With climate change, both drought and heavy precipitation are becoming more frequent. SoilX investigates the possibilities to mitigate impacts of such extremes on crop productivity and other ecosystem services (i.e. soil protection, nutrient cycling, carbon sequestration) through improved soil management practices. We are conducting a harmonized field sampling campaign across Europe to measure the impacts of soil management improvements on soil hydraulic characteristics. Based on existing and new measurements from this project, we will evaluate possible benefits and drawbacks of soil management changes with regard to productivity gains and other ecosystem services under current and future climate conditions. This work involves the use of several biophysical models to evaluate the robustness of impact estimates towards structural model uncertainties. Socio-economic factors that hinder or enable the adoption of improved soil management practices are identified through farmer interviews. The synthesis of the project findings will ultimately improve the knowledge base for advising farmers and policy makers at the European and regional levels and thus contribute to the successful implementation of soil structural improvement measures in Europe.

• Aarhus University (https://international.au.dk/), Denmark: Lars Munkholm, Johannes Pullens, Loraine Ten Damme, Morten Graversgaard
• Agroscope (www.agroscope.admin.ch), Switzerland: Annelie Holzkämper, Johannes Köstel, Olivier Heller, Maria Eliza Turek, Nicole Bütikofer
• Czech University of Life Sciences, Czech Republic (https://www.czu.cz/en): Miroslav Fér, Jana Poláková
• Flanders Research Institute for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (https://ilvo.vlaanderen.be/en/ ), Belgium: Tommy D’Hose, Sarah Garré, Jeroen Schreel
• National Institute for Agriculture and Food Research and Technology (https://www.inia.es), Spain: Marta Goberna, Inés Santín
• Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (https://www.slu.se/en/), Sweden: Thomas Keller, Nicholas Jarvis, Katharina Meurer, Christina Lundström, Jenny Höckert, Anna Lindahl, Elsa Coucheney
• University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (https://boku.ac.at/), Austria: Heidi Leonhardt, Bano Mehdi-Schulz, Pia Euteneuer, Klaus Salhofer, Michael Braito, Mariella Schreiber, Edberto Lima, Kristin Böning, Ernesto Lunar Koch