Soilcrates Press Release
The SOILCRATES project announces the selection of the first wave of farm-based pilot projects funded under its Financial Support to Third Parties (or FSTP) Request for Applications. Following the evaluation process, projects have been selected across France, Ireland, the Netherlands and Spain, and will be implemented within the framework of the four SOILCRATES Living Labs.
The FSTP call is designed to support practice-based, locally driven experiments addressing soil health challenges in agricultural and rural contexts. Selected pilot projects will receive financial support ranging from €20,000 to €60,000, enabling them to test, adapt and monitor soil health practices in real-life conditions over a period of 12 to 24 months.
Selected Pilot Projects
The selected pilots reflect a wide range of soil management approaches, crops and territorial contexts.
• In Spain, pilot projects located in the province of Granada focus on sustainable soil management for woody crops and Mediterranean viticulture.
• In Ireland, pilots are being implemented across Tipperary, Limerick and Clare, addressing topics such as organic living mulches, cover crops, soil fertility enhancement, microbial bio-stimulants, biochar applications and grassland soil health.
• In the Netherlands, selected projects are located in Fryslân, Drenthe and Groningen, exploring pasture cropping systems, soil compaction in grassland, cover cropping strategies, soil biodiversity and nutrient quality indicators.
• In France, pilot projects based in the Landes department focus on regenerative farming practices, soil structure improvement, crop diversification and optimisation of intercrop cover crops.
Next Steps
Selected pilot projects will be formally notified ahead of the public announcement and will begin implementation in early 2026. Throughout the project duration, pilots will benefit from technical support and coordination within their respective Living Labs and will contribute to collective learning and knowledge exchange across regions.
It should be noted that this first selection round does not represent the full allocation of the €1.6 million FSTP budget, as additional selection rounds are foreseen under the SOILCRATES project.
Further communication activities related to the selected pilots, including dedicated features in the SOILCRATES newsletter and online tools, will follow in the coming weeks.
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About SOILCRATES
SOILCRATES is a Horizon Europe project committed to promoting sustainable soil management practices that enhance soil health, biodiversity, and carbon storage, while supporting farmers and land managers in adapting to climate change.
For more information, visit SOILCRATES.EU.
A detailed list of selected projects includes the project name, implementing entity, country and province of experimentation follows this post. In some cases, the name of individual farmers appears in lieu of the project or entity name, reflecting the operational and practice-oriented nature of the selected pilots.
