Groundbreaking NOVASOIL Study Charts the Path to Profitable Soil Regeneration

July 17, 2025

Groundbreaking NOVASOIL Study Charts the Path to Profitable Soil Regeneration

Seville, 17 July 2025

In a collaborative effort among ten European institutions, Evenor‑Tech has overseen the release of “Soil health and business models: a review and analysis carried out in the NOVASOIL project” in the Journal of Applied Life Sciences and Environment (Vol. 58, Issue 2, pp. 245–286). This publication, stemming from the NOVASOIL initiative, aims to demonstrate how investing in soil health can drive agricultural innovation and environmental restoration.

Research Objectives

Establish and standardise soil health indicators — including organic carbon, pH, nutrient levels, compaction and soil biodiversity — to enable consistent monitoring across Europe.
Assess advanced monitoring technologies — such as in‑field sensors, satellite remote sensing and UAV drones — to provide continuous, high‑resolution data.
Design and prototype sustainable business models that monetise ecosystem services (carbon credits, erosion‑reduction premiums and water filtration compensations) via blockchain platforms.
Examine regulatory alignment with the CAP 2023–2027, the Nature Restoration Regulation and the forthcoming EU Soil Monitoring Law, offering recommendations for policy harmonisation.

Methodology and Approach

Literature review and case analysis: Thirteen European case studies covering agricultural, forestry and land‑restoration practices were selected to extract best practices and success metrics.
Deployment of sensors and remote sensing: Portable VNIR spectrometers measured organic carbon and moisture; Sentinel‑2 imagery (every 15 days) and high‑resolution UAV flights mapped erosion and vegetation cover; all data streams feed into a Big Data and AI platform.
Business model prototyping: “Pay‑for‑results” schemes were developed on blockchain to ensure transparency in transactions for carbon credits and ecosystem services, with pilot plots confirming technical and economic feasibility.
Regulatory analysis: A comparative review of European and national policies identified gaps and proposed common indicators and public–private financing mechanisms.

Conclusions

The study reveals that:

Standardised indicators and continuous monitoring allow for reliable soil health assessments at plot level.
Integrating field technologies, remote sensing and AI platforms delivers an operational dashboard showing validated improvements: a 0.3 % increase in organic carbon and a 15 % reduction in erosion over two years in trial plots.
Ecosystem‑service‑based business models are viable: participating farmers saw an average 20 % rise in income.
Policy harmonisation is essential: the methodological recommendations set out in the article provide a foundation for the upcoming EU Soil Monitoring Law and inform CAP measures with efficient, verifiable parameters.

Through this research, NOVASOIL project and its partners offer a practical, science‑based framework that positions soil health as a strategic asset, fostering a regenerative agriculture that marries environmental stewardship with economic returns.

Félix González Peñaloza