Scientific papers
Altering Ecosystem Services While Considering Soil Health and Farm Income: Conceptual Framework in Crop Farming Systems
How can farmers take care of nature while keeping their soils healthy and making a living?
This is a question at the heart of sustainable agriculture โ and the focus of our new research. Farms donโt just produce food. They also provide ๐๐๐จ๐ฌ๐ฒ๐ฌ๐ญ๐๐ฆ ๐ฌ๐๐ซ๐ฏ๐ข๐๐๐ฌ: things like pollination, clean water, carbon storage, and biodiversity. These services are vital for society, but improving them often means farmers must change how they manage their land.
To make sense of this complexity, we developed a ๐๐จ๐ง๐๐๐ฉ๐ญ๐ฎ๐๐ฅ ๐๐ซ๐๐ฆ๐๐ฐ๐จ๐ซ๐ค that puts ecosystem services at the centre of ๐๐๐ซ๐ฆ๐๐ซ๐ฌโ ๐๐๐๐ข๐ฌ๐ข๐จ๐ง-๐ฆ๐๐ค๐ข๐ง๐ โ linking them with ๐๐๐ซ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐๐ง๐๐ ๐๐ฆ๐๐ง๐ญ, ๐ฌ๐จ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ก๐๐๐ฅ๐ญ๐ก, ๐๐ง๐ ๐ข๐ง๐๐จ๐ฆ๐ in one picture.
Healthy soils as a booster to EU competitiveness
The European Unionโs strategic agenda for 2024โ2029 prioritizes a prosperous and competitive Europe, with soil health potentially playing a role in achieving this goal. However, the current state of European soils is of concern, with over 60 % of soils not in healthy condition, as reported by the European Unionโs Soil Mission Board and the EU Soil Observatory.
Soil-related business models, including biotechnology, remediation of contaminated sites, carbon removals and farming, regenerative agriculture, and agritech solutions, can contribute to EU competitiveness.
These business models may help address most of the challenges posed by soil degradation, climate change, and biodiversity loss, while promoting sustainable agriculture practices and improving ecosystem functioning.
Beyond compensation: understanding land manager resistance to nature restoration schemes in Denmark
What shapes land managersโ decisions to engage in wetland restoration?
As Europe accelerates efforts to restore nature and reduce emissions, voluntary agri-environmental schemes play a key role. Yet, uptake remains lower than expected, even when financial compensation is available.
This study explores the reasons behind this hesitation through interviews with Danish land managers. It shows that decisions are not driven by economics alone: farmers also consider family heritage, attachment to place, autonomy, and the practical realities of running a farm. At the same time, administrative complexity, land fragmentation, and uncertainty about future policies can make participation less feasible.
Expert preferences for carbon farming contract design: an extended VIKOR-based decision-making
What makes carbon farming contracts effective for farmers and project developers?
As carbon farming gains momentum in Europe, designing contracts that ensure both environmental and economic performance becomes essential. This paper explores how different contract features influence project outcomes, showing that financial incentives alone are not sufficient.
Instead, effective contracts combine payments with support mechanisms such as training, advisory services and robust certification systems, helping to create more reliable and scalable carbon farming schemes.
Soil influencers in alternative knowledge networks: farmersโ soil health learning beyond traditional advisory systems
How do farmers learn about soil health, and who do they turn to for advice beyond traditional agricultural advisory services?
This research explores how soil-health-oriented farmers build alternative learning networks through peer exchanges, regional organisations, digital platforms, books, podcasts and online courses. Based on interviews with ten farmers in Virginia, USA, the study examines the growing role of soil influencers โ educators and practitioners whose credibility is rooted in practical experience and shared values.
The findings shed light on changing agricultural knowledge networks and how public advisory systems can engage with emerging approaches to soil-health learning.
Evolution of temporal diversification in crop sequences: a case study of Flanders
How have crop sequences evolved in Flanders, and has agricultural diversification increased over time?
This study investigates changes in crop sequence typologies and complexity using agricultural parcel data and a particular focus on potato cultivation. It examines how farmers’ cropping patterns have changed over time, assessing the diversity and complexity of crop sequences as well as the intervals between successive potato crops.
The findings reveal structural changes in Flemish agriculture, but only modest increases in crop sequence complexity, highlighting the persistence of agronomic and economic constraints to temporal diversification.
Soil health-based business models: perspectives and policy implications
Why do different actors invest in soil health, and how can policies better support these investments?
This article presents a value-based framework identifying six complementary perspectives on soil health: productivist, ecosystem services, resilience, non-use, intrinsic and social values. Each perspective reflects different motivations, beneficiaries and ways of creating and capturing value.
The research explores the policy implications of these perspectives, highlighting why different challenges require different instruments, from direct subsidies and payments for ES to legal, educational and institutional support. It provides a framework for designing more inclusive and adaptive policies for sustainable soil management.
SIGN UP TO OUR NEWSLETTER!
Contact
Get in touch with us by sending an e-mail to info.soilvalues@kuleuven.be