InBestSoil Project @European Mission Soil Week 2025

The ‘European Mission Soil Week’ is an annual event dedicated to promoting the Horizon Europe Mission ‘A Soil Deal for Europe’, aiming to raise awareness and motivate actions to protect and restore soil health. This year, from November 5 to 6, we participated in Aarhus, Denmark, engaging in discussions on how innovation, investment, and collaboration can enhance soil health across Europe.

Representing the InBestSoil project, our colleagues Austra Zuševica, Researcher at the Latvian State Forest Research Institute SILAVA, Andrés Rodriguez Seijo, Postdoctoral Researcher and David Fernández Calviño, Soil Science Researcher at Universidade de Vigo (Uvigo), shared valuable insights on sustainable land management and innovative business models.

Key highlights from the first day included:
A panel discussion illustrating how innovation and financial support can turn soil restoration into sustainable business opportunities;
EU leaders emphasize the importance of investing in soil for a sustainable and greener future;
The unveiling of new #MissionSoil Ambassadors and a partnership with EIT Food to promote soil literacy and support resilient agricultural practices.

During the event, our coordinator Andrés Rodríguez Seijo participated in the breakout session titled ‘From soil sealing to regeneration: Business models for sustainable soils in urban and industrial areas,’ where he presented on the #InBestSoil project. This session highlighted successful business models that promote the economic, environmental, and social sustainability of urban areas, emphasizing the crucial role of soil health in urban ecosystems. It also highlighted brownfield redevelopment as a key strategy for urban soil remediation and sustainable city development. Additionally, integrated circular business models for soil regeneration were discussed, demonstrating how they can generate multiple revenue streams, unlock green funding, and reduce costs through improved resource efficiency and waste valorization.

Austra Zuševica also participated in the breakout session ‘Innovative financial mechanisms for scaling soil health in forestry.’ This session explored creative funding and financing approaches to maintain healthy soils within forest ecosystems. Emerging financial tools, such as carbon and nature credits, payments for ecosystem services (PES), and blended finance solutions, offer promising opportunities to advance soil health initiatives in forestry by leveraging innovative business models and public-private financing strategies.

As the same mission drives our efforts, the gathering of the #InBestSoil and #BIOservicES projects at EMSW is always highly anticipated. To learn more about our work, follow our activities on the #SoilCommunityPlatform: https://soilcommunity.app/.

We leveraged EMSW to engage with policymakers, industry leaders, and fellow researchers, driving innovation and contributing to the future of healthy soils across Europe.