ARTEMIS

Start:	1 November 2022
Duration:	24 Months
Aim:	Agro-ecological strategies for promoting climate change Mitigation and Adaptation by enhancing soil ecosystem services and sustainable crop production
Keywords:	Agro-ecology, climate change mitigation and adaptation, soil ecosystem service indicators, soil functioning, long-term field experiments, statistical analysis, climate scenario modelling, meta-analysis, lighthouse farms, soil-management practices, conservation agriculture, organic farming, soil organic carbon sequestration, soil water storage
Contact:	Coordinator: Klaus Jarosch (AGROSCOPE) (klaus.jarosch@agroscope.admin.ch) Co-coordinator: Claudia Di Bene (CREA)

Soils provide a multitude of ecosystem services that can contribute both, to the mitigation as well as adaptation to climatic change.

Land management practices have a large effect on the ability of soils to provide these services. The project will provide a better understanding on how specific agro-ecological practices affect soil ecosystem service indicators and how these indicators can be assessed in the field.

This will be achieved by the evaluation of regionally representative field experiments using numerical modelling, a literature survey as well as in direct exchange with practitioners.

The aims of the project are:

Improved knowledge on the resilience of specific AE systems to withstand climate extremes in comparison with commonly practices controls
Improved knowledge on how different management options for AE systems affect soil services
Meta analysis on European scale allowing quantitatively summarize the current knowledge and outcomes on the contribution of soils to ecosystem services related to climate mitigation and sustainable agricultural production in AEs
Deliver science-based practical knowledge on sustainability of AE systems to Practitioners

WP1: Coordination and managemet

WP Leader: Klaus Jarosch (AGS)

WP Deputy: Claudia Di Bene (CREA)

This WP guarantees effective administrative, financial, and legal implementation by all partners. The coordination and scientific exchange with other EJP soil projects and activities will be realized.

WP2: Identification of AE systems and soil properties that support yield stability using long-term experiments (LTEs)

WP Leader: Klaus Jarosch (AGS)

WP Deputy: Gianluca Carboni (AGRIS)

This WP will focus on analysing different LTEs that allow to identify favourable agro-ecological systems for a specific pedo-climatic region. A multi-step approach is chosen to allow for maximum exploitation of available data. Data from specific long-term field experiments will be harmonized for numerical modelling in WP3. A retrospective statistical analysis of yield stability in years under climatic stress events will be done in different AE systems where long-term data are available. Statistical methods will be very much tailored to the individual structure of the LTE with respect to replication.

WP3: Identification of best AE practices fostering soil health in a changing climate

WP Leader: Simone Ugo Maria Bregaglio (CREA)

WP Deputy: Elena Valkama (LUKE)

The WP will evaluate the effect of management practices suitable for AE on soil health under current and future climate, using indicators” crop yields, soil, carbon sequestration and leaching “. The cropping system model ARMOSA will be used to simulate the effect of management practices on AE systems. Current knowledge of soil microbial functionality in response to climate extremes will be complemented with a set of laboratory experiments conducted under prolonged drought and extreme wet conditions. Best management practices for AE systems fostering soil health in a changing climate will be identified by model-based climate scenario analyses, considering a medium- (2040-2069) and long-term (2070-2099) time horizon.

WP4: Meta-analysis on soil ecosystem services in different AE systems

WP Leader: Elena Valkama (LUKE)
WP Deputy: Julia Fohrafellner (BIOS)

The WP will collect, review and quantitively summarize the current knowledge and outcomes on the contribution of soils to ecosystem services related to climate mitigation (conserve or increase SOC stocks, decrease N₂O emissions) and sustainable agricultural production (crops yields and stability) in agroecological farming systems. A database will be created by compiling and harmonizing European data on agroecological systems that will be used for meta-analysis. Ecosystem services, related to climate mitigation, will be evaluated to consider the impact and contribution of soils with the aim to conserve or increase SOC stocks and decrease N₂O emissions.

WP5: Framework for AE (lighthouse) farm network on soil quality and ecosystem services

WP Leader: Ioanna S. Panagea (EV-ILVO) 
WP Deputy: Florian Walder (AGS) 

This WP will develop and test a framework for monitoring on-farm, the impact of different AE systems on soil quality and soil related ecosystem services. Existing studies and results from on-going EJP-SOIL projects will be overviewed, to define a monitoring system based on measured indicators, that can be applied in farm level. This system will be established in accordance with farmers identifying lighthouse farms. The intention is to evaluate EU-wide soil health and ecosystem services through for example, future soil living labs. This monitoring system will be discussed with pioneer farmers that apply different agroecological principles and its possible applicability across farming systems in Europe.

WP6: Dissemination and communication

WP Leader: Miriam Kizeková (NPPC)

WP Deputy: Valentina Baratella (CREA-AA)

The aim of this work package is to maximize the impact of ARTEMIS results through interaction and knowledge transfer to a wide range of stakeholders and to exploit an interest of local communities for sustainable climate-smart soil management practices. The WP6 will promote the engagement of project stakeholders by managing EJP SOIL national workshops and/or field-days, webinars, and publications. Particular attention will be paid to young generation and to disseminate of published research also via Twitter account.