SoildiverAgro’s technical committee members meet in Brussels today to decide on the details of the implementation of the study of the impacts of soil biodiversity on crop production and other ecosystem services. During this meeting, the size, number of parcels and replicates, as well as the different treatments and cycles of each regional case study will be decided.

Another interesting point to be addressed during the meeting will concern crop growth, the incidence of pests or diseases and crop performance assessment to establish appropriate measures for assessing crop performance crops, also on a nutritional level. As regards biodiversity assessment, the number of samplings to be carried out and the necessary information on soil preparation for the shipment of samples to laboratories will be decided.

During the afternoon, attendees will address the methodology for fertility and pollution assessment, improvements in soil structure, water availability and carbon sequestration performance assessment, as well as emissions mitigation greenhouse gases. Finally, the day will close with a debate on the interrelationships between biodiversity and ecosystem services in soil microorganisms with crop yields and quality.

The SolidiverAgro R&D project is funded by the European Horizon 2020 programme, with a budget of seven million euros and is coordinated by the University of Vigo. A total of 22 partners participate, including the Galician Enterprise-University Foundation (FEUGA) from Spain and other institutions from Finland, Belgium, Germany, Estonia, Denmark and the Czech Republic.