8 new research projects and expertise from 63 partners join the efforts of enhancing the impact of the EJP SOIL programme. The objectives are to deepen our understanding of soil restoration practices, managing soils in the context of climate change, and the development of innovative methods and sensing technologies.

The purpose of this special issue is to pull together the current state of art of the knowledge and gaps, and to gather opinions from the EJP SOIL participants.

In October, the largest EJP Soil project, CarboSeq, had a meeting in Rome, Italy, where the participants presented their progress, enabling everyone to get a first impression of the possible products and outcomes of the project.

In October, members of the TRACE-Soils consortium gathered in Zürich, Switzerland for both a scientific forum and the halfway meeting of the project. An extensive literature review on the relationship between C sequestration, nutrient losses and soil characteristics was presented at the meeting - as well as the first results of a measuring campaign in seven long-term tillage experiments.

Meta-analyses are increasingly used to quantitively synthesise primary research in soil and agricultural sciences. Why we, as the soil scientific community, need to look more closely into this method and must acknowledge that not all available meta-analyses are trustworthy, is explained down below.

Everyone in EJP SOIL would like to wish you a happy new year! A year with more peace, less damage to our planet and for each of you a year of good health, achievements and sharing with your loved ones.

DEADLINE 10 January - You can still make it!

Learning about soil health in a unique and fun way? Getting knowledge to all farmers in the Netherlands? That is the goal of a new tear-off calendar, which is launched today!

The EU Soil Observatory (EUSO) has conveyed its second Stakeholder Forum, an annual event organised by the JRC whose purpose is to actively engage and exchange with the soil community, in a broad sense - from policy makers, soil and soil-related scientists, local actors, civil society representatives and citizens. The recordings are now available.

In July, EJP SOIL researchers defied the heatwave to sample roots in winter wheat and maize - and thereby quantify root biomass of 10 different varieties across Europe. The purpose was to assess if an optimized variety selection for more root biomass could increase soil carbon.