In this section of iSQAPERiS we upscale the effect of agricultural management practices on representative farming systems, to evaluate the soil environmental footprint in Europe and China. The upscaling model relies on work developed in other parts of iSQAPER particularly »Pedoclimatic zones and farming systems (which provides the spatial frame of reference through the identification of detailed agro-climatic zones) and »Soil quality: assessment, indicators & management (which describes how soil type, climate zone, topography and crop and land managment interact to affect indicators of soil quality).

Effect of farming on soil quality

An analysis of the combinations of farming systems and agricultural management practices in Europe and China, together with an estimation of the influence of agricultural management practices on soil quality, based on geostatistical inference derived from spatial datasets and on iSQAPER project results derived from the long term experiments and from the study sites. [D7.1]

Public access

Effect of management on soil quality

An upscaling model is presented that expands the scientific results generated in iSQAPER at the local level to a wider geographical and management context. The model is used to understand at the continental scale, how agricultural management practices that mitigate soil threats also affect other ecosystem services in different farming systems in Europe and China. The upscaling model is necessarily a simplification of the complex processes that influence and are influenced by soil management at the local level. [D7.2]

Public access

Soil management scenarios

Scenarios of future farm and soil management systems for improved productivity and enhanced soil quality are developed using a multi-actor approach. [D7.3]

Public access

Policies and environmental footprint

The soil environmental footprint is evaluated for a range of policy scenarios using the model tools in Europe and China. The soil environmental footprint is defined by a combination of the soil quality indicators developed in »Effect of farming on soil quality and »Effect of management on soil quality. The scenarios developed in »Soil management scenarios are then applied to the upscaling model to evaluate changes in the soil quality indicators driven by changes in agricultural management practices. Changes in soil environmental footprint are quantified in terms of the effect of management practices on soil productivity, nutrients and biodiversity. [D7.4]

Public access