iCOSHELLs’ Catalogue of indicators and the importance of assessing soil health

CETENMA is working on a “Catalogue of soil health indicators” with the close collaboration of the iCOSHELLs Living Lab leaders as soil experts from different EU research institutes, technological centers and private companies. What they propose is a set of indicators gathered in a unique document able to evaluate soil health and the effect of the proposed innovative soil health solutions under the European funded project.

How do we select the right indicators?
The set of existing soil health indicators has been proposed after reviewing current EU policies and strategies, related EU soil health projects, and existing literature. For their selection, attributes such as robustness, practicality to measure, sensitivity to changes, efficiency on soil health assessment, parameter standardisation, comparability and cost effectiveness, have been considered.

The set of soil health indicators includes twelve traditional soil quality parameters sub-organised in three categories, each reflecting key soil characteristics:

– Physical properties that determine soil structure, aeration, and water movements: bulk density, particle size distribution and water holding capacity.
– Chemical properties that affect nutrient availability, pH balance, and the presence of pollutants: pH, electrical conductivity, plant available macronutrients, total N, total C, organic carbon, cation exchange capacity, heavy metals.
– Biological properties that reflect soil biodiversity and microorganism activity: microbial biodiversity and respiration.

In addition, the report identifies specific indicators to account for the specific solutions and requirements at LL level, that include:  agriculture pests and diseases monitoring, soil water management, fertilisers necessity and efficiency, ecosystem services, soil biodiversity evaluation, crops and products’ properties values.

A key tool towards healthy soils!
In summary, this catalogue plays a crucial role in iCOSHELLs project as a key tool to assess and monitor the potential improvement of the soil health conditions by the innovative solutions deployed and tested. Additionally, because this report will be publicly available in the upcoming months, it can serve as a valuable resource for other soil projects and initiatives, supporting their efforts to improve soil health.

Stay tuned for more information!

Reference: D.3.1 Catalogue of soil health indicators by CETENMA