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.
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Contact
Get in touch with us by sending an e-mail to info.soilvalues@kuleuven.be