AI4SoilHealth

Making the case for soil health monitoring
2025-07-25 10:30 - 12:00 (Europe/Amsterdam) | Online
Join the second session in the series “Envisioning the future of soil health monitoring”, hosted by the Soil Association.
Book your ticket via eventbrite here.

Making the case for soil health monitoring
Why does soil health monitoring matter? What are some of the latest tools scientists are developing to make it easier? And what ambitions do policy makers have for monitoring frameworks of the future? Sign up to this free webinar to join leading experts to discuss these topics and learn more about the future of soil science.
The webinar will bring together the perspectives of farmers, policy makers and scientists on soil monitoring practices, and ground key concepts in the current EU farming and land use landscape. The panel will discuss the value of soil monitoring from three vital perspectives: on-the-ground practice, scientific research, and policy development.
Join:

Karen Fisher, farming advisor, Soil Association
Nils Broothaerts, policy specialist, EU Soil Observatory, part of the European Commission Joint Research Centre (JRC)
Fatemah Hateffard, soil scientist, Stockholm University

“What’s exciting is the shift from reactive to proactive land management. With emerging technologies like AI, in-field sensors, and geospatial tools, we now have the ability not just to benchmark soil health, but to build predictive insights that help anticipate local challenges like drought, flooding or nutrient loss.”
Karen Fisher, Soil Association
This webinar series for AI 4 Soil Health explores how AI, open data and new research is transforming soil health monitoring and management across Europe.
Find out more about the AI 4 Soil Health project: https://ai4soilhealth.eu/about

What to Expect?

Learn why soil monitoring matters from the perspectives of both farmers and policy makers, through hearing from Karen Fisher, Farming Advisor at the Soil Association and Nils Broothaerts, Scientific Project Officer for the EU Soil Observatory, part of the European Commission Joint Research Centre.
Hear from soil scientist Fatemeh Hateffard of Stockholm University about the indicators we measure in the ground and the new technology, including spectroscopy and beyond, being used to do so.
Ask your questions to Karen, Nils and Fatemeh through a live Q&A.

What is the relevance of soil monitoring for farmers, researchers and policy makers?
The EU “Soil Monitoring and Resilience Directive”, agreed in April 2025, is the first of its kind to set legal standards for assessing and improving soil health across member states. Its goal is for all EU soils to reach a healthy condition by 2050, supporting broader environmental targets like the European Green Deal.
But why is soil monitoring making its way up the agenda?

Across the EU and UK, significant areas of soil are under pressure – from everything from compaction to loss of organic matter – and the effects aren’t always visible until productivity declines or flooding worsens.
Soil biology, encompassing microorganisms like bacteria and fungi, is fundamental to nutrient cycling, organic matter decomposition, and overall soil fertility.
Robust soil health data, derived from consistent measurement practices, provides policymakers with the evidence. This evidence is needed to create stronger, more targeted agricultural and environmental policies that are inclusive of soil and ultimately deliver meaningful impact for people, food, and the environment.

Who Should Attend?

Policy makers and civil servants who are engaged in soil-related strategies, projects, or regulatory initiatives.

Research leaders and scientific experts involved in soil monitoring programmes, Living Labs and the development of research and innovation policy recommendations.

Practitioners and innovators working on soil health and using or testing new monitoring approaches.

Stakeholders from civil society, NGOs, and grassroots movements with an active interest in soil health.

Private sector representatives contributing to or benefiting from soil health innovations.

Unlocking the power of open data for soil health
2025-07-07 10:30 - 12:30 (Europe/London) | Online
Join the first session in the series “Envisioning the future of soil health monitoring”, hosted by the Soil Association.
Book your place now.
Join one of the creators of the Soil Health Data Cube, OpenGeoHub Foundation, for this webinar in the AI 4 Soil Health project’s series, exploring how AI, open data and new research is transforming soil health monitoring and management across Europe.
This webinar will showcase how open, high-resolution geospatial data is unlocking new ways to model soil systems, predict climate change impacts, and drive regenerative agricultural practices.
“Only farmers and land managers are the agents of change in a landscape. As an open-source community of researchers, we hope that by surfacing existing and cutting-edge soil information through space and time, we can cultivate an environment of self-determination for farmers, to the benefit of all our children.”
Ichsani Wheeler, OpenGeoHub Foundation
Find out more about the data cube
What to Expect?
Learn how open data infrastructure can support decision-making, policy, and innovation within agriculture and land management.
Hear from co-directors of OpenGeoHub Foundation, Tomislav Hengl and Ichsani Wheeler on their experience of creating data infrastructure in the form of the Soil Health Data Cube, for policymakers and land managers to better manage soil health.
See a live demo of the Soil Health Data Cube in action.
Ask your questions to OpenGeoHub Foundation through a live Q&A.
What is the significance of the Soil Health Data Cube?
This platform is providing the data to enable simulated climate and policy scenarios, identify at-risk soils and test land-use strategies. It will be an invaluable tool for anyone working to restore soil health and reduce land degradation across Europe.
The Soil Health Data Cube offers a “digital twin” of Europe’s soils, integrating:
Detailed soil health indicators such as carbon stocks, pH and biodiversity.
Data on soil pollutants, excess nutrients and salts.
Historical land use and vegetation data.
Who Should Attend?
Policy-makers and civil servants who are engaged in soil-related strategies, projects, or regulatory initiatives.
Research leaders and scientific experts involved in soil monitoring programmes, Living Labs and the development of research and innovation policy recommendations.
Practitioners and innovators working on soil health and using or testing new monitoring approaches.
Stakeholders from civil society, NGOs, and grassroots movements with an active interest in soil health.
Private sector representatives contributing to or benefiting from soil health innovations.

SOIL HEALTH NOW CONFERENCE
2025-04-08 - 2025-04-10 | Wageningen International Conference Center, Wageningen International Conference Center, Wageningen, 6701 AN, Netherlands
A 3-day international conference with keynotes, discussion forums, oral talks, workshops and demonstrations + fieldwork: science, technology and business intelligence for measuring monitoring and increasing soil health.
8–10 April, Wageningen International Conference Center, Wageningen.
Find out more, and register here.

International conference: ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE FOR SOIL HEALTH
2024-12-04 | Budapest, Venue tbc, Budapest, Hungary
Join us for an international conference on understanding the role of AI and other digital tools on soil health taking place as part of the Budapest Soil Health Forum on 4th December 2024, in Budapest, Hungary. This event is to be held back-in-back with the high-level closing event of the Agricultural Chapter of the Hungarian EU presidency.
REGISTER NOW FOR ONLINE ATTENDANCE (Free)
This “AI for Soil Health” conference aims to bring together leading experts, researchers, and practitioners to discuss the latest advancements and applications of artificial intelligence in enhancing soil health.
Key topics include:
AI-driven soil analysis and monitoring
Predictive modelling for soil management
Sustainable agriculture practices
Innovations in soil health assessment
Join us for a day of insightful presentations, networking opportunities, and collaborative discussions to advance the field of soil health through AI solutions.
REGISTER NOW FOR ONLINE ATTENDANCE (Free)

Timetable

8:00 – 9:00 Registration
9:00 – 9:10 Welcome/opening
9:10 – 10:30 Plenary
10:30 – 11:00 Coffee
11:00 – 12:30 Session 1
12:30 – 13:30 Lunch
13:30 – 14:45 Session 2
14:45 – 15:45 Coffee + poster
15:45 – 17:00 Session 3
17:00 – 17:15 Wrap up, closure

Sessions and speakers
Plenary (20 min each presentation)

Arwyn Jones, Joint Research Council –
Zsombor Diriczi Démétér, Biosystems Kft.
Tomislav Hengl, Opengeohub
Kakha Nadiradze, DesertNet

Session 1: Soil health indicators, monitoring and spatial modelling (10 min. per presentation + 5 min. Q&A)

Grant Campbell, University of Aberdeen: ‘Developing a robust soil health indicator framework for Europe’
Daniel Kibirige, University of Cape Town: ‘From the Ground Up: A Comprehensive Review of Soil Health Indicators in South Africa’
Nasem Badreldin (online speaker), University of Manitoba Integrating: ‘Artificial Intelligence with Spectral Analysis for Precision Soil Organic Carbon Estimation as Soil Health Assessment’
Domagoj K. Hackenberger, BioQuant: ‘Leveraging Large Language Models (LLMs) for automated soil health data extraction from ecological research papers’
Lucas Gomes, Aarhus University: ‘Soil monitoring system at Pan-European scale for soil health assessment across space and time’

Session 2: Novel in-situ and laboratory techniques to assess soil health (10 min. per presentation + 5 min. Q&A)

José A. Cayuela-Sánchez, Spanish National Council for Scientific Research: ‘A compositional (CoDa) for soil organic carbon VISNIR measurement method preventing moisture interference’
Jasmin Fetzer, Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow, and Landscape Research: ‘Novel, laboratory-independent device to measure extracellular enzymatic activity in soils’
Carlos Abrahams, Baker Consultants Ltd: ‘A sound approach to monitoring soil health (ecoacoustic techniques)’
Tamara Djerdj, Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek: ‘Application of AI-driven system for monitoring earthworm behaviour in ecotoxicological soil health assessments’
Fatemeh Hateffard, Stockholm University: ‘New methods for in-situ soil health surveillance’

Session 3: From degradation assessment to smart farming (10 min. per presentation + 5 min. Q&A)

Branimir K. Hackenberger, SCIOM Bayesian: ‘Networks for soil degradation risk assessment using multivariate data’
Mehdi Afshar, Hamburg University of Technology: ‘Assessment of the Impact of Climate and Land Cover Changes on Land Degradation’
Claudia Helena Ramirez Soler, University of Salamanca: ‘Vulnerability of viticulture to climate change by means of satellite remote sensing techniques in the DO Ribera del Duero’
Juan Manuel Núñez Velasco, University of Salamanca: ‘GenAI-based recommender system for monitoring and control of urban gardens’
Stefan Pfeiffer, Austrian Institute of Technology: ‘GmbH Paving the Way towards Digitalisation Enabling Agroecology for European Farming Systems (PATH2DEA)’

Poster Session:

Livio Antonielli, AIT Austrian Institute of Technology: Microbial Community Prediction in Plant-Soil Systems Using Machine Learning
Sarem Norouzi, Aarhus University: Advanced Physics-Informed Machine Learning for Estimating Key Soil Properties Linked to Fundamental Soil Health: Particle Size Distribution and Water Retention Curves
Robert Minarik, OpenGeoHub Foundation: Mapping the WRB 2022 soil types of Europe at 30 m resolution
Thomas Oberleitner, International Institute for Applied Systems: Analysis Polynomial Regression Ensembles for Predicting Crop Yield and Soil Quality Indicators: Towards a Future Soil Health Forecasting Service
Xuemeng Tian, OpenGeoHub: Spatiotemporal prediction, uncertainty estimation and their assessment of soil organic carbon density (2000–2022) at 30~m resolution for Europe
Marko Reljic, University of Zagreb: Predicting Soil Salinity Using Sensor Data and Machine Learning in a Hydromeliorated River Delta
Marek Bednář, Palacký University in Olomouc: Optimizing Soil Block Division to Minimize Erosion: A Comprehensive Simulation Approach Using Agent-Based Modelling
Dominik Bittner, University of Aberdeen: Towards use of AI-Powered Hybrid Soil Health Assessment to Design Nature-Based Solutions for Restoration of Degraded Soils in Sub-Saharan Africa

Register now

AI4SoilHealth consortium meeting and general assembly 2024
2024-01-24 - 2024-01-26 | Bilbao, Basque Country, Spain
A meeting of the AI4SoilHealth consortium to discuss progress and agree a collective approach for our deliverables.
January 24th
Goal: Confirm the plan of activity to meet the KPIs, and build the visibility of the project in co-operation with the WP and pilot site outputs and agree an overarching framework for soil health assessment.
January 25th
Goal: Discuss the features of Soil Health Data Cube and the functionality AI4SoilHealth app with partners and stakeholders.
January 26th
Goal: Discuss soil districts and monitoring systems in an evolving stakeholder landscape.

SOILUZIOAK 2023
2023-10-10 - 2023-10-11 | Bilbao, Basque Country, Spain
SOILUZIOAK 2023 is the soil protection event of the year. The aim is to gather together 250 experts in the field to reflect on the need to manage soil from different perspectives including human health, biodiversity, climate change, food security & safety, and water quality. #SOILUZIOAK
Find out more and book your place.

Open Living Labs Day 2023
2023-09-21 08:00 - 2023-09-23 17:00 (Europe/Amsterdam) | Barcelona, Spain, Barcelona, Spain
OpenLivingLab Days is the flagship annual event organized by the European Network of Living Labs (ENoLL). It is a highly-anticipated gathering that brings together living labbers, public officials, corporate leaders, entrepreneurs, academics, and innovators from around the world. The event offers a unique platform for networking, exchanging best practices, and collaborating on cutting-edge projects and for reflecting on the latest trends and how to shape the future.
Read more about the event on this link.

European Healthy Soils Conference
2023-09-13 08:00 - 2023-09-15 17:00 (Europe/Amsterdam) | Muttenz, Switzerland, Muttenz, Switzerland
The topic Healthy Soils is a key element of the European Soil Strategy. This first edition of the European Healthy Soils Conference Series will address the relevance of healthy soils and soil fertility as prerequisite for a functioning society, environment, economy, and climate.
Read more about the event on this link.

Wageningen Soil Conference
2023-08-28 17:00 - 2023-09-01 12:30 (Europe/Amsterdam) | Wageningen University & Research, Droevendaalsesteeg 4, 6708 PB Wageningen, Netherlands, Wageningen, Netherlands
Wageningen University & Research and ISRIC are delighted to invite you to the fifth edition of the Wageningen Soil Conference. The conference has an interactive character with conference sessions as well as workshops on divergent soil-related topics. The focus of the conference will be on working together on solutions for a sustainable world.
Read more about the event on this link.
