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UID:pretalx-soil-health-now-2026-W89DCJ@pretalx.earthmonitor.org
DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Athens:20261208T140000
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DESCRIPTION:The European Soil Mission highlights the need for practical app
 roaches that enable farmers to assess and improve soil health directly in 
 the field. While many soil health assessments rely on laboratory analyses\
 , there remains a need for accessible and cost-effective methods that can 
 support management decisions under real farming conditions. The Horizon Eu
 rope GroundWork project (started in October 2025) addresses this gap by de
 veloping and testing a new adaptive management framework\, the Ecosystem-M
 ediated Management Approach (EMMA)\, with a strong emphasis on in situ soi
 l health measurement. \nEMMA is currently under development within GroundW
 ork and will be co-created and refined throughout the project. It is desig
 ned as an iterative decision-support framework that helps farmers continuo
 usly improve grazing systems through cycles of ecosystem assessment\, obje
 ctive setting\, management intervention\, monitoring\, and adaptation. Rat
 her than focusing only on short-term production outcomes\, EMMA links mana
 gement decisions to key ecosystem processes\, including water cycling\, mi
 neral cycling\, energy flow\, and community dynamics\, which underpin soil
  and pasture functioning. \nThe framework will be implemented and tested a
 cross five European Living Labs covering diverse pedoclimatic and farming 
 contexts. The primary focus is on understanding how grazing management inf
 luences soil health\, while also capturing related effects on vegetation\,
  biodiversity\, and livestock health and welfare. EMMA is supported by a m
 onitoring framework that is developed as part of the project and is intend
 ed to provide practical\, field-based indicators that farmers can use dire
 ctly. \nSoil health assessment within this framework focuses on physical\,
  chemical\, and biological indicators that can be measured or observed in 
 situ using simple and low-cost methods. These practical indicators will be
  validated during the project by results from laboratory measurement of re
 lated scientific indicators. \nA key objective of GroundWork is to iterati
 vely develop and validate EMMA and its monitoring framework through close 
 collaboration between farmers\, researchers\, and advisors. The usefulness
 \, feasibility\, and reliability of the proposed indicators will be evalua
 ted in real farming conditions across the Living Labs\, ensuring continuou
 s refinement based on both scientific evidence and user experience. \nThis
  work will contribute to a practical and scalable approach for in situ soi
 l health measurement that is embedded within adaptive grazing management a
 nd supports the transition towards more resilient and soil-aware livestock
  systems in Europe.
DTSTAMP:20260825T180211Z
LOCATION:Amphitheater II
SUMMARY:In Situ Soil Health Measurement to Support Regenerative Grazing Pra
 ctices Across European Living Labs (GroundWork project) - Justine Luca
URL:https://pretalx.earthmonitor.org/soil-health-now-2026/talk/W89DCJ/
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