HydroSoilWise: Enhancing Hydromanagement & Soil health in agriculture for a Climate-Wise environment (2024-2028)

North-West Europe has a long history of intensive horticulture and agriculture. Frequent ploughing, monocultures and the use of chemical fertilizers have led to low soil organic matter (SOM) levels of 0-2%. Low SOM content leads to two challenges: 1) reduced sponge capacity of the soil, which limits the soil's ability to absorb water, leading to drought stress for plants; and 2) poor water infiltration, which increases the risk of erosion and flooding during heavy rain. As climate change increases droughts and extreme rainfall in the North-West Europe region, these problems pose significant threats to crop yields, food security and flood management.

The Interreg North-West Europe project HydroSoilWise - "Improving water management and soil health in agriculture for a climate-friendly environment" addresses these challenges through three objectives: 1) increasing sponge capacity and water infiltration by increasing SOM content, 2) reducing erosion and 3) more efficient water use (WUE) through smart irrigation and water management practices. Together with the 11 partners from Belgium, the Netherlands, France and Germany, the Department of Organic Agriculture and Crop Production of the Department of Organic Agricultural Sciences at the University of Kassel will bring together different techniques to increase SOM content, reduce erosion and optimize water use efficiency in an innovative, user-friendly online toolbox for farmers and growers. This knowledge will be drawn from both literature and practice. The techniques will be optimized and demonstrated for 4 drought-sensitive focus crops under different soil and climate conditions in North-West Europe (annual vegetables in rotation, potato, fruit trees and ornamental trees). The knowledge gained will also be used to optimize the toolbox. Through a theoretical course and demonstration projects, the techniques and the toolbox will be disseminated to farmers and growers to promote the widespread uptake of best practices.