Now the EU Directive on Soil Monitoring and Resilience is adopted and has entered into force. This is good news for everybody because healthy soils can be essential allies for addressing our challenges and ensuring our quality of life. But the difference will be made, or not, by the implementation of the law together with the other soil-related elements of NRR. This is a major challenge to which everyone is called to contribute and cooperate.
The text of the law sets a close cooperation between Member States and the Commission and the EEA. Another essential cooperation needed is between soil competent authorities, policymakers and science: indeed, there are several knowledge gaps still to be filled in that are key for an effective implementation.
So it is strategic and urgent to reach a common understanding between science and policy of which are, in very concrete terms, the specific knowledge elements needed for an effective implementation and how science and research can timely contribute. As examples, just consider the expected knowledge repository on the effects of soil management practices on soil health; the refinement of soil health criteria and descriptors; the wealth of supporting tools and documents to be developed to support Member States; the capacity building that will be needed in Member States among others to make fruitfully sense of all the data that will be produced. And the open question is: how to best realise this?
How to cite: Barbero, M., Probst, C., Peeters, B., and Goidts, E.: The EU Soil Monitoring and Resilience Directive implementation, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-23284, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-23284, 2026.
The Soil Monitoring and Resilience Directive represents a crucial step to create a unified legal system for soil protection, addressing its sustainable management and the remediation of contaminated sites, focusing on the ecological, climatic and health importance of soils, their role in biodiversity and carbon storage capacity. The Directive offers margins of autonomy to the Member States to define their monitoring system, the methodologies and threshold values and the parameters to be monitored, in particular on contamination. The contribution aims to provide a framework of the national preparations under the coordination of the Italian Ministry for Environment and Energy Security and identify the main needs for national adaptation.
Soil resilience requires an organic discipline, currently lacking, to address both the adoption of sustainable soil management practices, in harmony with agricultural policy and spatial planning, and land consumption in a systemic way by addressing divergences between local systems.
The transposition of the Directive in Italy requires the introduction of a new regulatory framework, which complements the updating of Legislative Decree no. 152/2006 and other sector regulations, to include a more integrated approach to soil protection, for the purposes of harmonization with national law and a more effective pursuit of the objectives of the Directive.
The approach adopted by Italy on the development of the standard has highlighted the intention to address the issue of soil in an integrated way, offering equal dignity with respect to other environmental resources already regulated. This involves a commitment to transversality and affirmation of the Directive's ambitious long-term goal of achieving healthy soils by 2050 as a priority in environmental action taking into account pressures on soils, the level of soil degradation and loss of ecosystem services, the assessment and management of risks posed by contaminated sites, soil sealing and removal, and the growth of settlement areas.
The preparations of the legislative process are underway to deal with the transposition, with the first urgencies in particular concerning:
- Ensure strategic guidance and coordination between the Administrations involved that ensures appropriate mechanisms for the adoption of a system of policies and measures to support soil health and resilience based on monitoring and scientific knowledge;
- Ensure the effectiveness of the monitoring system and a sufficient level of harmonization throughout the national territory;
- Identify soil units and determine the number and location of sampling points based on the best available information to reflect the high variability of soil, climatic and environmental characteristics of the national territory;
- Identify the human, instrumental and financial resources needed to implement the Directive;
- Define ways to engage with the public and to provide information at local level on measures and practices to increase soil resilience public participation and to encourage and support landowners and managers to improve soil health and resilience and facilitate such improvements by landowners and managers.
How to cite: Assennato, F., Mariani, E., Vecchio, A., and Stupazzini, R.: The Soil Monitoring Law between the preparation of the law and the path to national implementation. Reasoning for the Italian case , EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-20719, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-20719, 2026.
In Europe, the Soil Monitoring Law (SML) was published on 26 November 2025 and entered into force on 16 December of the same year. Member States have three years from that date to transpose the directive into national law. They must also set up a harmonised monitoring system, with common European descriptors and methodology, in order to assess the health of soils throughout their territory. The directive emphasises the creation of public registers and a risk-based approach, which implies increased collaboration between administrations, scientists and local actors.
The aim of this presentation is to explore the statistical aspects of the design of the harmonised European network and their implications for Member States. To this end, a statistical framework is proposed to simulate possible configurations of future networks, while taking into account the constraints imposed by SML and pre-existing networks in the territories. This generic approach is discussed and implemented for France, which has existing networks.
In particular, we test different definitions of the concept of soil unit and soil district. We also propose using existing maps produced by digital mapping methods to feed into the Bethel algorithm, which allows for the optimal allocation of sampling units to strata in stratified random sampling. An important aspect of this work is the integration of prediction uncertainty into sampling unit allocation, thanks to the work carried out as part of the OSPATS method (de Gruijter et al., 2015).
de Gruijter, J. J., B. Minasny, and A. B. McBratney. 2015. “Optimizing Stratification and Allocation for Design-Based Estimation of Spatial Means Using Predictions with Error.” Journal of Survey Statistics and Methodology 3 (1): 19–42.
How to cite: P.A. Saby, N., Potel, L., Laroche, B., Trochon, B., Jossard, I., Laville, P., Pierart, A., Buitrago, M., Garesse, A., Michalland, B., and Bispo, A.: A proposal for a statistical framework to define a harmonised monitoring system in Europe, incorporating existing networks., EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-10285, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-10285, 2026.
The EU Directive on Soil Monitoring and Resilience (SML) asks EU Memberstates to design a national soil monitoring scheme to assess soil health in their country and report the results to EU. The spatial sampling design needs to adhere to “The sampling scheme shall be a stratified random sampling optimised on the best available information on the variability of soil descriptors, and the stratification shall be based on the soil units established in accordance with Article 4(2). Sampling points related to measurements referred to in Article 9(4) may be taken into account partly or completely in the sampling scheme, regardless of their design.” as stated in Annex II Part A of the SML. This means that it is allowed to use existing monitoring campaigns and designs in a new design for the SML. This can be desirable for efficiency reasons, to maintain an existing monitoring frequency, allow trend analysis etc. A question that then needs to be answered is how points or results from different spatial sampling designs can be combined in a statistically valid and meaningful manner. To assess this, an inventory of national and regional soil monitoring campaigns in the Netherlands was performed, including their sampling design, number of points, locations, etc. This was classified to types of sampling design. A set of rules was set to choose the most appropriate statistical method, including an evaluation of appropriate statistical inference of data from various soil campaigns. A test with actual monitoring campaigns was performed to evaluate the performance of compiled methods. The results of this exercise are used to test different options or variants for designing the soil sampling design for SML implementation in the Netherlands in an assignment for the responsible ministry in the Netherlands.
How to cite: Stuurop, J., Knotters, M., and van Egmond, F.: Combining results from different monitoring systems in a statistically robust manner, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-21340, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-21340, 2026.
The Soil Monitoring Law gives some freedom to the Member States in the choice of the methodology for the measurement of the soil descriptors. For the setup of the soil monitoring in Flanders (Belgium) possible measurement methods have to be evaluated based on their scientific value, cost and practical feasibility. Also alignment with measurement methods in other European Member States and, if relevant, validated transfer functions to link to the reference methodology, are to be considered during this selection process.
Commissioned by Department Omgeving of the government of Flanders, the selection process is taking place from January to July 2026 in two phases. Soil biodiversity will be included in this project, but methods for soil contamination are not. In the first phase, extensive information is gathered for each soil descriptor regarding the reference method, CEN method, and alternative methods. This will include aspects such as replicability, current use in Flanders, practical implications for sampling and logistics, synergies with other soil descriptors and methods in other member states, the existence of validated transfer functions, environmental and health considerations, and more. This information will assist in the selection of the most appropriate method for every soil descriptor by the steering committee. If a final selection cannot be made, an alternative may be considered as well.
In the second phase, one or more scenarios for soil sampling, sample preparation and analysis will be developed based on the combination of all selected most appropriate methods (and possible alternatives). Based on the scenario(s), implementation packages and sub-packages will be defined that can be carried out by a sampling team or laboratory. Prices for these (sub)packages will be requested to minimum three laboratories.
At the conference, an overview of the status and progress of the selection process of the methodology for soil monitoring in Flanders will be provided.
How to cite: Amery, F., Cheyns, K., Tirez, K., D'Hose, T., Debode, J., Garré, S., Oorts, K., Salomez, J., and Swerts, M.: Selecting methodology for the Soil Monitoring Law in Flanders (Belgium), EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-19940, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-19940, 2026.
The Soil Monitoring and Resilience Directive will require Member States to implement harmonised frameworks for the storage, integration, and dissemination of soil monitoring data, to assess the prescribed set of indicators, and to support evidence-based policies for sustainable land management. In Italy, these requirements are being addressed through the development of a comprehensive digital infrastructure within the Integrated Monitoring System (SIM), a strategic initiative funded under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan.
The core component of this infrastructure is the National Soil Health Database (BNSS), conceived as a national hub for interoperable soil data management. The BNSS relies on an INSPIRE-compliant data model that has been further extended to formally represent sampling designs, sample handling procedures (transport and storage), and quantitative estimates of measurement uncertainty. This enhanced semantic framework enables the robust harmonisation of newly generated chemical, physical and biological soil data with heterogeneous legacy datasets, thereby improving data comparability, reusability and overall fitness for purpose across scientific and policy domains. The BNSS is supported by a suite of services for standardised data ingestion, metadata-driven catalogue discovery, advanced querying, and controlled data access, ensuring traceability of data ownership and provenance. All datasets, including historical records, can be systematically evaluated against configurable threshold values and synthesised at the scale of soil units, as stated in the Directive. At present, alternative soil unit delineations are produced through the spatial integration of soil districts, pedological maps, and land use and land cover layers, allowing for flexible scenario analysis. Spatial modelling workflows based on statistical and data-driven approaches are implemented through predefined analytical pipelines, enabling the generation of harmonised spatial products and their integration with downstream modelling tools, including applications for the assessment of soil water erosion. Overall, the SIM ecosystem establishes a coordinated, interoperable, and scalable digital environment that supports the network of competent national and local authorities designated under the Directive in the design, implementation, and evaluation of the foreseen long-term soil monitoring, fostering stronger links between soil science and policy.
How to cite: Cagnarini, C., L'Abate, G., Lachi, A., Petito, M., Minutella, F., Giunchi, L., Assennato, F., Corti, G., and Munafò, M.: The Integrated Monitoring System (SIM) to support the Italian implementation of the Soil Monitoring and Resilience Directive , EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-17785, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-17785, 2026.
Soil pollution is one of the major threats upon soil health. However, the main knowledge of the extent and the diversity of contaminants in soils has been obtained during the last years and there is still a big knowledge gap. If the most campaigns were focusing on trace elements or well-known organic contaminants such as PAH or PCB, the bigger challenge lies ahead when looking at emerging contaminants such as PFAS, pesticides or microplastics. The recent EU directive on soil monitoring might be an opportunity to tackle these knowledge gaps about diffuse soil contamination and the risk they may pose along with a better distribution of the knowledge across countries. This presentation aims to showcase what has been done the last 20 years in France regarding soil contaminants, and specifically since 2020 about trace elements, organic contaminants but also pesticides and microplastics and what are the challenges going-on. Major results and lessons from these monitoring in France could be used when building the European monitoring to ensure the most efficient choices to advice and answer policy questions and enlighten decisions regarding contaminants.
How to cite: Froger, C., Jolivet, C., Budzinski, H., Caria, G., Saby, N. P. A., Boulonne, L., Roussel, H., and Bispo, A.: Challenges of monitoring contaminants in soils: insights from the French experience, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-18829, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-18829, 2026.
Long-Term Field Experiments (LTEs) are permanently operated agricultural research infrastructures designed to study the long-term effects of management practices under changing climate conditions. These trials are essential for assessing the impacts of practices on crop production and soil across different textures and types, and for understanding soil health trajectories. LTEs therefore represent a high-value legacy data; however, their information is typically dispersed across various institutions and difficult to access.
To address this challenge, we developed an open-access (meta)data and knowledge platform centred on the LTE-Map (https://lte.bonares.de), providing a free and open access service to compile, harmonize, and reuse information on LTEs across Europe. The LTE-Map provides a spatial representation of LTEs and their key attributes by exchanging and harmonizing information from EU- and nationally funded initiatives (BonaRes, SoilWise, EJP SOIL). LTEs are clustered into categories directly relevant for soil monitoring (management operations, land use, duration, experimental status, etc.) (Grosse et al., 2020; Donmez et al., 2022; Donmez et al., 2023; Blanchy et al., 2024). Applying minimum duration thresholds of 5 years for mid-term trials and 20 years for LTEs, the (meta)database currently includes approximately 700 LTE records in a well structured and harmonized form across Europe and in a global context.
Our platform indicates that fertilization experiments represent the dominant research theme, followed by crop rotation and tillage, highlighting both strengths and gaps in long-term soil research coverage. By enabling the reuse of LTE data (as published in the BonaRes Repository - https://doi.org/10.17616/R31NJMVY) through geospatial approaches, including GIS-based climate impact analysis (Donmez et al., 2023), spatial representation (Grosse et al., 2020), GeoAI, and modelling (Donmez et al., 2024), the platform supports cross-country comparability and methodological innovation. It facilitates the scaling up of soil and agricultural knowledge from field to landscape level and supports strategies for resilient agricultural production, soil management, and food security in Europe, contributing to EU soil monitoring objectives. In our contribution, we demonstrate the potential that the LTE map has as a platform for collaboration in general and identify possible scientific evaluation methods for published LTE data and metadata.
References
Donmez C., Sahingoz M., Paul C., Cilek A., Hoffmann C., Berberoglu S., Webber H., Helming K., (2024): Climate change causes spatial shifts in the productivity of agricultural long-term field experiments. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eja.2024.127121. European Journal of Agronomy.
Blanchy G., D’Hose T., Donmez C., Hoffmann C., Makoschitz L., Murugan R., O’Sullivan L., Sanden T., Spiegel A., Svoboda N., Boltenstern S.Z., Klummp K., (2024): An open-source database of European long-term field experiments. https://doi.org/10.1111/sum.12978 Soil Use and Management
Donmez C., Schmidt M., Cilek A., Grosse M., Paul C., Hierold W., Helming K., (2023): Climate Change Impacts on Long-Term Field Experiments in Germany. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agsy.2022.103578. Vol.205, 103578. Agricultural Systems.
Donmez C., Blanchy G., Svoboda N., D’Hose T., Hoffmann C., Hierold W., Klummp K., (2022): Provision of the metadata of European Agricultural Long-Term Experiments through BonaRes and EJP SOIL Collaboration. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dib.2022.108226. Data in Brief.
Grosse, M. et al., (2020): Long-term field experiments in Germany: classification and spatial representation. https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-6-579-2020. Soil.
How to cite: Dönmez, C., Hoffmann, C., Svoboda, N., Specka, X., de Almeida, I. S., and Helming, K.: An open-access (meta)data platform for Long-Term Field Experiments to support soil monitoring and assessment, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-17028, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-17028, 2026.
In Europe, 60%–70% of soils are considered degraded, underscoring the urgent need for consistent monitoring to prevent further degradation and support evidence-based policies for sustainable soil management. Many countries in Europe have implemented one or more soil monitoring systems (SMSs), often established long before the EU-wide “Land Use/Cover Area frame statistical Survey Soil”, LUCAS Soil program. As a result, their sampling strategies and analytical methodologies vary significantly. The proposed EU Directive on Soil Monitoring and Resilience (Soil Monitoring Law, SML) aims to address these differences by establishing a unified framework for systematic soil health monitoring across the EU. This paper assesses the compatibility of the 25 identified SMSs from countries participating in the EJP SOIL Program with the anticipated requirements of the SML. The analysis focuses on critical aspects, including sampling strategies, analytical methods, and data accessibility. Results (Figure 1) show significant variability in SMS approaches, including sampling depth, monitored land uses, and analytical methods, which limit cross-system comparability. Despite challenges, opportunities for harmonization include aligning SMSs with the LUCAS Soil methodology, developing transfer functions, and adopting scoring systems for soil health evaluation. Enhanced collaboration and data accessibility are also emphasized as critical for achieving the SML's objectives. This research provides actionable recommendations to harmonise SMSs with the SML framework, promoting coordinated soil monitoring efforts across Europe to support the EU's goal of achieving healthy soils by 2050.
Acknowledgments
This research was developed in the framework of the European Joint Program for SOIL “Towards Climate-Smart Sustainable Management of Agricultural Soils” (EJP SOIL) funded by the European Union Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Program (Grant agreement no. 862695). Sophia Götzinger acknowledges the European Union's Horizon Europe Research and Innovation Program funding for the BENCHMARKS project (Grant agreement: 101091010).
How to cite: Bispo, A. and the EJP SOIL WP6: Monitoring Systems of Agricultural Soils Across Europe regarding the Upcoming European Soil Monitoring Law, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-11356, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-11356, 2026.
The EU Soil Monitoring and Resilience Directive (SMRD) establishes a harmonized framework for assessing soil health across Member States, focusing on chemical, physical, and biological descriptors. Currently, basal respiration is the only biological indicator of soil functionality suggested at the EU level, highlighting the need for complementary indicators that capture ecosystem processes and resilience under climate change and land management pressures.
Microbial-based functional indicators represent a promising solution, as soil microorganisms rapidly respond to environmental stress and drive key biogeochemical processes. Drawing on a series of case studies, literature reviews, and findings from EU-funded projects carried out by our research group (LIFE and Next Generation EU), we emphasize the critical role of soil eco-enzymes as indicators of soil health conditions. Enzyme activities, such as β-glucosidase (BG), acid phosphatase (AP), and N-acetyl-β-D-glucosaminidase (NAG), could be suitable descriptors of functional microbial biodiversity. In view of this, soil enzyme activities could be introduced as new descriptors in the Annex I during the Directive’s scheduled revision in 2033.
Microbial-released enzyme balance, under specific environmental conditions and spatial scales, could also contribute to evaluating and predicting the rate and efficiency of organic matter decomposition and immobilization, thus regulating the balance between stored C pools and CO₂ emissions. Integrating enzyme tests into SMRD monitoring protocols would provide robust descriptors of microbial processes influencing organic matter turnover. This approach strengthens the Directive’s capacity to evaluate soil health and resilience, offering a sensitive, easy-to-implement, and cost-effective functional indicators aligned with EU sustainability goals for 2050.
How to cite: Masciandaro, G., Peruzzi, E., Macci, C., Vannucchi, F., and Doni, S.: Can enzyme activities assist soil health assessment in the EU Soil Monitoring and Resilience Directive?, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-12787, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-12787, 2026.
Nature-Based Solutions (NBS), such as urban green infrastructure, agroforestry, and wetland restoration, are increasingly recognized as effective strategies for restoring soil health and enhancing ecosystem resilience, particularly in the context of climate change and land degradation. However, the scientific and operational integration of soil health monitoring within NBS implementation remains limited, despite its critical role in assessing long-term effectiveness. The forthcoming EU Soil Monitoring and Resilience Directive, which mandates harmonized soil monitoring systems and robust indicators across Member States, underscores the urgency of addressing these gaps.
Drawing on case studies and insights from European initiatives and research activities within the LIFE and Next Generation EU projects under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, we focus on designing, applying, and monitoring NBS in both urban and natural areas, with restoration actions targeting degraded soils and ecosystems.
In line with the Directive’s requirement for harmonized monitoring systems, we propose a soil–plant indicator framework integrating physical, chemical, and biological dimensions: (i) enzyme activities and ecological stoichiometry to quantify functional microbial biodiversity loss; (ii) stable isotopes of C and N to quantify soil carbon loss; (iii) soil biodiversity metrics (taxonomic and diversity of microbiomes) to quantify biodiversity loss; and (iv) plant functional traits as proxies for soil–plant interactions. These indicators could be introduced as new descriptos in the Annex I during the Directive revision.
By bridging NBS implementation with soil health assessment, this work highlights research opportunities to support the Directive’s objectives and advance evidence-based strategies for achieving healthy soils by 2050. Collaborative efforts among scientists, policymakers, and stakeholders are essential to overcome methodological bottlenecks and promote resilient, biodiversity-friendly solutions at multiple scales.
How to cite: Doni, S., Masciandaro, G., Scartazza, A., Vannucchi, F., Macci, C., Traversari, S., and Peruzzi, E.: Towards Healthy Soils by 2050: Linking NBS Implementation with Soil–Plant Indicators, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-13024, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-13024, 2026.
The Soil Innovation Partnership (SIP) builds on the legacy of the EJP SOIL to unite science, policy, business, and farming communities in accelerating the transition to climate-resilient, carbon smart agricultural soil management (across Europe).
SIPs mission is to move soil science into practice - by demonstrating the role of healthy soils in carbon storage, climate mitigation and adaptation, water management, sustainable food systems and food security. Through a growing public-private-philanthropic partnership, SIP connects research, on-farm validation, and finance to turn knowledge into investment-ready soil solutions.
During its 2025-2026 scoping phase SIP focuses on:
- Co-designing actionable knowledge application pathways with farmers and funders
- Validating soil-carbon practices and innovations in the field
- Scaling through models that reward soil health and carbon storage outcomes
This presentation highlights how SIP connects research, innovation communities, practitioners and funders by complementing the EU Soil Mission’s ambition for healthy soils by 2050.
Through collaboration across disciplines and sectors, the Partnership will turn Europe’s soil knowledge into real world impact —strengthening soil functions, enhancing carbon sequestration and building climate resilience.
How to cite: Zechmeister-Boltenstern, S., Merbold, L., Chenu, C., Gerasina, R., Emborg, J., Matson, A., Wall, D., Matson, A., Keesstra, S., Fantappie, M., Voogt, M., Zahra, J., Lavallee, J., Zaltzman, R., and Visser, S.: The Soil Innovation Partnership – United by Soil, Driven by Impact, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-14596, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-14596, 2026.
About 250,000 soil-tests are performed in France each year at the request of farmers. Tens of thousands of these analyses are carried out as part of sewage treatment plant sludge management (in accordance with the 8 January 1998 decree) and therefore relate to soil trace elements content. The number and diversity of origin of the samples make these soil-test results an interesting and original source of information regarding the variability of cultivated topsoil.
Since 1998, the national BDETM programme (database on trace metal elements) has been compiling the results concerning the trace metal element content (Cd, Cr, Cu, Hg, Ni, Pb, Zn and Se) of these analyses. Agro-pedological data determined on the same samples are sometimes included. Important additional information on the sampling sites (town, geographical coordinates, etc.) and the analyses themselves (laboratory, method used, etc.) is also centralised in the database. These results were collected from various data providers: research laboratories, environment consulting companies, chambers of agriculture, departmental directorates for territories, laboratories and the Ministry for Ecological Transition and Territorial Cohesion. This programme was carried out during three data collection campaigns, initiated by ADEME and conducted by INRAE, in 1998, 2010 and 2025.
Currently, the BDETM contains the results of analyses of nearly 150,000 samples collected over 30 years. Using appropriate statistical procedures, we demonstrate that this type of approach provides an often-underutilised operational tool for obtaining valuable information on the spatial distribution of trace elements levels and their evolution over time.
How to cite: Pueyo, P., Saby, N., Bispo, A., Roussel, H., and Bonzom, J.-M.: Trace elements database: An inexpensive tool for monitoring soils and defining reference values, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-22396, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-22396, 2026.
The project SoilHamony aims at developing transfer functions (TF) and pedotransfer functions (PTF) to support the implementation of the soil monitoring law (SML) and the EU Carbon Removal and Carbon Farming (CRCF) Regulation. It will also align with the EU mission: a soil deal for Europe, by supporting the development of a harmonized framework for soil monitoring in the EU towards healthy soils. TF will allow converting data obtained using national methods into those defined in the SML. The project will identify and collect existing source data, including archived samples, and existing derived and validated TF and PTF in a FAIR by design process. TF and PTF will be developed for main soil descriptors proposed in Annexe 1 part A to C of the SML. The effect of field sampling methods on the analytical results will also be characterized and recommendations to consider differences in methodologies will be provided. The TF will be validated with 4000 samples covering at least 21 MS and 80% of the EU land surface area with good representativeness of the various land uses. PTF will be validated without additional sampling but with new data to be collected from partners. The project will determine and operationalise the most reliable statistical methods for deriving TF and PTF. SoilHarmony will give access to the validated TF and PTF to all the entities responsible for the SML implementation and relevant stakeholders in an interoperable manner. A FAIR metadata catalogue and a soil database will efficiently gather already existing and newly acquired knowledge and data as DOI referenceable (meta)datasets. A converter toolbox will be freely available and composed of a back-end R package with built-in statistical methods and a user-friendly web application that will allow converting directly the national data into SML compliant data. MS will be actively involved in the construction through the 28 partners and their network, efficiently managed to maximise uptake of the results.
How to cite: Bispo, A., Maillet, E., Fantappie, M., Tondini, E., Piccini, C., De Carvalho Gomes, L., Lamandé, M., Wetterlind, J., Cagnarini, C., De Vos, B., Van Calster, H., Huyghebaert, B., Herinckx, J., van Egmond, F., Emborg, J., Beguerie, M., and Signoret, J.: SoilHarmony : Towards a harmonised pan-European monitoring of soil health descriptors, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-22403, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-22403, 2026.
Soil health in Europe is a major policy concern, with approximately 62% of European Union soils being classified degraded [1]. In response, the adoption of the EU Soil Monitoring Law in 2025 has mandated systemic, national scale soil monitoring. The successful application of the law relies heavily on established national soil monitoring networks - infrastructures designed to track the spatial and temporal changes in soil properties in the European countries. These networks implement robust technical procedures, implicitly employing Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification (MRV) frameworks: a concept often used in the private carbon markets spheres [2]. In the context of soils, MRV consists of a scientifically robust system to monitor soil and produce reproducible results (Monitoring), to support structured and transparent communication (Reporting), and to reliably verify the quality of results by independent experts (Verification). The soil monitoring networks represent a robust evidentiary baseline, capable of guiding the practical MRV framework implementation, where standardised procedures are currently lacking.
While Monitoring components applied by different European Soil Monitoring Networks have been well documented [3], operational details of Reporting and Verification procedures remain a significant knowledge gap. Our study contributes to closing this gap by classifying Reporting & Verification procedures applied by the national soil monitoring networks in Europe. We hypothesize that procedures exhibit both commonalities as well as cross-country variance driven by diverging national policy requirements and economic constraints. To test this, an online questionnaire was administered to coordinators and/or subject matter specialists of the corresponding national soil monitoring networks. We will highlight common bottlenecks in data verification or diverse reporting formats. Based on our results, we give recommendations to the soil monitoring networks to implement and complete the Reporting and Verification procedures of the respective networks. This would be a stepping stone towards data harmonisation of reporting and verification procedures, supporting the implementation of the EU Soil Monitoring Law.
REFERENCES
[1] European Commission, Joint Research Centre, European Soil Data Centre (n.d.) EUSO Soil Health Dashboard. Online: https://esdac.jrc.ec.europa.eu/esdacviewer/euso-dashboard/ (accessed 14.01.2026)https://esdac.jrc.ec.europa.eu/esdacviewer/euso-dashboard/
[2] Batjes, N.H., Ceschia, E., Heuvelink, G.B.M., Demenois, J., Le Maire, G., Cardinael, R., Arias-Navarro, C., Van Egmond, F., 2024. Towards a modular, multi-ecosystem monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) framework for soil organic carbon stock change assessment. Carbon Management 15, 2410812. https://doi.org/10.1080/17583004.2024.2410812
[3] Mason, E., Cornu, S., Arrouays, D., Fantappiè, M., Jones, A., Götzinger, S., Spiegel, H., Oorts, K., Chartin, C., Borůvka, L., Pihlap, E., Putku, E., Heikkinen, J., Boulonne, L., Poeplau, C., Marx, M., Tagliaferri, E., Vinci, I., Leitāns, L., … Bispo, A. (2025). Monitoring Systems of Agricultural Soils Across Europe Regarding the Upcoming European Soil Monitoring Law. European Journal of Soil Science, 76(4). https://doi.org/10.1111/ejss.70163
How to cite: Shome, S., Imbert, C., Paul, C., Bispo, A., Poeplau, C., and Helming, K.: Beyond Monitoring: How are data of National Soil Monitoring Networks reported and verified? An overview of European countries, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-11175, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-11175, 2026.
We provide an overview of the accuracy of soil property predictions using the most common proximal sensing (PSS) techniques in precision agriculture (PA), both standalone and in combination with one another or with environmental covariates. Based on 114 scientific papers, we evaluate the accuracy of soil property estimates by calculating the normalized root mean square error (NRMSE) using RMSE values and the range of the predicted soil property. Soil properties, PSS techniques, covariate types, and the model employed for predictions are the factors used to sort the accuracy results. We estimate PSS service costs using both the literature and a market study with questionnaires from private companies in PA. Our analysis indicates that diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) can estimate the greatest number of soil properties with high accuracy among the PSS techniques. Popular DRS applications include determining soil organic matter, nutrients, and soil texture. X-ray fluorescence (XRF) is the second-most popular technique for estimating soil properties. XRF is widely used in the field to determine elemental concentrations. On-the-go techniques such as electromagnetic induction (EMI) or gamma-ray spectroscopy (γ-ray) yield lower accuracy than point-based techniques. They are widely used by companies because they can delineate PA management zones in the field and are suitable for on-the-go mapping of soil properties such as mineralogy, texture, salinity, water content, cation exchange capacity, and soil depth. The combined use of PSS techniques generally doesn’t outperform the singular application, although the number of samples collected for calibration and the specific combinations of sensors, covariates, and modeling techniques, when correctly applied, may enhance the predictions of soil properties using PSS techniques applied singularly. These outcomes tend to depend on local site characteristics.
According to data, the estimated cost of surveying a hectare with PSS oscillates between 15.5€/ha and 130€/ha, whereas our company survey yielded an interval of 142-362€/ha. Price variability was influenced by personnel costs, fieldwork, data and reporting, sample analysis, and equipment. Increases in final prices can be attributed to accessibility and difficulties related to fieldwork and travel to the area of interest. This work aims to serve as a reference for the adoption of sensing technologies by farmers, policymakers, and companies, providing insights into the suitability of different PSS techniques for soil mapping, their associated costs, and what is available in the market. We foresee that PSS will become the standard approach for producing high-resolution maps and affordable soil property information in the future.
Acknowledgments
Work funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Program under Grant Agreement Nº 862695, and from the Tillämpninggsklivet Precisionsodling RUN 2021-00020 Region Västra Götaland
How to cite: Lozano Fondon, C., Lorenzetti, R., Barbetti, R., Metzger, K., Buttafuoco, G., Özge Pinar, M., Madenoğlu, S., Sandén, T., Gholizadeh, A., Stenberg, B., Fantappiè, M., van Egmond, F., Liebisch, F., López Núñez, R., Knadel, M., and Koganti, T.: Accuracies and costs of prediction and mapping soil properties using proximal sensors: A systematic review, EGU General Assembly 2026, Vienna, Austria, 3–8 May 2026, EGU26-19447, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu26-19447, 2026.
