Under field conditions plants interact with a diversity of microorganisms, however, both conventional and organic agriculture already affected the soil microbiome leading to decrease of soil quality, nutritional value of crops and creating necessity to use a range of chemicals such as fertilizers and pesticides to avoid spread of unwanted pathogenic microbes. These substances affect not only the plant microbial foes but also the friendly ones that help the plant to establish homeostasis and to reach the nutritional quality of products that support the health of the consumers. XXI century brings us new possibilities to develop novel methods to rebuild soil and plant microbiota, however, this aim needs the increase of the food producer’s understanding and knowledge. While most people already accept that our health depends on our body microbiota it is still poorly understood that plant development devoid of associating microbes is simply an artefact of the laboratory conditions. The “come back” of plant security microbes is possible through the bioaugmentation strategy allowing microbes to create optimal conditions for promoting specific crop growth under harsh conditions and will allow reducing the use of water, fertilizers, and pesticides. This would mean the reduction of costs for the farmers, better resistance of plants to common episodes of drought due to global changes, reduction of N2O emission and fertilizer run-off. The most common and potent plant inhabitants are endophytes that include fungi and bacteria hiding within plant tissues. While they are present within plants no visible symptoms can be noticed but they are able to produce growth hormones, antioxidants and enzymes (such as ACC) capable to attenuate stress factors such as drought, salinity, toxic metal pollution, extreme temperatures, high CO2 etc. Properly selected endophytes can be a potent tool against pathogens and abiotic factors. In addition endophytic microbes can stimulate the development of arbuscular mycorrhizae that is the most important interface between a plant and soil. Mycorrhizal fungi grow intraradicaly but also form extraradical hyphal net helping plant roots to increase the absorption of nutrients, particularly phosphorus and nitrogen, and helping to alleviate drought stress by increasing water access and creating proper soil structure to attenuate erosion. Providing well selected microbial consortia and appropriate agricultural practices has greater potential than a single strain. The reduction in intensive use of fertilizers and pesticides can allow for maintaining environment and human health while the cost of cultivation can be importantly decreased. The endophytes can be still important and maintained if the fungicides are used while mycorrhizal fungi resist only selected fungicides such as pencycuron or azoxystrobin. Thus, it is important to provide the farmers and policymakers with the protocols concerning the use of chemical substances in case of problems with pathogens. For endophytes the best source of stains are within close relatives of cultivars that still exist in nature. The Polish group already have several strains of endophytic fungi specific to wheat varieties cultivated in the area. Mycorrhizal fungi from the region are also kept in the pot cultures but within the project we will rather teach farmers how to obtain the inoculum themselves –this again needs special training and workshops available for farmers. The project addresses local communities that are involved in ecological production of food and will help to optimize organic agriculture, ensuring sustainability and lower concentration of pesticides used. Shortage of information to the farmers, and lack of application technology are prevalent. Development of the microbial products is hindered due to the lack of understanding not only among farmers but also policymakers and often among school teachers educating future farmers. The strategy is to bridge the gap between research and farmers, to embed academic knowledge into the policy process from the beginning. International cooperation will help to exchange experiences in solving problems and will stimulate sharing the microbial strains that can be of importance under changing climate. The guidelines, protocols and leaflets prepared for farmers and basic knowledge concerning the subject will be shared and adopted in each country participating in local language. Each partner will prepare and maintain the demonstration field experiment that will be monitored and will be used during summer school and open days for farmers.

MultiSoil’s goal is to co-create, test, and demonstrate agricultural practices that improve soil and plant health factors and thus maintain soil functional biodiversity. This in turn helps control pests with less chemicals, in line with Horizon Europe’s Mission “A Soil Deal for Europe” specific objectives to reduce soil pollution, enhance restoration, and improve soil structure to enhance soil biodiversity and crop production. Soil organic amendments, microbial inoculants, and diversified cropping systems are co-developed with local actors into innovations to complement Integrated Pest Management (IPM) practices. Their site-specific effectiveness is analysed, and sustainability is assessed in experimental field trials and demonstration sites covering 6 European pedoclimatic zones (7 countries). Innovations are tested and demonstrated with a range of commercially important crops (potato, sugar beet, maize, winter rye, olives, wheat). This will be supported by existing data, collected from other projects, existing field trials, and ongoing Living Labs, to monitor the long-term effects of the practices. MultiSoil is created with farmers and implements a multi-actor approach to ensure continuation of the good practices after the project timespan. Activities will include sharing knowledge, capacity building and training focusing on the tools and expertise developed by MultiSoil. The project will reach out to relevant R&I initiatives and projects, maximising knowledge exchange, and seeking synergies and collaboration. By the end of the project, local actors will have a Toolbox of tailored best practices, and guidelines on how to improve soil health and support soil biodiversity. Data on the social, economic and environmental impacts as well as the risks of the developed practices will support decision making.

The Solanaceae family, encompassing economically significant genera like Solanum, plays a vital role in global agriculture, particularly through crops. The Solanaceae family, encompassing economically significant genera like Solanum, plays a vital role in global agriculture, particularly through crops like potatoes and tomatoes. These crops, crucial for human consumption and nutrition, face significant threats from pest diseases, with annual losses amounting to billions of euros. Notably, the bacteria Clavibacter sepedonicus – Cs (ring rot in potato) and Ralstonia solanacearum - Rs (bacterial wilt in potato and tomato) pose severe economic and environmental risks, warranting stringent regulatory measures in EU and globally being included in Part B Annex of the Regulation 2019/2072 and are classified as EPPO A2 quarantine pests. In response, the POMATO project aims to safeguard potato and tomato health by focusing on four key pillars: isolation and molecular characterization of resistance genes of potato and tomato native and wild varieties against Cs and Rs, early detection using advanced technologies like AI and digital predictive platforms, development of natural bio-control solutions, and field validation at TRL 5 of the Integrated Pest Management (IPM) strategies. This collaborative 48-month initiative involves a multi-actor approach of the potato/tomato value chain, including academic research institutions, agrochemical companies, farmers, and international partners from affected regions like Latin America. By leveraging expertise and resources, POMATO seeks to mitigate the spread of these quarantine pests and enhance food security sustainably by aiming to decrease between 40-60% the incidence of Cs/Rs. Sharing IPM POMATO’s strategies among relevant stakeholders in the policy and decision-making cycle will ensure economic sustainability of EU potato/tomato production, increase farm competitiveness as well as replicate the outcomes of the project to other crops.

PAPILLONS will elucidate ecological and socioeconomic sustainability of agricultural plastics (APs) in relation to releases and impacts of micro- and nanoplastics (MNPs) in European soils. We will advance knowledge on sources, behaviour and impacts through cross-disciplinary research, bringing together scientists from chemistry, materials engineering, agronomy, soil ecology, toxicology and social sciences. We will transform the scientific knowledge generated into guidance on specific solutions by applying a Multi-actor approach, involving actors in the agricultural and policy sector and world-leading industries. This will enable co-creation of knowledge and provide the scientific background to enable policy, agricultural and industrial innovation towards sustainable farm production systems. We will deliver the first digital European atlas of AP use, management and waste production to estimate sources of MNP to agricultural soils. We will run integrative studies at laboratory, mesocosm and field scales in different parts of Europe to address: occurrence of AP-derived MNPs; MNP behaviour and transport in soil; uptake by biota and crops; long-term impacts on soil properties, fertility and ecological services; effects on biological and functional diversity across multiple scales; effects on plant production and quality; and socioeconomic impacts of AP-based practices. We will focus on multigenerational effect studies for relevant traditional and biodegradable polymers, at realistic and future high-exposure scenarios. PAPILLONS partners pioneered soil MNP research, host the majority of European analytical capacity for assessing soil contamination and will provide validated, high-throughput analysis for MNPs in soil. Using innovative applications of state-of-the-art analytical chemistry, we will advance analysis down to the nanoscale range and develop novel radiolabelled nanoplastics for accurately tracking behaviour and transport in soil and uptake by biota and crops.