What this mission area deals with

The importance of soil health and food

Land and soil are essential for life on Earth. They supply the food we grow and eat, as well as other goods such as feed, textiles, or wood.

Soil also provides a range of ecosystem services, which are important for clean water, supporting biodiversity or for cycling nutrients and regulating climate.

Soil is a highly dynamic and fragile system – and it is a finite resource. It can take up to 1,000 years to produce 1cm of soil.

Soil is facing pressures from an increasing population that demands more land for production, settlement and industries. It is also heavily affected by climate change, erosion and sea level rises. Approximately 33% of our global soil is degraded and in the EU, erosion is affecting 25% of agricultural land.

Report of the Mission Board

“Caring for Soil is Caring for Life” is the title of the mission proposed by the Soil Health and Food Mission Board. The mission’s goal is to “ensure that 75% of soils are healthy by 2030 and are able to provide essential ecosystem services”, such as the provision of food and other biomass, supporting biodiversity, storing and regulating the flow of water, or mitigating the effects of climate change. The target corresponds to a 100% increase of healthy soils against the current baseline.

This interim report sets out the vision and the blueprint to reach this ambition through a combination of research and innovation, training and advice, as well as the demonstration of good practices for soil management using “Living labs” and “Lighthouses”. To be successful, the mission will also improve the monitoring of soil health and the pressures acting on them, mobilise investments, and encourage changes in policies. The mission will be a joint endeavour by stakeholders, researchers, policy-makers and citizens alike that will put Europe on a path towards sustainable land and soil management as part of a wider, green societal transition.”

Useful links

• Mission website: EU Mission: A Soil Deal for Europe | European Commission (europa.eu)
• Mission implementation plan: Implementation Plans for the EU Missions | European Commission (europa.eu)
• Latest video on mission A Soil Deal for Europe: https://youtu.be/3hPlZqwwhhM
• EU mission Caring for soil is caring for life (Mission Board report) https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/4ebd2586-fc85-11ea-b44f-01aa75ed71a1/language-en/format-PDF/source-159637857
• Mission report handover to the European Commission (EU R&I Days 2020) https://youtu.be/oAG5-CQIOoc
• Soil mission session (EU R&I Days 2020) https://research-innovation-days-conference.online/hubs/mission
• On a mission to save our soils – the EU’s plan to rebuild the land (Futuris episode, euronews) https://www.euronews.com/2020/09/21/on-a-mission-to-save-our-soils-the-eu-s-plan-to-rebuild-the-land

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