Are soil enzymes the secret to the future of farming?
Sonia MellerHealthy soil is the foundation of our entire food system – but many of the most important things happening in soil are invisible. For too long, farmers and policy makers have relied on slow, static...
Mapping soil degradation in Europe
Dr Mehdi AfsharWith soil health rising up the EU policy agenda, new science is helping explain where degradation risks are growing. Dr Mehdi Afshar’s recent work provides a timely, continent‑wide assessment. In this blog, Mehdi shares his...
Providing a novel indicator to understand soils’ potential to mitigate climate change
Dr Sabine ReinschA new international study, carried out as part of the AI4SoilHealth project, has shown that combined measurements of soil organic matter (SOM) and soil organic carbon (SOC) increase our understanding of the carbon storage potential...
Europe adopts its first soil health law
Giovanna GiuffrèOn 23 October 2025, the European Parliament (EP) gave its final approval to the Directive on Soil Monitoring and Resilience (SML)— Europe’s first-ever law dedicated to soil health. This landmark legislation crowns more than a...
Improving the future of soil monitoring: A new European map of Soil Water Retention Curves
Sarem NorouziSarem Norouzi from the Department of Agroecology at Aarhus University talks about his research into a new machine learning approach that enhances the Soil Water Retention Curve’s role in soil health. These findings are being...
A framework for monitoring and assessing soil health at national level
Sebastian GutierrezSebastian Gutierrez and Lucas Gomes from the Department of Agroecology write about their research into new tools for national soil health monitoring. The European Union is working to approve the Soil Monitoring Law, which aims...
Understanding soil with spectroscopy: A game changer for sustainable farming?
Kostas KaryotisFor anyone involved in agriculture or land management, understanding the health and composition of soil is paramount. Traditionally, this has meant sending soil samples to laboratories, a process that can be slow, costly, and resource-intensive....
Soil health now – but when? Why we need to consider the timing of indicators like infiltration in forest soils
Peter LehmannWhile the recent “Soil Health Now” conference in Wageningen rightly emphasised the urgent need for soil health protection and the role of specific indicators in the upcoming soil health law, a critical yet often neglected...
New map of soil health set to revolutionise how we manage soil in Europe and allow us to peer into the future
AI 4 Soil HealthA new EU Soil Health Data Cube layered map will revolutionise how farmers, land managers and policy makers sustainably manage soil in Europe and enable us to peer into the future and model solutions for...
“Innovation is key to improving how we understand, manage and protect soil”
Karen Fisher and Katy-Jo StantonRecently, a team of experts and volunteers from the Soil Association visited Woodoaks Farm, in Hertfordshire, England, as part of the AI 4 Soil Health project. Over three days, the team used new tools and...