Fields4Ever

Project

299947

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Submitted

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NEW EUROPEAN BAUHAUS AWARDS: existing completed examples

Project title

Fields4Ever

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Description

Biome Makers develops tools for sustainable agriculture. BeCrop, the standard for soil analysis, is our technology combining DNA-Sequencing and Intelligent Computing. Our non-profit global initiative, Fields4Ever,  promotes accessibility to BeCrop® technology for functional soil assessment, soil health education, and training to researchers, farmers, and agronomists for their soil restoration projects. Currently, Fields4Ever supports 210 projects in 40 countries, analysing 21K samples worldwide.

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Please provide a summary of your project

fields4ever is a global initiative powered by Biome Makers for the conservation and monitoring of soil health by promoting the development of more sustainable and respectful agriculture management. Improving the soil health of agricultural lands holds the potential for achieving meaningful conservation and economic benefits, as well as mitigating the growing threat of climate change. Indeed, unhealthy soil is becoming a worldwide issue and the public is more aware of the key role that soil plays in supporting life. In order to move forward from theory to action, for providing a pragmatic and measurable approach and to harmonize soil quality assessment, Biome Makers has developed soil health monitoring tools and metrics for the agriculture community worldwide. To develop sustainable management systems that integrate soil health monitoring practices it is important to execute different actions in a coordinated fashion and to include relevant stakeholders involved in agriculture such as farmers, agro-input providers, technical support service operators and regulators.

fields4ever initiative looks at the soil as a living ecosystem and utilizes the soil microbiome as biomarker for soil health and productivity. Soil is a precious natural resource inhabited by a community of microorganisms – the soil microbiome, a connected microbial network that reflects any modifications happening in-field. Soil microbiome is the most powerful and natural biomarker of the soil bioactivity and its functionality. Furthermore, the soil microbiome plays an essential role in crops’ development and productivity and is being considered as the external plant immune system.

fields4ever provides open access to the BeCrop technology and tools (integrating genomics, AI and AgData to identify the microbial biomarkers providing a meaningful explanation of soil function in agriculture) for functional soil assessment, soil health education and training to researchers, farmers and agronomists.

Please indicate the main themes of your project with 5 key words

Please give information about the key objectives of your project in terms of sustainability (including circularity) and how these have been met.
Please highlight how the project can be exemplary in this context

fields4ever was created with one goal in mind: to restore and enhance the health of soil worldwide.

1/3 of the world’s arable soil has been lost in the last 40 years. It’s time to move forward with an aggressive plan for sustainable and productive farming to restore our fields before it’s too late.

fields4ever treats the soil as a living ecosystem and recognises the microbiome as a bioindicator for soil health and productivity. Soil is a precious natural resource inhabited by a community of microorganisms – the soil microbiome – a complex network that reflects any modifications happening to the land.

Productive soils forever by using open technology: Farmers need to be able to monitor the health status of their soils in order to develop more respectful and productive farming practices. Thus, fields4ever initiative grants access to the advanced soil quality assessment tools developed by Biome Makers to all agricultural players and encourages the implementation of the most efficient practices in agriculture.

Having healthier soil will help achieve broader conservation goals, providing significant societal benefits for farmers and, ultimately all of us. 3 A reward waiting for all humankind According to the USDA only “living” things can have health, so viewing soil as a living ecosystem reflects a fundamental shift in the way we care for our soils.

In 22 months fields4ever has completed over 200 projects in over 40 countries around the world analysing more than 25.000 soil samples. This has translated in 20% reduction of agrochemical use amongst the participating farms and an estimated increase of 15% in carbon sequestration by the agricultural practices. It has also contributed to building the largest soil taxonomy database with over 7,7 microorganisms

Please give information about the key objectives of your project in terms of aesthetics and quality of experience beyond functionality and how these have been met.
Please highlight how the project can be exemplary in this context

BeCrop technology is the current soil analysis standard, thanks to fields4ever we have made it openly available to the agricultural sector together with the necessary training to not only provide data on soil health but actual actionable information that can easily translate into meaningful and measurable change. Soil sampling for fields4ever is simple and the results are provided in an easy to understand report and BeCrop experts are available to explain these results to foster sustainable change in agricultural management.

All that participants had to do to participate is submit an application, once approved by the fields4ever scientific committee, they received the sampling kit to send the soil samples to the laboratory and got back the results.

Brand and web design were carefully prepared to improve visibility and creating a solid foundation for all promotional materials. The website provided detailed information about the global project, including its promotion and support from the European Commission. This is highlighted on several different pages and multiple places throughout the site with the European Commission logo and project ID prominently featured on the banner. Brochures were produced in English, French, Italian and Spanish

Please give information about the key objectives of your project in terms of inclusion (equal opportunities, public participation, citizen engagement, co-design, universal design, accessibility, affordability, etc.) and how these have been met.
Please highlight how the project can be exemplary in this context

fields4ever project is fully open access and welcomed any projects related to soil health including:

-Yield variance in different soils subjected to similar conditions

-Applying bioactive products & monitoring soil status

-Measuring disease risks for sustainable soil management

-Why soil is unique and alive (differentiation/terroir/regionality)

-Boosting soil bioactivity (including carbon sequestration)

-Small farm projects in developing areas (Africa/LATAM )

Participants have consisted on approximately 35% farmers/agronomists, 21% universities and 44% other research institutions. Soil testing was provided free of charge and the projects tailored to their specific needs.

Please explain how these three dimensions have been combined in your project.
Please highlight how this approach can be exemplary

fields4ever achieved its sustainability goals with reduction of agronomic inputs and increased carbon sequestration as well as overall improvement in soil health and adoption of regenerative agricultural practices by providing free universal open access to state-of-the-art soil analysis technology.

Over 200 projects were included spanning 4 continents. Evaluation was done based on soil heath and scientific criteria alone and was open to farms, research institutions, private actors, agronomist, etc. regardless of size.

Projects are encouraged to engage in communication and dissemination activities and receive the full support of the fields4ever team to effectively and accurately present their results.

fields4ever is openly promoted though its website, as well as social networks such as linkedin, twitter and facebook as well as newsletters and press releases. The content of our posts is not only about fields4ever per se but fields4ever projects. This aspect was important to improve the social proof factor (i.e. the level of participation on Fields4ever, which is based on the perception of how others participate and trust in the initiative), and to generate visibility of the participants, encouraging them to share their involvement/experiences with their own social media network.

Please give information on the results/impacts achieved by your project in relation to the category you apply for

The world is rapidly evolving thanks to the great technology breakthroughs happening in all sectors. However, it is essential to rationalise the impact of human activities to ensure that we can overcome the challenges and sustain life in the longterm. In order to achieve this, it is necessary to execute collective actions to secure the preservation of natural resources and, the conservation of soils’ quality and productivity, is one of these key resources.

Soils are the primary support of health on earth and, as a major storehouse of carbon and regulator of carbon dioxide emissions, are fundamental to modulate climate. Maintaining the soil healthy is imperative for long-term sustainable intensification.

More than 1 billion people are employed in agriculture worldwide , an active engine to feed the world population. While as a society we have been able to increase the agriculture yield in the last 40 years, the cost of this increase over the natural resources has been also high. Indeed, roughly 1/3 of the world´s arable land has been lost in this period, while farmer’s economics remained lineal. It is time to react and move forward only with the most sustainable and productive farming practices for fostering our fields.

As previously stated, in 22 months fields4ever has completed over 200 projects in over 40 countries around the world analysing more than 25.000 soil samples. This has translated in 20% reduction of agrochemical use amongst the participating farms and an estimated increase of 15% in carbon sequestration by the agricultural practices. It has also contributed to building the largest soil taxonomy database with over 7,7 microorganisms

Please explain how citizens and civil society were involved in the in the design and/or implementation of the project.
Please also explain the benefits that derived from their involvement.

The majority of projects supported by fields4ever involved farmers and agronomists and were formulated by the participants. fields4ever experts provided advice and support for project improvement but the initial design was always proposed by the applicants based on their needs.

fields4ever initiative participants and customers also like to share their interest in recovering soil health, which is why we have had multiple mentions on social media from them.

We must learn about how important it is to take care of our soils because it is the unlikely hero in the climate change debacle. Soils contain a lot of carbon that plants take in from the atmosphere. Soils can store this carbon for a very long time. If not for soil, this carbon would return to the atmosphere as carbon dioxide (CO₂), the main greenhouse gas causing climate change. Current estimates ensure that soils, mainly agricultural soils, have the capacity to sequester over 1 billion tons of carbon each year. However, only healthy soils and sustainable crop management can exploit the full potential for soil carbon sequestration. fields4ever facilitates access to precision farming tools for soil health analysis help farmers monitor their soils, management practices and input usage to move towards more sustainable while improving their yields, reducing costs, and growing their profitability.

Please explain what kind of global challenges the project addressed by providing local solutions

By helping farmers, agronomist and researchers better understand soil health and providing them with the knowledge and tools to analyse their soil, fields4ever contributes to promote soil regeneration and agricultural sustainability.

Understanding soil needs through scientifically based technology allows to make better agronomical decisions, adapt managing practices to better care for the soil, reduce input use, develop more sustainable Agproducts and increase production while reducing costs and ecological impact.

Farmers that analyse their soil and adapt their practices accordingly see better results that encourage them to switch to more sustainable practices. This is combined with education though courses and webinars to further foster the adoption of regenerative practices.

fields4ever enables soil laboratory analysis to provide scientific indicators to make better agronomic decisions while saving costs, reducing the use of inputs and increasing yields and allow input manufacturers to make functional claims on their products.

Fields4ever promoted sustainable change in each individual project location (over 200) one soil sample analysis at a time. 

To take care of arable soil and to preserve soil’s natural fertility in the long term, agricultural use that suits the specific location and fosters the rich soil life is needed. This is what fields4ever provides.

Compared to the time, energy, and cost required to revive infertile land, managing healthy soil is a much more sustainable solution.

Please highlight the innovative character of the project as compared to mainstream practices in the field of the project.

Traditional soil analyses provide information about the physical properties (eg. texture) and the chemical properties of the soil, such as pH or the concentration of nutrients, but do not take soil microbiology into account.

Instead of measuring the amount of nutrients in the soil, BeCrop technology facilitated through the fields4ever initiative measures the microbial processes involved in nutrient cycling, such as those that fix carbon into the soil, or supply plants with available nutrient forms (eg. mineralization or solubilisation), and those that immobilise nutrients back into forms not readily available for plants (immobilisation, denitrification). By using the soil living components as a biomarker, we can actually determine Soil Health Status since only living thing can have health.

fields4ever technology is leading the precision medicine for plant health by taking advantage of DNA Sequencing technologies and intelligent computing to provide value to farmers. This innovative technology is focused on developing tools and products for more sustainable and productive agriculture. The products allow early disease detection in the soil, while providing an understanding of the terroir influence. The technology enhances farming by prediction of disease threats as early as prior to planting, allowing for targeted prevention methods that enable less reliance on chemical treatments and create an opportunity for more sustainable approaches to disease prevention. The complex data extracted through bioinformatic processes becomes completely assimilable thanks to the use of digital tools that allow a complete understanding of the influence of the community of microorganisms based on data related to Biodiversity, Health and Nutrition synthesis pathways.

Making this technology openly available though the fields4ever initiative allowed us to greatly increase the impact and awareness of the importance of soil health, soil analysis and the adoption of sustainable practices.

Please explain to the potential of transferring the projects’ results or learnings to other interested parties and contexts.
Please provide clear documentation, communication of methodology and principles in this context.

fields4ever will continue open for new projects and will continue to facilitate open access to BeCrop soil analysis technology and tools thanks to a 2% finance commitment by Biome Makers.

Dissemination and communication activities will continue through the website, social networks, newsletters, scientific articles and blog posts as well as promotion materials.

With the lessons learned so far we will streamline the application and evaluation process to expedite resolution and ensure impact maximisation.

Special fields4ever events will be hosted to celebrate the most relevant projects and to encourage new applications.

The fields4ever initiative will be linked to BeCrop Advisors, Biome Makers learning space for sharing soil health solutions. BeCrop Advisors learning space includes the necessary resources to learn how to unlock the land's potential and match verified solutions to verified soil needs. In this learning space, advisors will find what they need to know about soil health, and learn to utilise the BeCrop technology to make science-driven recommendations and obtain the BeCrop Advisor (BCA) certification.

 

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