EIT Food launches LILAS4SOILS, an innovation focused project under the EU Soil Mission

The project is named to highlight its core mission: transforming Europe’s agricultural sector towards healthier soils and fostering zero-emission carbon farming systems, particularly in Mediterranean and Southern European regions.

25 Sep 2024

LILAS4SOILS, an €11.5 million project funded under Horizon Europe and the EU ‘A Soil Deal for Europe’ mission, was officially launched on September 24-25, 2024 in Bilbao, Spain. Begoña Pérez Villarreal, Director at EIT Food South, and Paola Eulalio, Research Programme Officer at DG AGRI attended the kick-off event.

“We must work together to transform the agrifood system, and LILAS4SOILS will empower us to achieve this”

- Begoña Pérez Villarreal, Director of EIT Food South Europe

Aiming to transform Europe’s agricultural sector towards healthier soils, LILAS4SOILS is set to foster zero-emission carbon farming systems, particularly in Mediterranean and Southern European regions and engages the Quintuple Helix of Innovation (QHI), bringing together universities, policymakers, industries, farmers, and civil society to ensure comprehensive and inclusive agricultural innovation.

Likewise, the Research Programme Officer at the European Commission, Paola Eulario draw attention to the importance of this proyect. "The Soil Mission is the right initiative at the right time, as soils remain at risk. This is a major reason why projects like LILAS4SOILS, are essential." emphasized Paola.

Key Components and Objectives

The project is organised into five core working areas:

Peatland Management
Agroforestry
Soil Organic Carbon (SOC) Enhancement
Livestock Management
Nutrient Management

"In the Soil Mission Open Call, seven proposals were submitted, with three surpassing the threshold. Ultimately, the standout project, LILAS4SOILS, was selected for funding”

- Pilar Vizcaíno Martínez, EC Project Officer.

Over the next 5 years, LILAS4SOILS will establish and support 5 Living Labs in 6 countries and demonstrate 19 Carbon Farming Practices (CFP) in 100 experimental sites. The activities will focus on real-life implementation to achieve environmental, economic and social impact in the agrifood system.

Project Activities

Some of the core activities of LILAS4SOILS include:

Designing the Living Labs Structure and participatory approaches.
Development and testing of Carbon Farming Practices in diverse agricultural environments.
Carbon sequestration assessment and Living Lab impact monitoring.
Dissemination and communication efforts across partner countries.
Sustainable management, coordination, and ethical considerations.

The project coordinator of EIT Food South, Nestor Etxaleku, said that "we recognize that soil measurements are not easily obtained. Therefore, it will take 3-4 years to gather accurate data and, as a result, generate meaningful insights."

The kick-off also included a special visit to Neiker’s facilities in Arcaute, Álava, Spain, where LILAS4SOILS partners could learn about the Basque long-term sustainable agriculture network and visit the facilities of both the Plant Production and Protection Department and the Animal Production Department.