Innovative biotechnologies to restore soil health and improve agricultural competitiveness and resilience

Expected Outcome: Activities under this topic will advance the objectives and targets of the Mission Soil and should contribute to achieving the targets of the EU Soil Strategy for 2030 , the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 , the Zero Pollution Action Plan , the proposal for a Soil Monitoring and Resilience Directive , the Life Science Strategy , the Communication on Boosting Biotechnology and Biomanufacturing in the EU , while also contributing to the objectives on improving soil management and environmental performance of the Vision for Agriculture and Food. Project results are expected to contribute to all the following expected outcomes: to advance, validate and bring up to market readiness level innovative, scalable, sustainable and cost-effective biotechnologies, particularly those leveraging soil microbiome, which enhance crop quality and productivity, while remediate soil pollution and improve soil health; validated, market ready biotechnological solutions for soil remediation and soil health improvement are made available to relevant stakeholders, to enable reduced dependency on synthetic chemicals, increased crop resilience and agricultural productivity. Scope: Europe faces increasing challenges due to soil degradation, loss of biodiversity, and the expanding impacts of climate change. Addressing these issues is essential to ensure food security and sustainable land use. The integration of biotechnology can play a transformative role in this regard in the varied environmental conditions and land-use types found across Europe. In addition biotechnology solutions that improve soil health (such as novel bio-based fertilizers or microbial inoculants) can significantly enhance crop productivity by restoring essential nutrients and microbial balance in the soil. Finally, biotechnology solutions can provide innovative methods to decontaminate and rehabilitate degraded soils and lands, thus boosting the ecological and economic value of underutilized areas. Proposals should: develop, identify, upscale, pilot and validate biotechnology solutions, particularly leveraging the soil microbiome (such as novel bio-based fertilizers or microbial inoculants but not only) which remediate, restore and improve soil health across diverse pedoclimatic and cropping conditions; address the following issues: bioremediation of contaminated soils (i.e. by heavy metals, pharmaceuticals, PFAS); increasing soil organic carbon stocks, improving soil structure to enhance soil biodiversity, water retention and nutrient availability; overall, this should lead to enhanced crop …