Activities and outcomes

1. Identify relevant soil health indicators that would take into account soil fauna and soil microbial communities (density and diversity) on top of traditional soil chemical and physical parameters; benchmarking of what is currently used within the network vs elsewhere (gap analysis)
2. Identify a minimum set of indicators, methods and tools (low tech but not only) that could be used at regional level in impact assessment studies
3. Identify plant species and/or cropping systems that enhance soil health (e.g. liquorice plant, Glycyrrhiza glabra, a perennial plant used in desert areas to restore soils)
4. Study the impact of agricultural systems on soil health; benchmarking/mapping in key case studies the impact of agricultural systems on soil health status
5. Explore how to better integrate soil health indicators into existing impact assessment frameworks (e.g. life cycle analysis framework)
6. Explore the links between soil health and “upper levels” health i.e. plant health, cropping systems performance/resilience, animal and human health, agroecosystem health (i.e. One
   health approach) through e.g. modeling/SEM (structural equation modeling) approaches; explore cross-kingdom interactions (e.g. links between soil pathogens and vertebrate diversity).
   NB: the up-coming “healthy rice” project in Cambodia intends to work on the links between microbiomes diversity, soil properties, systems performance, and agricultural products quality; the project should contribute to points 3 and 4.
7. Explore scenarios to bring microbial technologies (supportive of soil health enhancement) to scale (to be put in Axis 4 – innovative support mechanisms?)
8. Develop ITC tools (e.g. apps for smartphones) for in-field soil health assessment
9. Develop simple tools for extension agents to assess soil health (in field assessment)
10. Develop simple support materials for farmers to a) raise awareness (what is soil health and why it is importance for sustainable agriculture), b) give them practical methods and tools to conserve and enhance soil health.