1. Soil Improving Cropping Systems for Sustainable and Profitable Farming in Europe.
- Author
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Wyseure, Guido, Cuevas González, Julián, Poesen, Jean, and Wyseure, Guido
- Subjects
Environmental economics ,Research & information: general ,Bland-Altman statistics ,CO2 ,Europe ,Mediterranean soils ,N2O ,NPK ,Pisum sativum L. ,Podzol soil ,SOC stocks ,SOM ,adoption ,advice ,agricultural advisers ,agricultural advisory services ,agriculture ,air-filled porosity ,bio-drilling crops ,bulk density ,carbon dioxide ,compacted subsoils ,compaction ,compost ,conservation agriculture ,costs and benefits ,cover crops ,crop management ,crop productivity ,crop residue ,crop response ,crop rotation ,crop yield ,degree of compaction ,deliberative democracy ,direct drilling ,earthworms ,economic dimension ,environmental dimension ,environmental effects ,governance ,greenhouse gas ,irrigation ,large-scale modelling ,long-term effect ,macronutrients ,manure ,mechanized agriculture ,minimum tillage ,nitrous oxide ,no tillage ,no-till ,nutrient content ,nutrient management ,organic manure ,overall sustainability ,pH ,principal component analysis ,q-methodology ,reduced tillage ,regenerative agriculture ,relative normalised density ,resource use ,scenarios ,scoring function ,sewage sludge ,smallholder agriculture ,socio-economic and environmental indicators ,sociocultural dimension ,soil bulk density ,soil care ,soil conservation ,soil erosion ,soil health ,soil improving practices ,soil land management ,soil organic carbon ,soil penetration resistance ,soil policy ,soil quality ,soil quality assessment ,soil quality index ,soil-improving crop systems ,soil-improving cropping systems ,soil-water content ,straw incorporation ,subsoiling ,sustainability framework ,sustainability frameworks ,sustainable agriculture ,sustainable land management ,sustainable soil management ,tillage ,weather conditions - Abstract
Summary: A major challenge for the future is combining both the profitability and sustainability of agriculture. The European H2020 project SoilCare aims to identify, test, and evaluate soil-improving cropping systems (SICS) which contribute to the implementation of agricultural solutions across Europe (See: https://soilcare-project.eu/en/ for the project website). The project includes 16 study sites distributed across Europe. Each study site implemented short-term experiments during the duration of the project, and most also ran long-term experiments comparing soil quality as a function of different treatments, such as soil amendments, tillage, cover crops, nutrients, and organic matter inputs. In addition, eight work-packages assess different aspects encompassing reviewing the soil-improving cropping systems, the participatory analysis of implementation and selection, methodology and analysis, upscaling at the European level, policy analysis and support, and dissemination and communication. In this way, SoilCare works on a providing a holistic approach to soil quality, spanning from biophysical to human interactions at different scales. In this Special Issue, we aim to compile scientific findings on soil-improving cropping systems (SICS) based on field experiments, including the study of policy, upscaling, and dissemination.