoTECH SUMMARY:How to use microbial data as soil health indicators – experiences from Denmark - Sebastian Gutierrez URL:https://pretalx.earthmonitor.org/soil-health-now-2025/talk/PNTQN3/ END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:pretalx-soil-health-now-2025-JQ7MYR@pretalx.earthmonitor.org DTSTART:20250409T143000Z DTEND:20250409T144500Z DESCRIPTION:Remediation strategies for metal(loid)-polluted soils can be ba sed on physical\, chemical\, and biological approaches\, as well as on the combination of these. The present work evaluates the effectiveness of a s et of soil remediation treatments for restoring soil health in degraded so ils consisting of the combined application of inorganic and organic amendm ents (marble sludge\, vermicompost\, and dry olive residue [DOR] biotransf ormed by the saprobic fungi Coriolopsis rigida and Coprinellus radians) an d the inoculation of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMFs) (Rhizophagus irre gularis and Rhizoglomus custos). These treatments were applied under green house conditions to soil residually polluted by metal(loid)s including Pb\ , As\, Zn\, Cu\, Cd\, and Sb\, and wheat was cultivated in the amended soi ls to test the effectiveness of the treatments in reducing soil toxicity a nd improving soil and plant health. In this sense\, the influence of the t reatments on the main soil properties and microbial activities was evaluat ed\, as well as on PTE availability and bioaccumulation in wheat plants. O verall\, all treatments showed a positive influence in terms of soil prope rties improvement\, while those combining marble and biotransformed DOR as organic amendment were the most effective in improving soil biological st atus\, promoting plant growth and survival\, and reducing PTE availability and plant uptake. Furthermore\, AMF inoculation further enhanced the effi cacy of DOR amendments by promoting the immobilization of PTEs in soil and stimulating the phytostabilization mechanisms induced by AMFs\, thus play ing an important bioprotective role in plants. In conclusion\, these findi ngs indicate that biotransformed DOR may represent an efficient product fo r use as a soil organic amendment for the remediation of metal(loid)-pollu ted soils\, and that its application in combination with AMFs may represen t a promising sustainable bioremediation strategy for recovering soil heal th and functions in polluted areas. DTSTAMP:20260613T182144Z LOCATION:Expert Room 11 SUMMARY:Symbiotic microorganisms as a tool for recovering soil health in he avily polluted sites - Mario Paniagua-López URL:https://pretalx.earthmonitor.org/soil-health-now-2025/talk/JQ7MYR/ END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:pretalx-soil-health-now-2025-ZXTYNE@pretalx.earthmonitor.org DTSTART:20250409T144500Z DTEND:20250409T150000Z DESCRIPTION:Fertilizers play a significant role in ensuring food security a nd building soil health\, but excess nutrients pose a risk for water quali ty. Chemical fertilizers provide nutrients in plant-available form to feed the crop\, and they are widely used to increase crop yield. Organic ferti lizers\, on the other hand\, provide fewer quickly available nutrients\, b ut they do provide organic matter to build the soil. This organic matter h as positive impacts on soil structure\, soil biology\, and soil water hold ing capacity\, and it delivers nutrients to the crops after mineralization . To investigate the long-term effect of different fertilization strategie s we tested the following the following hypotheses: Fertilizers that prima rily feed the crop do initially have high yields\, but they see decreasing yields over time. On the other hand\, fertilizers that primarily build th e soil do initially have low yields\, because of the low availability of n utrients\, while the yields increase over time\, with increasing soil heal th\, and mineralization of nutrients from the organic matter.\n\nTo test t hese hypotheses\, a twenty year-long field experiment was set up in Flevol and\, the Netherlands. The experiment was carried out on a working organic farm\, where our study plots were part of the standard crop rotation on t he farm. Eight different strategies were tested\, including artificial fer tilizer\, different manures\, and composts. \n\nThe results show that yiel d is comparable for fertilizers that primarily build the soil and fertiliz ers that primarily feed the crop\, while the combined treatment has signif icantly higher yields. We find that building soil health can significantly increase crop yield\, both on the short-term and on the long-term. Howeve r\, yields remained low for fertilizers with a sole focus on building the soil\, because even after twenty years of high organic matter application\ , they do not provide enough plant-available nutrients. We conclude that a (partial) substitution of chemical fertilizers with organic fertilizers can contribute to crop yield and soil health\, while it has further enviro nmental benefits such as lowering the sector’s carbon footprint. DTSTAMP:20260613T182144Z LOCATION:HugoTECH SUMMARY:Fertilize to feed the crop or build soil health? - Anne Hoek van Di jke URL:https://pretalx.earthmonitor.org/soil-health-now-2025/talk/ZXTYNE/ END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:pretalx-soil-health-now-2025-8JAHSK@pretalx.earthmonitor.org DTSTART:20250409T144500Z DTEND:20250409T150000Z DESCRIPTION:The use of traditional tillage as a management tool for agricul tural soils is a technique that can negatively influence soil quality due to erosion and the loss of organic carbon (SOC)\, nutrients\, and biodiver sity. The use of cover crops (CC) can increase the SOC and produces a casc ade of benefits in soil structure\, water storage\, or biodiversity. In t his context\, the EJP Soil SANCHOSTHIRST project (Cover crops (CC) ANd soi l health and climAte CHaNge adaptatiOn in Semiarid woody crops. THe RemOte SensIng and furTHer scenaRIoS projecTions) aims to delve deeper into the advantages that could be provided by the use of management methods other t han traditional tillage in woody crops. One of the aspects taken into acco unt by this project is the study of microbiological activity through the a nalysis of enzymatic activities related to the main nutrient cycles. This paper presents the preliminary results obtained in the study of the enzyma tic activities of b-glucosidase (related to the C cycle)\, phosphatase (re lated to the P cycle)\, urease (related to the N cycle) and arylsulfatase (related to the sulfur cycle) in four vineyard sites in Spain. In each of the sites\, sampling was carried out in nearby plots\, one with traditiona l tillage and another with cover crops\, taking three sampling points in e ach of the plots at two depths (0-10 cm and 10-30 cm). The samples taken w ere kept refrigerated until the analysis was carried out and the indicated enzymatic activities were determined following the ISO 20130 standard in the fraction < 2 mm. In all the cases studied\, the enzymatic activities w ere higher in the samples from the plots with cover crops\, especially at the depth of 0-10 cm. The coefficient of variation of the analyzed enzymat ic activities was lower in traditional tillage soils\, which could indicat e that in soils under this type of management the microbial population is affected by reducing its activity and diversity\, while on the contrary\, in soils under cover crops the higher coefficient of variation would indic ate a greater variability in the enzymatic activity and possibly a greater biodiversity. DTSTAMP:20260613T182144Z LOCATION:Expert Room 11 SUMMARY:Influence of cover crops on the enzymatic activity of vineyards in a semi-arid climate (SANCHOSTHIRST project) - Juan Pedro Martín Sanz URL:https://pretalx.earthmonitor.org/soil-health-now-2025/talk/8JAHSK/ END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:pretalx-soil-health-now-2025-TLNDFV@pretalx.earthmonitor.org DTSTART:20250409T150000Z DTEND:20250409T151500Z DESCRIPTION:To address the challenge of soil degradation among different la nd uses\, development of precise indicators that accurately reflect the cu rrent state of soil health is crucial. Soil structural attributes\, such a s the volume of percolating pores and the connectivity of the pore network are inextricably linked to processes such as nutrient dynamics\, carbon c ycling\, root penetration\, biological activity\, and rainfall partitionin g. These attributes are directly reflected in the hydraulic properties of the soil\, particularly water infiltration and retention. However\, these structural attributes typically have to be quantified using costly and tim e-consuming imaging methods\, while obtaining accurate estimates in lab an d field experiments has proven challenging. Our multilevel approach is des igned to link directly measured structural attributes (macropore volume an d connectivity) to standard field or lab measurements.\nMore specifically\ , macropore volume and connectivity were quantified using X-ray imaging ac ross diverse land use types\, including arable land\, grassland\, and fore st. Structural characteristics were then correlated with key hydraulic pro perties\, such as water retention and both saturated and unsaturated hydra ulic conductivity\, measured using Hyprop system. We further compared the imaged and measured hydraulic properties with predictions from the Europea n soil texture-based pedotransfer function EUPTF\, to contrast texture- an d structure-related soil hydraulic properties. As an additional explorator y angle\, we related mid-infrared (MIR) spectral reflectance to our previo usly obtained hydraulic property data\, to evaluate if MIR could serve as a less laborious alternative to traditional lab-based analyses. Finally\, to develop applicable user-friendly and sensitive indicators\, we correlat ed our findings with the classifications from in-situ Visual Evaluation of Soil Structure (VESS) and infiltration experiments.\nResults of X-ray CT data and Hyprop measurements revealed significant differences in the volum etric fraction and drainage capacity of macropores as well as in the satur ated hydraulic conductivity between arable land\, grassland\, and forest. Forest soil showed the largest drainage capacity of macropores\, but also the largest variability between samples. Despite exhibiting similar pore s ize distributions\, arable land samples showed\, as a result of tillage\, larger pore connectivity than grassland. Larger connectivity did\, interes tingly\, not result in larger hydraulic conductivity of macropores. \nOur novel multilevel approach reveals clear distinction of land use regarding the complex interplay between soil structural continuity\, soil texture\, and hydraulic behavior. Such knowledge is crucial in formulating sensitiv e\, quantifiable\, and scalable soil health indicators. DTSTAMP:20260613T182144Z LOCATION:HugoTECH SUMMARY:Bridging the Gap: A Multilevel Approach to Soil Health Assessment a cross Various Land Uses - Niklas Schmücker URL:https://pretalx.earthmonitor.org/soil-health-now-2025/talk/TLNDFV/ END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:pretalx-soil-health-now-2025-FXFPWU@pretalx.earthmonitor.org DTSTART:20250409T150000Z DTEND:20250409T151500Z DESCRIPTION:1. Healthy soils are essential for food production\, carbon and water storage and buffering climatic change. As the majority of soils are currently considered unhealthy\, evaluation of restoration and management practices requires the regular and systematic monitoring of the physical\ , chemical\, and biological conditions of soil and their overall status. T o implement this practice\, it is essential to have standardized methods t o measure a comprehensive set of physical\, chemical and biological indica tors\, alongside conventional soil descriptions. Here\, we present a harmo nised protocol for the planning of systematic soil monitoring across conti nental scales at a single timepoint\, from site selection\, sampling to da ta generation. This approach will allow for data integration and produce i nformative outputs for stakeholders\, researchers\, landowners and policym akers. \n2. Our proposed sampling and processing techniques will minimise methodological and sampling bias by monitoring soils with particular focu s on soil faunal and microbial biodiversity. These are evaluated against e xisting methodologies\, data resources\, and monitoring efforts.\n3. The p roposed methodology is based on national and European soil research approa ches and has been successfully applied in the HORIZON 2020 Soil Missions f unded project “Soil Biodiversity into Ecosystem Services” (SOB4ES) tha t is developing cost-effective biotic and abiotic indicators of soil condi tions across land-use types\, intensities and pedoclimatic zones covering 12 European nations.\n4. Standardised soil monitoring protocols that comb ine a comprehensive set of soil parameters with total soil biodiversity ac ross the trophic web are key to gathering datasets comparable across a ran ge of ecosystem types. This will enable robust evaluation of soil conditio n in respect to management practices\, environmental policy\, and response s to natural and human-induced environmental change. DTSTAMP:20260613T182144Z LOCATION:Expert Room 11 SUMMARY:Soil monitoring: standardised protocols for the assessment of biodi versity and ecosystem services [Soil Health and Restoration Evaluation\; S HARE protocols] - Giles Ross URL:https://pretalx.earthmonitor.org/soil-health-now-2025/talk/FXFPWU/ END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:pretalx-soil-health-now-2025-ZPVUKG@pretalx.earthmonitor.org DTSTART:20250409T151500Z DTEND:20250409T153000Z DESCRIPTION:High-resolution\, reliable soil data is crucial for addressing climate change and sustainable land management. Integrating remote sensing data\, such as from Copernicus Sentinel\, is essential for improving accu racy and relevance. \n\nThis study presents an overview of our Digital Soi l Mapping (DSM) approach and its innovations. We combine satellite imagery \, environmental covariates (e.g.\, elevation\, weather data)\, and ground truth observations (e.g.\, LUCAS and other European and national datasets ) to create high-resolution soil property maps using statistical models. T hese maps encompass primary properties (e.g.\, organic carbon\, pH\, textu re)\, derived properties\, and soil health indicators. \n\nWe used the Soi l Composite Mapping Processor (SCMaP) to derive soil reflectance composite s from Sentinel-2 time series. These composites aid in identifying bare so il areas and estimating their frequency\, serving as a proxy for land mana gement. They represent spectral reflectance and dynamics. Random Forest mo dels\, iin particular Quantile Random Forests for uncertainty assessment\, are employed to predict soil properties. \n\nThis study delves into the a dvantages and challenges of using high-resolution remote sensing data with limited ground truth data. We also provide insights into product uncertai nty assessment at a continental scale\, including accuracy\, spatial patte rns\, and user evaluation. We focus in particular on the relevance of fine r resolution and accuracy for continental products. DTSTAMP:20260613T182144Z LOCATION:HugoTECH SUMMARY:High resolution soil quality products for Europe - Laura Poggio URL:https://pretalx.earthmonitor.org/soil-health-now-2025/talk/ZPVUKG/ END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:pretalx-soil-health-now-2025-CU8VNH@pretalx.earthmonitor.org DTSTART:20250409T151500Z DTEND:20250409T153000Z DESCRIPTION:The main objective of the Soil-X-Change project is to collect\, harmonize\, combine and integrate the results related to sustainable soil and farm management\, developed by EIP-AGRI Operational Groups and projec t partners and to drive the process for scaling up these technologies\, pr actices and knowledge between 9 countries with similar negative aspects of climate change and targets further acceleration to countries with the sam e problems.\n\nThe project will help to connect farmers\, interested actor s\, policy makers\, projects\, and initiatives to speed up innovation and promote faster\, wider co-creation and transposition of innovative solutio ns for sustainable soil management into practice. The Soil-X-Change projec t will create an EU-wide network\, so EIP Operational Groups (OGs) and key stakeholders can work together on sustainable soil and farm management so lutions and to share knowledge and ready-to-use practices that will enable farmers to make the right decisions related to agricultural production pr actices.\n\nThe project will contribute to effective AKIS by intensifying thematic cooperation between researchers\, farmers\, and other stakeholder s in the EU. Soil-X-Change will also contribute to the green transition\, smart agriculture\, climate-neutrality\, and sustainability areas\, as wel l as enhancing and exchanging the knowledge of the main actors.\n\nSoil-X- Change is initiated by EIP-AGRI Operational Group practitioners and reflec ts the needs of more than 100 direct partners. Furthermore\, Soil-X-Change will disseminate and share innovative practices and at the end of the pro ject the extended knowledge and innovative ideas of member and non-member OGs will be showcased to other stakeholders and farmers in an internationa l environment.\n\nThe project is implemented by a consortium with 13 parti cipants from 9 countries. DTSTAMP:20260613T182144Z LOCATION:Expert Room 11 SUMMARY:Soil-X-Change - Fostering cross-border knowledge exchange and co-cr eation on sustainable soil and farm management - Barbara Pápai URL:https://pretalx.earthmonitor.org/soil-health-now-2025/talk/CU8VNH/ END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:pretalx-soil-health-now-2025-RWEHPV@pretalx.earthmonitor.org DTSTART:20250409T160000Z DTEND:20250409T170000Z DESCRIPTION:Soil Health Data Cube (SHDC) (https://shdc.ai4soilhealth.eu/) i s a platform for pan-European soil indicators\, including Landsat-based Sp ectral Indices Data Cube\, 30-m resolution maps of SOCD and prediction unc ertainty for Europe (2000–2022) in 3D+T\, 30-m resolution maps of soil t ypes (WRB)\, etc. The platform serves the data and empowers zonal statist ics\, trend and built-up machine learning for Digital Soil Mapping. In the workshop\, the participant will walk into the platform\, using Jupyter No tebook to connect the cloud data catalogue\, working within the small area \, and derives different statistics and trend etc. \n\nThe introduction w ill cover the soil health data cube\, its vision and its novelty. After th at the workshop will be hand-on. The first part of the workshop is to link and access data from the cloud. At the second part\, we will load data in time series inside a given area to the local\, downloading or saving in c ache. The third part is to analyse the data\, derive trend\, zonal statist ics and generate figures and insight. \n\nThe goal in the workshop is to c onnect end users of the Soil health indicators with the free open source p an-European dataset. The user can keep the data and script and apply in th eir aftermath work to improve soil health in Europe. DTSTAMP:20260613T182144Z LOCATION:Expert Room 7 SUMMARY:Accessing and using Soil Health Data Cube - Yu-Feng Ho URL:https://pretalx.earthmonitor.org/soil-health-now-2025/talk/RWEHPV/ END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:pretalx-soil-health-now-2025-B9QRYQ@pretalx.earthmonitor.org DTSTART:20250409T160000Z DTEND:20250409T170000Z DESCRIPTION:Diffuse reflectance infrared spectroscopy has become an indispe nsable tool for rapid estimation of numerous soil health indicators and so il properties as an noninvasive alternative to the wet chemistry. With a h ands-on approach\, the workshop addresses topics of near infra-red fundame ntals\, chemometrics\, sample preparation\, instrumentation techniques and calibrating models predicting the basic soil health indicators. The targe t group of the workshop are non experts in the topic\, i. e. soil managers \, advisors or soil scientists. Therefore the workshop will be focused on the rapid in-situ measurement with handheld near-infrared spectrometer (ex ample with NeoSpectra instrument) explaining what soil indicators are dete ctable with acceptable accuracy\, good practice in spectral measurement of the soil samples in situ or in lab\, i. e. user-friendly protocols develo ped in the AI4SoilHealth project. The core of the workshop will be practic al training on how to build predictive models in R (and/or Python) using a vailable machine learning tools and open soil spectral libraries (Open Soi l Spectra Library\, LUCAS etc). The lecturers will assist during the works hop to guide the participants through premade online computational noteboo ks. Aimed at advancing soil property estimation through fast\, accurate\, and cost-effective methods\, this session underscores spectroscopy as a tr ansformative tool for soil health monitoring\, and environmental sustainab ility in general\, positioning participants to integrate these methods int o diverse soil-related research areas. DTSTAMP:20260613T182144Z LOCATION:Expert Room 11 SUMMARY:Soil spectroscopy as a near real time tool to monitor soil health i ndicators - Tom Hengl (OpenGeoHub) URL:https://pretalx.earthmonitor.org/soil-health-now-2025/talk/B9QRYQ/ END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:pretalx-soil-health-now-2025-CZMSUD@pretalx.earthmonitor.org DTSTART:20250409T160000Z DTEND:20250409T161500Z DESCRIPTION:Global decarbonization requires radical changes in the way huma nity manages the world's soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks. Yet many soil C solutions face significant credibility challenges and MRV uncertainty. \n \nAs a new generation of improved solutions transition from science demons tration scale to commercial deployment in the millions of acres\, high-rig or SOC MRV will be the crux of the value creation question. The need for p recise\, scalable\, and cost-effective soil organic carbon (SOC) stock mea surement has become increasingly critical. \n\nVoluntary carbon markets\, compliance obligations such as CBAM and CRCF\, and national inventories al l require high-quality soil C MRV at massive scale to ensure SOC stocks ar e managed well\, yet proximal MRV technologies which are high-rigor and lo w cost are sorely lacking.\n\nYard Stick addresses this need with an innov ative in situ VisNIR probe technology designed to increase SOC stock quant ification accessibility while preserving scientific integrity.\n\nOur pres entation will outline the experimental design and modeling strategies that have enabled us to approach parity between in situ VisNIR-based stock pre dictions and traditional laboratory-derived stock assessments. We’ll hig hlight results from three projects at commercial scale in the US\, showcas ing how a strategically sparse calibration set enabled robust carbon stock predictions. Through these case studies\, we will share new insights into the unique challenges of VisNIR spectroscopy to characterize high SOC soi ls across different study conditions\, and welcome a conversation on the s oil C MRV needs of different emerging market incentives to preserve and re store SOC stocks at scale.\n\nUnless high-rigor MRV can build a new founda tion of trust in innovative new SOC solutions\, business value and climate impact will be elusive. Done right\, we can achieve highly credible clima te benefits\, improved soil and ecosystem health\, and rock-solid economic value to land managers and companies along the value chain. In collaborat ion with its research partners\, Yard Stick believes its technology offers a promising path forward for SOC MRV at scale. DTSTAMP:20260613T182144Z LOCATION:HugoTECH SUMMARY:A commercial-scale embodiment of in situ VisNIR reflectance spectro scopy for commercial-scale soil C MRV: The Yard Stick promise made real - Jason Ackerson URL:https://pretalx.earthmonitor.org/soil-health-now-2025/talk/CZMSUD/ END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:pretalx-soil-health-now-2025-QBNA3C@pretalx.earthmonitor.org DTSTART:20250409T161500Z DTEND:20250409T163000Z DESCRIPTION:Reliable and affordable soil information is crucial for well-in formed sustainable land management decisions related to food production\, land use planning\, climate change adaptation and mitigation as well soil health monitoring in Africa and abroad. The EU-H2020-funded Soils4Africa a ims to provide an open-access\, online soil information system (SIS) with a set of key soil health indicators and underpinning data\, accompanied by a methodology for up-to-date and repeated soil monitoring across the Afri can continent. The soil information system will become part of the knowled ge and information system of FNSSA and will be hosted by an African instit ute.\nAt least 16\,000 carefully selected safe agricultural locations acro ss Africa were sampled using well-documented field campaign protocols avai lable in different languages. All the samples are currently being analyzed for selected soil properties based on user needs including soil nutrients mostly P which does not predict very well\, heavy metals\, exchangeable b ases\, particle size distribution and pesticide residues (Wageningen Unive rsity) in the ARC-Soil Climate and Water analytical laboratory in Pretoria \, South Africa. All the samples are analysed with a fast\, affordable\, e nvironmentally friendly\, non-destructive\, reproducible\, and repeatable mid-infrared spectroscopy analysis. At least 20% of these samples are anal yzed using wet chemistry methods for a rich\, new soil spectral library an d soil database. Both the spectroscopy and wet chemistry analyses follow w ell-documented methods as well as Standard Operating Procedures. A subset of the samples will be submitted to the Global Soil Spectral Calibration L ibrary and Estimation Service (GSCLES) initiative to promote linkage of sp ectral libraries globally\, to evaluate quality\, to provide African cover age to the GSCLES and to provide a standardized and rich soil spectral lib rary resource for labs in Africa that may want to start using MIR spectros copy in future.\nPreliminary results show good agreement (R2>0.70) between measured and predicted soil properties namely\; organic carbon\, total ni trogen\, soil pH\, particle size distribution\, CEC and exchangeable bases among others. These are promising findings for the project and will contr ibute significantly to the SIS. The African-based SIS will enable policyma kers\, agri-businesses\, scientists and other stakeholders to make well-in formed decisions concerning sustainable intensification of agriculture and boosting food security. DTSTAMP:20260613T182144Z LOCATION:HugoTECH SUMMARY:Promising Preliminary Spectral prediction of Soil health Indicators in the Soils4Africa Project - Nondumiso Zanele Sosibo URL:https://pretalx.earthmonitor.org/soil-health-now-2025/talk/QBNA3C/ END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:pretalx-soil-health-now-2025-YJ9EUL@pretalx.earthmonitor.org DTSTART:20250409T163000Z DTEND:20250409T164500Z DESCRIPTION:Over the past two decades\, machine learning (ML) methods have been widely applied in soil science to estimate various soil properties. D espite its successes\, traditional ML methods encounter several limitation s\, such as high data requirements\, poor generalization to new scenarios\ , and challenges in ensuring physically consistent predictions beyond the range of their training data. To overcome these limitations\, we propose t he use of physics-informed machine learning (PIML) methods\, which integra te physical laws directly into the learning process to enhance model robus tness and generalizability\, particularly in data-limited scenarios. We de monstrate the capabilities of PIML by developing two PIML models for the e stimation of two fundamental soil properties related to soil health\, soil particle size distribution (PSD) and soil water retention curves (SWRC)\, using measured spectral reflectance data (400–2500 nm). Unlike conventi onal approaches\, these PIML models are designed to learn non-specific con tinuous forms of SWRC and PSD by effectively incorporating both observatio nal data and physical laws during training. This novel approach offers cap abilities beyond those achievable with traditional methods. Specifically\, the PIML model for PSD can seamlessly integrate both complete and incompl ete measurements from diverse soil classification systems without requirin g harmonization through interpolation of inputs\, and is able to make pred ictions in any soil classification system. This makes the proposed approac h particularly suitable for modeling PSD across datasets collected from va rious countries with different soil classification systems\, such as at a pan-European scale. Additionally\, The PIML model for SWRC can effectively handle samples with sparse or incomplete measurements\, making it well-su ited for SWRC datasets that often contain missing sections of the curve or limited data points. The proposed PIML approach provides a fast and cost- efficient method for monitoring fundamental soil properties to evaluate ke y soil health indicators. It can also be adapted for proximal sensing and digital mapping of other soil health-related properties. DTSTAMP:20260613T182144Z LOCATION:HugoTECH SUMMARY:A Physics-Based Spectroscopic Approach for Rapid Estimation of Soil Properties Essential to Soil Health: Particle Size Distribution and Water Retention Curves - Sarem Norouzi URL:https://pretalx.earthmonitor.org/soil-health-now-2025/talk/YJ9EUL/ END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:pretalx-soil-health-now-2025-H8YATD@pretalx.earthmonitor.org DTSTART:20250409T164500Z DTEND:20250409T170000Z DESCRIPTION:The biodiversity and resilience of ecosystems are increasingly threatened by land degradation\, which affects food security and climate s tability drastically by reducing the overall productivity in ecosystems. I t is important to identify the difference between anthropogenic degradatio n such as deforestation\, intensive agriculture\, and urbanization\, and n atural climate variability. In this context\, Earth Observation (EO) datas ets offer significant capability for the detection of land degradation pat terns on a global scale and their biophysical underpinnings\, and climate interactions. The purpose of this study is to utilize EO datasets to monit or land degradation\, by combining a satellite-based datacube of spectral indices together with primary productivity\, biophysical indicators\, and climate factors. Gross Primary Productivity (GPP) is one of the fundamenta l indicators of how well the ecosystem is functioning and is directly rela ted to vegetation indices\, such as NDVI and EVI\, and the fraction of abs orbed photosynthetically active radiation (fAPAR)\, which together provide insight into vegetation health and biomass dynamics. The integration of c limate data\, particularly soil moisture\, precipitation\, and temperature \, with productivity maps aids in differentiating the changes caused by na tural climate cycles and human-induced degradation. By identifying areas w here productivity declines\, we can detect possible human influences in si tuations where climate conditions alone cannot explain the observed variat ions. The goal of this integrated framework is to highlight the value of E O-derived GPP and related metrics for detecting\, monitoring\, and managin g land degradation\, ultimately supporting sustainable land use policies a nd climate resilience efforts globally. DTSTAMP:20260613T182144Z LOCATION:HugoTECH SUMMARY:Tracing the Roots of Land Degradation: EO-Based Identification of C limate and Anthropogenic Drivers - Mustafa Serkan Isik URL:https://pretalx.earthmonitor.org/soil-health-now-2025/talk/H8YATD/ END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:pretalx-soil-health-now-2025-EFHC3F@pretalx.earthmonitor.org DTSTART:20250410T093000Z DTEND:20250410T100000Z DESCRIPTION:Maarten van Dam's story will all be around one core message: t he mother of all solutions is the soil. Both from conventional farmers and regenerative farmers—but especially from investment cooperative Pymwymi c —it’s about this and the urgency related with this. \nThe mother of all solutions is the soil. Maarten van Dam addresses this not from a biolo gical or community perspective\, but solely from a business angle.\n• Fo r Pymwymic\, this means a business and impact-investing focus\,\n• For r egenratiev farm Schevichoven it si about demonstrating financial feasibili ty\,\n• and from the more conventional agriculture side\, it is a realit y check grounded in existing farming practices.\nHands-on\, field-based ex periences\, data-driven insights\, and above all\, the courage to balance pioneering with established practices are the key aspects that Maarten van Dam will highlight. Pymwymic operating from a €100+ million fund\, Sche vichven is expanding to 26 hectares of regenerative permaculture\, and the Wilheminapolder is rooted in its 2000-hectare conventional arable farming operation in the Netherlands. Ultimately\, this keynote will show that ev ery step\, and the support we provide\, and the way we pratice\, leads to a healthy and productive soil\, which is essential for sustaining busines s in the long run.\nMaarten van Dam will deliver his story straight from t he heart\, without the use of PowerPoint or other prepared materials. His approach will be improvised\, shaped by the feedback and reactions he rece ives from the audience. DTSTAMP:20260613T182144Z LOCATION:HugoTECH SUMMARY:The mother of all solutions is the soil - froukje@pymwymic.com URL:https://pretalx.earthmonitor.org/soil-health-now-2025/talk/EFHC3F/ END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:pretalx-soil-health-now-2025-V3993R@pretalx.earthmonitor.org DTSTART:20250410T100000Z DTEND:20250410T103000Z DESCRIPTION:The forthcoming EU Soil Monitoring and resilience Law aims to e nsure good soil\nhealth across Member States by 2050. The EJP SOIL researc h programme has provided\ncritical insights to support a directive is both scientifically robust and practically feasible.\nAmong EU countries\, 19 already have a national monitoring system\, so the Soil\nMonitoring should build on the existing for these countries\, which emphasizes the\nimporta nce of harmonization. Critical aspects in a soil health monitoring system are the\nsampling design\, the choice of indicators and how targets and th resholds are set.\nSampling design across a country was shown to influence the representation of\ndifferent land-uses and soil types and in-fine\, t he values of indicators. Regarding\nindicators\, a tiered approach is prop osed\, which balances minimum harmonized\nindicators with context-specific complementary set. A set of tier 1 indicators is\nproposed\, for soil bio logy indicators\, that encompasses both functional and structural\nsoil bi ology indicators. Setting meaningful targets and thresholds is another cri tical\ndimension. EJP SOIL proposes a decision framework that includes our approaches\, based\non fixed values\, reference sites\, population distri butions\, and relative change\,\ndepending on available data and policy go als. Such a framework provides flexibility for\nnational implementation wh ile supporting EU-level reporting. Finally\, harmonization\nwith existing systems like LUCAS Soil is essential. Rather than replacing national\nprot ocols\, EJP SOIL advocates developing transfer functions and adding new co -located\nsites to align datasets\, preserving long-term continuity while improving interoperability.\nThese lessons form a strong scientific and po licy foundation to guide the Soil\nMonitoring Law'\;s development and w hen accepted\, implementation\, enabling soil\nhealth monitoring that is s calable\, policy-relevant\, and which is also essential and is\nbeing deve loped in several EU projects\, rooted in stakeholder engagement. DTSTAMP:20260613T182144Z LOCATION:HugoTECH SUMMARY:Monitoring Soil Health in the framework of the future EU soil direc tive: lessons learned and recommendations from the EJP SOIL - Claire Chenu URL:https://pretalx.earthmonitor.org/soil-health-now-2025/talk/V3993R/ END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:pretalx-soil-health-now-2025-7HULKZ@pretalx.earthmonitor.org DTSTART:20250410T103000Z DTEND:20250410T110000Z DESCRIPTION:In the face of a rapidly changing climate and increasing pressu res on agriculture\, the European food system stands at a critical junctur e. Farmers are at the forefront of this challenge\, and their voices are c rucial to driving systemic change. This keynote will highlight the work of BENCHMARKS and especially of Climate Farmers\, a pioneering initiative fo cused on transitioning Europe’s agri-food system toward regenerative agr iculture to restore soil health\, enhance biodiversity\, and secure farmer s’ livelihoods.\n\nBuilding on real-world projects and collaborations\, including our partnership with the European Alliance for Regenerative Agri culture (EARA)\, this talk will explore the critical role of policy\, rese arch\, and innovation in driving the transformation of the agri-food syste m. We will emphasize the urgency of amplifying farmer-led approaches to so il regeneration and the importance of multi-stakeholder collaboration in d eveloping durable tools\, indicators\, and standards for soil health acros s Europe. These efforts are essential not only for immediate impact but fo r fostering long-term resilience in our agricultural systems.\n\nMoreover\ , we will delve into how stakeholders can work together to create solution s that not only address the ecological crisis but also provide tangible ec onomic benefits to farmers. This transformation is not just about soils— it’s about the livelihoods of those who care for them. By empowering far mers as central actors in this movement\, we can build a resilient\, regen erative food system that benefits all. DTSTAMP:20260613T182144Z LOCATION:HugoTECH SUMMARY:Farmer-Led Transformation: Regenerating Soils and Building a Resili ent European Food System - Fabio Volkmann URL:https://pretalx.earthmonitor.org/soil-health-now-2025/talk/7HULKZ/ END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:pretalx-soil-health-now-2025-NS3LXA@pretalx.earthmonitor.org DTSTART:20250410T113000Z DTEND:20250410T120000Z DESCRIPTION:Traditional soil science\, rooted in chemical analysis\, has lo ng been the go-to method\, but these techniques are often slow\, require s pecial pre-treatments\, and target parameters that may offer little practi cal value to those managing the land. As a result\, samples go to the lab\ , data is produced\, but by the time it returns\, conditions may have chan ged. This delay leaves managers struggling to make real-time decisions abo ut soil health in the field—decisions that can’t wait for lengthy anal ysis.\nSoil management is an active\, time-sensitive process. Whether it ’s waiting for rain to come or deciding when to irrigate\, soil must be tested quickly\, and the results need to be actionable immediately. Instea d of complex reports that require expert interpretation\, land managers ne ed fast\, reliable data that provides clear advice for their specific need s.\nThere are new methods for measuring soil health—many in fact—but t hey often output passive data that lacks meaningful interpretation or prov ide the wrong type of information entirely. What’s needed is a holistic\ , dynamic approach that spans from fast\, practical soil testing to integr ated\, tailored solutions that account for local conditions and regulation s. This approach must center around the real-world needs of land managers and farmers\, providing them with the tools and insights they need to make decisions on the spot.\nIn this keynote\, we will explore innovative\, mu lti-level approaches to soil measurement that put the user at the centre. From rapid testing solutions to customized data interpretation\, we will d iscuss how technology and science can meet the immediate demands of land m anagement\, ensuring that soil health decisions are both timely and impact ful. Join us as we delve into the future of soil measurement and managemen t\, paving the way for more effective\, real-time decision-making. DTSTAMP:20260613T182144Z LOCATION:HugoTECH SUMMARY:Soil Health monitoring from perspective of an entrepreneur - Sonia Meller URL:https://pretalx.earthmonitor.org/soil-health-now-2025/talk/NS3LXA/ END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR