Mission Soil mobilises €101 M to restore Europe’s soils

Soil health is no longer an issue that concerns the agricultural sector alone. Food production, water availability, biodiversity conservation, carbon storage and ecosystems’ ability to withstand increasingly frequent events such as droughts and torrential rainfall all depend on it. However, the European Commission estimates that a significant proportion of EU soils show some degree of degradation, a situation that threatens both the competitiveness of the primary sector and the green transition. Against this backdrop, this year’s call under the Mission A Soil Deal for Europe, known as Mission Soil and one of Horizon Europe’s main instruments for funding research and innovation in this field, is making €101 million available for projects designed to improve soil health and accelerate the deployment of solutions in real-world conditions.

The call is not aimed solely at universities and research centres. It also seeks the involvement of businesses, public authorities, agricultural organisations, forest owners, associations, third-sector organisations and other stakeholders capable of helping to transfer research results to the territories concerned. Indeed, one of the messages repeatedly emphasised by the European Commission throughout the work programme is that solutions must be designed with the people who will ultimately use them, rather than simply for them.

Funding opportunities

The call is structured around three main strands. The first comprises four topics open to any consortium that meets the eligibility requirements, with a combined budget of €33 million. Proposals may be submitted until 23rd September and cover areas including improvements to soil health monitoring systems, research into antimicrobial resistance using the One Health approach, the development of artificial intelligence-based tools to support soil management, and the strengthening of regional research and innovation ecosystems in Ukraine.

The second strand focuses on Living Labs, one of Mission Soil’s main approaches for testing solutions in real-world conditions and encouraging their uptake by farmers, forest managers, public authorities and other local stakeholders. The European Commission is allocating €48 million to two calls: one covering the Alpine and Atlantic biogeographical regions, and another focusing on managed forests and natural or semi-natural areas. Unlike the other topics, these calls follow a two-stage procedure. The first stage has already closed, and only consortia invited to proceed after passing the initial evaluation may submit a full proposal by 15th September.

The third strand is a joint call involving Mission Soil and the Mission on Adaptation to climate change. It has a budget of €20 million and a deadline of 23rd September. Its purpose is to fund demonstration projects that strengthen soil resilience to extreme events such as droughts, floods and torrential rainfall through solutions that can be implemented and replicated across different European territories.

The keys to a competitive proposal

Beyond the scientific or technological content, the European Commission highlights several elements that may prove decisive during the evaluation process. One is the multi-actor approach. Farmers, foresters, businesses, public authorities, advisers and local communities cannot play a merely symbolic role; they must be actively involved in designing, validating and exploiting the solutions.

Particular attention will also be paid to data interoperability, coordination with European initiatives such as SoilWise and the European Union Soil Observatory, and the ability of proposals to demonstrate that their results can be sustained after EU funding has ended.

From the laboratory to the territory

This is precisely the area on which much of Zabala Innovation’s work in several European Mission Soil projects is focused. Through its Social Innovation team, the consultancy participates as a partner in initiatives where scientific knowledge generation is complemented by co-creation and participation methodologies and by the development of innovation ecosystems that encourage the uptake of solutions by those expected to implement them.

One such project is InBestSoil, which focuses on quantifying the economic value of ecosystem services associated with sustainable soil management practices and developing business models that demonstrate their economic, environmental and social viability. Zabala Innovation leads the work package dedicated to stakeholder engagement and co-creation across nine case studies located in different European regions.

“Co-creation goes far beyond organising participatory workshops,” explains Aizeti Carlos de Vergara, a consultant in Zabala Innovation’s Social Innovation team. “Our role is to help ensure that knowledge is developed jointly by the scientific community and by those with first-hand knowledge of local realities. This continuous exchange makes it possible to adapt solutions to the specific challenges faced by each pilot, builds trust between the different stakeholders and increases the likelihood that the results will continue to be used after the project ends,” she adds.

Zabala Innovation also participates in BIOservicES, a project that studies the role of soil biodiversity in ecosystem functioning and develops new indicators and economic models to encourage the adoption of regenerative agricultural practices. In this case, its work focuses on designing co-creation processes aimed at identifying opportunities to turn scientific results into solutions that can be implemented on the ground, ranging from payment schemes for ecosystem services to new partnerships with existing Living Labs.

The challenge lies in achieving impact

“A project’s impact cannot be measured solely in economic or environmental terms. It must also reflect its ability to bring about lasting change for people and territories,” says Carlos de Vergara. Along the same lines, she adds that one of the main aims is “to ensure that knowledge flows in both directions: from science to the territory and from the territory back to research”, fostering communities of practice and innovation ecosystems capable of continuing their activities after European funding has ended.

The 2026 Mission Soil call once again places emphasis on this idea. Scientific excellence will remain an essential requirement, but it will not be sufficient on its own. The European Commission is looking for projects that can demonstrate that their solutions can be implemented, sustained and deliver impact beyond the project period. This requires research, innovation, participation and knowledge transfer to be integrated from the outset.