The aim is to improve soil health in Europe’s most important perennial crops such as vineyards, olive groves, apple, chestnut and hazelnut orchards, which have great economic, social and cultural value and are currently threatened by climate change.
A team from the University of Porto, led by researchers from the Faculty of Science of the University of Porto (FCUP) and GreenUPorto – Research Centre for Sustainable Agri-Food Production, is part of the international project LivingSoiLL: Healthy Soils for Perennial Crops Living Labs which aims to create and monitor living laboratories for these cultures across Europe.
These Living Laboratories (Laboratório Vivos/LL) are testbeds for innovative solutions, in this case to promote soil health conservation or restoration, and will serve as multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary collaborative platforms for the co-design, co-development and co-implementation of these proposals. The project will create a European network of five such laboratories, including the Northern Portugal-Galicia (LL1), Andalusia (LL2), Northwest Italy (LL3), Loire Valley-Beaujolais (LL4), and Grójec (LL5).
U.Porto, although closely linked to the Living Lab Luso-Galaico, will have an illustrative role in the project, as it will be linked to all the LL that will be created and which will include at least 50 pilot sites.
“The FCUP team will be responsible for participating in the creation of a common monitoring plan for all demonstration sites, where innovative land management practices will be tested. This plan will also include the prior determination of baseline values, such as those found naturally, which depend on the geochemical nature of the soil, for all the soil health descriptors that are part of it,” explains Ruth Pereira, professor at FCUP, director of GreenUPorto, and project manager at the U.Porto.
The project is integrated into the Horizonte Europe Solo mission.
The LivingSoiLL project was recently approved by Horizonte Europe Solo Mission, with global funding of around €12 million. For Ruth Pereira, this will be a contribution “to the efforts of Solo Mission, which aims to create 100 living laboratories on European soil and, through them, to establish partnerships between actors capable of innovating solutions for effective soil management and restoration.”
This is a strategy that is expected to contribute to achieving the objectives of the European Environmental Pact and the strategies that support it, such as the Farm to Fork Strategy or the Biodiversity Strategy, as well as to implementing new monitoring and soil resilience.
Focus on training in sustainable soil management practices and enhancing soil knowledge will also be a relevant component of the project, along with testing and co-creation of innovative and locally adapted solutions.
An alliance of more than 40 partners
The project, which will be implemented over the next 54 months, involves 42 European partners from Portugal, France, Spain, Italy and Poland, and 8 associated partners.
The project, coordinated by the University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro (UTAD), which will also coordinate the Living Lab Luso-Galaico, is also joined by the University of Vigo, ADVID – Vine and Wine Cluster, Colab VINES&WINES and companies such as Sogrape Vinhos, ACUSHLA – Azeite Biológico, FERTIPRADO – Sementes e Nutrientes Lda, Sogevinus, Symington, Real Companhia Velha, among others, as well as producer associations, such as APPITAD – Associação dos Produtores Em Protecção Integrada De Trás-os – Mountains and Alto Douro.
Alongside Ruth Pereira, the FCUP and GreenUPorto team will also include the participation of researchers Anabella Cachada, João Pacheco and Tatiana Andriani, who will play an active role throughout the project.
The U.Porto team that is part of the project also includes researchers and geography teachers from the Faculty of Arts (FLUP), Carlos Batera, Gabriela Lima and Susana Pereira. The FLUP team will be responsible for participating in the creation and evaluation of solutions designed to combat one of the common threats to most perennial crops: soil erosion and instability of the slopes of agricultural terraces.
Faculty of Science, University of Porto
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