Objective
Land managers combine man-made resources with natural resources to produce marketable products like food, feed, fiber and wood, but at the same time produce ecosystem services that are generally not marketed or compensated. However, land managers generally have little incentive to invest in healthy soils, as they cannot sufficiently capture the value generated by these ecosystem services. SoilValues aims to contribute to the conditions for developing successful soil health business models. These are models in which land managers make production decisions that result in higher levels of soil-based ecosystem services (SES) and in which they are paid for the non-marketed services they generate. In order for such business models to function, three important conditions need to be fulfilled: (1) the outcomes of SES need to be measured, thus requiring knowledge, indicators and models, (2) the data and information generated by these indicators and models need to be exchanged to facilitate monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV), and (3) all these activities should be governed by an appropriate institutional framework consisting of the necessary legislation, standards and incentive schemes. To enhance the conditions for developing successful soil health business models, SoilValues will: (1) provide a comprehensive assessment framework addressing all factors influencing the development of business models for investing in soil health, (2) establish 6 testing grounds across Europe to test and improve emerging and designing new soil health business models, (3) establish 12 communities of practice of land managers, value chain actors, investors and public authorities for soil health business models, (4) design a comprehensive toolbox of incentives and policy recommendations to facilitate soil health business models and (5) raise awareness and exchange knowledge for soil health business models.
Fields of science
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
HORIZON-AG - HORIZON Action Grant Budget-BasedCoordinator
3000 Leuven
Belgium
See on map
Participants (13)
9820 Merelbeke
See on map
6708 PB Wageningen
See on map
6708 PB Wageningen
See on map
1040 Bruxelles
See on map
7800-502 Beja
See on map
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
8000 Aarhus C
See on map
1050 Brussels
See on map
3001 Leuven
See on map
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
00330 Warszawa
See on map
38116 Braunschweig
See on map
21000 Novi Sad
See on map
31610 Navarra
See on map
09311 Vilnius
See on map