The Project
Soils are under severe threat worldwide for a variety of reasons.
This also applies to the German-Dutch border region, where agriculture and horticulture are among the most important economic sectors and where valuable soils make successful economic activity possible in the first place.
Yet our soils are also suffering, and estimates suggest that around 60% to 70% of soils across the EU are unhealthy. Furthermore, around one billion tons of soil are lost to erosion every year, and the remaining fertile topsoil disappears.
The EU estimates the cost of soil degradation at over €50 billion per year. This soil degradation naturally also has consequences for agriculture, which is already facing major challenges due to the effects of climate change and ever-increasing production costs. It must provide the population with high-quality and affordable food while remaining economically viable.
Project Goals:
Healthy and highly functional soils have the potential to be a key to successful adaptation to climate impacts and to contribute to slowing climate change by storing large amounts of CO₂.
To ensure soil quality and to maintain and promote soil health, current management methods need to be adapted, which requires extensive knowledge, innovative analytical methods and crop recommendations.
This is precisely where the “SHAPE – Soil Health Check and Practices” project comes in:
The consortium of nine SMEs from Germany and the Netherlands, as well as the Rhine-Waal University of Applied Sciences, is developing innovative measurement and analysis systems together with application partners, which will be integrated into a new type of monitoring system.
This system enables farmers to assess the current health status of their land at any time. Using machine learning, artificial intelligence, and complex simulations, the data is documented and evaluated in a soil management system. Recommendations for soil health are generated and issued via an integrated decision support system (DSS).
Implementing the recommended measures conserves natural resources and avoids unnecessary environmental pollution.
The developed products and systems help to reduce the use of natural resources and prevent soil degradation and contamination of the water supply. This protects the soils and the environment in the program area.
By increasing CO₂ sequestration in soils and accounting for this, the goal of CO₂-negative management can be supported and a possible future monetization of this performance can be achieved.
Initial initiatives, such as those from Rabobank and Bayer, are already developing experimental concepts to transform farmers into climate managers. The dissemination of the soil knowledge developed in the project will also ensure maximum impact in the region.
