Fostering cross-border knowledge exchange and co-creation on sustainable soil and farm management

Project Information

Soil-X-Change

Grant agreement ID: 101133914

DOI

10.3030/101133914

EC signature date 7 November 2023

Start date 1 January 2024

End date 31 December 2026

Funded under

• Food, Bioeconomy Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment

Total cost

No data

EU contribution

€ 1 999 097,50

Coordinated by

INNOMINE DIGITAL INNOVATION HUB NONPROFIT KFT
Hungary

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - Soil-X-Change (Fostering cross-border knowledge exchange and co-creation on sustainable soil and farm management)

Reporting period: 2024-01-01 to 2025-06-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

This initiative of fostering cross-border knowledge exchange and co-creation on sustainable soil and farm management (Soil-X-Change) help to connect farmers, actors, policy makers, projects, and initiatives to speed up innovation and promote faster, wider co-creation and transposition of innovative solutions into practice. Soil-X-Change disseminates and shares innovative practices across 9 member countries. Furthermore, the Soil-X-Change project brings together EIP OGs and key stakeholders working on sustainable soil and farm management to create an EU-wide network, share knowledge, and introduce ready-to-use practices that enable farmers to make the right decisions related to agricultural production practices. Soil-X-Change uses a bottom-up approach (farmers to OGs) and reinforces and shares practical knowledge using the main dissemination channels suitable for farmers and practitioners.
Objectives:
The main objective of the Soil-X-Change project is to collect, harmonize, combine and integrate the outcomes of the related EIP-AGRI Operational Groups and knowledge gathered at the project partners related to sustainable soil and farm management and to drive the process for scaling up these technologies. The project aims to share knowledge between 9 countries with similar negative aspects of climate change and targets further acceleration to countries with the same problem.
Impact:
- Soil-X-Change contributes to the green transition, climate-neutrality and sustainability areas, working toward enhancing and exchanging the knowledge of the main actors. It supports different goals of the European Green Deal, CAP and EU Soil Strategy, e.g. reducing the risk and use of chemical pesticides by 50%; reducing nutrient losses from agriculture by 50%, achieving a coverage of organic farming of at least 25% and making sustainable soil management the new normal by 2030;
- It supports interventions for knowledge exchange and dissemination of information and contributes to the targeted number of 6100 Operational groups for the current period (2021-2027). It helps to achieve the set target for carbon storage in soil and enhances the uptake and effective use of digital technologies;
- It contributes to achieving 4 out of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (Goal 2, 12, 15, 17) and strengthening the science-policy interfaces by reaching 4000 researchers and 100 policy makers including AKIS Coordination Bodies;
- The project has the potential to contribute to raising citizens' awareness by involving at least 500 citizens in the project activities and indirectly informing around 15000 citizens through its dissemination channels;
- The deployment of the dashboard will facilitate and better inform 5000 farmers and agriculture practitioners and 2000 advisors on the longer term to make better and more comprehensive choices, show how they can implement them on their production system and what they will gain from their adoption. It will enhance scaling local solutions up to the EU level;
- With all activities and outcomes, Soil-X-Change will drive a mindset and behavioural shift in the society towards sustainable agrifood systems;
Soil-X-Change use case demonstrations and adaptation of national practices to different respective conditions in other European countries strengthens the potential of the market of precision technologies supporting sustainable soil management and industry.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

During the first reporting period, Soil-X-Change advanced substantially in consolidating scientific evidence and technical tools for sustainable soil management. A harmonised methodology, adapted from WOCAT, was implemented across partner countries to collect, evaluate, and systematise practices. Using this framework, partners documented 61 sustainable soil management practices from 11 countries, representing a diverse set of site-specific, input-efficient, and soil health-friendly approaches. Of these, 24 were pre-selected by the Knowledge Board and 18 will be demonstrated in the next phase of the project.

In parallel, the consortium implemented two large-scale multilingual surveys. The Operational Group survey engaged 141 OGs across consortium countries, analysing their set-up, functioning, and barriers to effective knowledge transfer. The farmer survey collected 391 responses from 13 countries, surpassing the original target of 300. These data provide robust insights into adoption gaps, awareness levels, and constraints related to soil-friendly practices.

A modular, interoperable database was developed to manage documented practices and feed into the interactive Dashboard. The Dashboard integrates geospatial data, comparison charts, impact scales, and a decision-support tool, allowing farmers, advisors, and policymakers to visualise and assess sustainable practices. The technical architecture supports interoperability with EU-FarmBook and future integration into AKIS systems.

At the scientific-technical interface, the project also initiated preparatory work for farm demonstrations and a novel cost-benefit analysis methodology based on stakeholder mental mapping, designed to capture both economic and socio-ecological trade-offs of sustainable practices. In addition, strong synergies with more than 30 EU projects have been initiated, enabling methodological exchanges and alignment of impact pathways.

Expected outcomes at project end include a validated set of demonstration practices tested in real farm contexts, cost-benefit and impact analyses of these practices, adaptation pathways to support their scaling across Europe, and an operational Dashboard serving as an open-access decision-support and knowledge-sharing tool for thousands of farmers, advisors, and policymakers.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

Soil-X-Change has laid the groundwork for significant impact by consolidating sustainable soil practices into an accessible evidence base and developing tools to support their uptake. The growing portfolio of validated practices, combined with large-scale stakeholder input, positions the project to directly influence soil management across Europe. The Dashboard and upcoming farm demonstrations will translate this knowledge into practical decision-support and real-world evidence.

The expected impacts include improved resource efficiency, reduced input costs, healthier soils, and greater resilience of European farming systems. These outcomes contribute directly to the European Green Deal, Mission Soil objectives, and sustainable food system transitions.

For further uptake and long-term success, enabling conditions will be essential. These include broad demonstration and validation at farm level, integration of outputs into AKIS and EU-FarmBook, access to tailored finance and advisory services for farmers, and supportive regulatory frameworks to incentivise adoption. Continued peer learning and cross-country exchange will also be critical for scaling solutions beyond project partners.