Regenerative agriculture: the new European project SOILRES aims to regenerate soil health and strengthen the resilience of agricultural systems in Europe
The project is coordinated by Aarhus University, with the contribution of the Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies: over the next four years, innovative solutions based on the principles of regenerative agriculture will be tested to improve soil health and make cropping systems more resilient to the effects of climate change
The regeneration of soil health and crop resilience are now crucial challenges for Italian and European agriculture, which is increasingly exposed to extreme weather events, biodiversity loss, and soil degradation. To address these issues, SOILRES – Multi-Faceted Biodiversity Integration for a Healthy Soil and Resilient Crop Management, a project funded by the Horizon Europe program, has been launched. Coordinated by the University of Aarhus in Denmark, SOILRES involves 19 international partners, including universities, research centers, farms, and technology SMEs, with the contribution of the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, under the coordination of Federico Leoni, researcher in the Agroecology group at the Institute of Plant Sciences.
SOILRES aims to develop and test innovative agricultural strategies based on the principles of regenerative agriculture—such as cover crops (permanent living mulches), strip tillage, microbial biostimulants, compost, biochar, and digital tools—to improve soil fertility, limit nutrient losses, and increase crop resilience in both organic and conventional systems. The project will be carried out at six main experimental sites in Italy, Denmark, Finland, France, Hungary, and Portugal, selected to represent different climatic and soil conditions across the continent.
In Italy, the experiment is being conducted at the La Petrosa farm (Ceraso, Salerno) in collaboration with the University of Naples Federico II, the Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, RE-CORD, and Deafal. Permanent living covers consisting of specific legume species, innovative composts, biochar-coated seeds, and strip tillage will be tested to improve soil fertility and weed control in organic-conservation agriculture.
SOILRES adopts a multi-actor approach, actively involving farmers, technicians, and researchers in the co-design of solutions. Each experimental site will also function as a demonstration farm to promote training, knowledge sharing, and technology transfer through field days, workshops, and digital tools. Scientific partners include institutions such as the Natural Resources Institute of Finland, CNRS-INRAE in France, the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research in Germany, and the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium. The National Agricultural Research Center of Jordan is also participating to test the adaptability of innovations in more arid climates.
The Fundación Empresa-Universidad Gallega (FEUGA) will play a central role in communicating and disseminating the results, while technology companies such as LGI, MOM, and AGROBIOMICS will contribute to the development of innovative soil improvers and digital tools for mapping soil health.
The project, which is fully aligned with the European Green Deal and the Soil Mission “A Soil Deal for Europe,” will make concrete contributions to the European agroecological transition, supporting the objectives of the Farm to Fork Strategy, the Biodiversity Strategy for 2030, and the UN SDGs. The results will be made public to facilitate the large-scale adoption of regenerative practices.
