Andrés Rodríguez Seijo from the University of Vigo noticed something troubling while researching microplastics: everyone talked about pollution at sea, but nobody mentioned how the particles were already poisoning the soil beneath European farms. That gap in attention reflects a broader crisis—over 60% of European soils are degraded, and the damage costs the continent roughly €50 billion annually. But researchers working on the InBestSoil project are changing the conversation by proving that restoring soil health isn't just good for the planet; it's good for farmers' bottom lines.
Soils sustain nearly all life on Earth, filtering water and anchoring the food chain. Yet they remain among Europe's most overlooked resources, silently degrading while nitrogen from fertilizer overuse, erosion, and pollution deepen the damage. Climate change threatens to accelerate the crisis further. The scale of neglect has been expensive—but it's also created an opening for a different approach.
Rather than appeal to environmental conscience alone, InBestSoil, an EU-funded initiative, is building the financial case for soil restoration. The project, coordinated by Rodríguez Seijo, is running field trials across nine experimental sites to demonstrate which farming strategies both heal soil and protect farm profitability. The findings are already compelling. In Sardinia, researchers led by Valentina Mereu and Gianluca Carboni compared three approaches to growing durum wheat. Conventional plowing—the standard practice—caused the most damage to soil. But reduced tillage and sod seeding, which involve less mechanical disturbance, increased soil carbon, microbial diversity, and nutrient levels while producing yields comparable to conventional methods. The bonus: less intensive approaches saved farmers time and money on labor and fuel.
"Reducing tillage also saves farmers time and money on labor and fuel," Carboni noted, "without sacrificing yield or soil quality. This is extremely important, not only in terms of production, but also for climate regulation, biodiversity and overall soil quality." Early climate modeling suggests these techniques will hold up under future warming scenarios too, making them viable adaptation strategies for the region.
The work extends beyond grain production. In Spain's Dehesa system, a type of open grassland, grazing animals are regenerating soils depleted by intensive farming. In Lithuania and Croatia, researchers are studying how healthy soils in urban and suburban areas absorb excess water and reduce flooding. The network spans agricultural land in the Netherlands and Switzerland, forests in Latvia, and even former mining sites in Spain, building a comprehensive picture of how restoration works across different landscapes and uses.
InBestSoil is part of the broader EU Mission: A Soil Deal for Europe, a continent-wide commitment to restore degraded soils by 2030. Once trials are complete, the research team will translate findings into practical frameworks that help farmers, land managers, and investors assess the financial returns of soil restoration. The goal is transformative: to reframe healthy soils not as an environmental obligation, but as a tangible asset worth investing in. For farmers and investors watching the numbers, that shift in perspective could prove to be the soil's most important nutrient yet.