{"id":23440,"date":"2025-12-10T16:48:32","date_gmt":"2025-12-10T15:48:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ceigram.upm.es\/protecting-the-soil-to-guarantee-food-water-biodiversity-and-the-future\/"},"modified":"2025-12-10T17:21:51","modified_gmt":"2025-12-10T16:21:51","slug":"protecting-the-soil-to-guarantee-food-water-biodiversity-and-the-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ceigram.upm.es\/en\/protecting-the-soil-to-guarantee-food-water-biodiversity-and-the-future\/","title":{"rendered":"Protecting the soil to guarantee food, water, biodiversity and the future"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

5 December<\/strong> is the date that the United Nations has designated as World Soil Day<\/a>. Soil is a highly complex living system, in which physical, chemical and biological elements converge. Soil is becoming increasingly important, as we understand that the health of the planet depends on our connection to it. Sustainable soil management practices improve soil health, reduce erosion and pollution, and improve water infiltration and storage. These practices also help preserve biodiversity, improve fertility, and contribute to carbon sequestration, playing a crucial role in climate change mitigation and adaptation. <\/p>\n\n

On 4 December, IMIDRA <\/a>(Blanca Sastre<\/strong>), in collaboration with UPM (Chiquinquir\u00e1 Hontoria<\/strong>), organised a conference to commemorate World Soil Day, sponsored by the Fertinagro Biotech Chair of Soils and Agri-Food Systems<\/a>. The conference took place at Finca El Enc\u00edn, in Alcal\u00e1 de Henares, one of the headquarters of IMIDRA, an institution that collaborates closely with ETSIAAB and CEIGRAM on agricultural sustainability research.<\/p>\n\n

Presenting the conference were Ms M\u00f3nica Mart\u00ednez Casta\u00f1eda<\/strong>, Directress of IMIDRA, and Ms Mar\u00eda Blanco<\/strong>, Deputy Directress of Research, representing Mr Jos\u00e9 Manuel Palacios, Director of ETSIAAB, who warmly welcomed the attendees and highlighted the importance of soil in the study of agricultural sustainability. Marcos S\u00e1nchez Cano<\/strong>, Director of the Chair on behalf of Fertinagro Biotech and member of the UPM Monitoring Committee of the Chair of Soils, also presented the Chair’s initiative and emphasised the need to work on soil health in order to prevent and reverse degradation processes and ensure the profitability of farms. <\/p>\n\n

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Subsequently, Esther Herrad\u00f3n<\/strong>, head of agricultural advisory services for IMIDRA, reported on the forthcoming entry into force of the EU Soil Monitoring Directive, highlighting the importance of agricultural advice for soil care and maintenance of soil health. Through technical support, IMIDRA assists livestock farmers and crop farmers who want to transform their management practices, advising them on how to make this transition a success, thus enabling Madrid’s agricultural systems to move towards greater overall sustainability. <\/p>\n\n

She was followed by Clara Sab\u00e1n<\/strong>, also from IMIDRA, who spoke about Agrolabs as a model for bringing the agricultural world closer to the city and promoting the reconnection of the rural world with society in general. The aim of these Agrolabs is to revitalise the agri-food sector through participatory agriculture laboratories, promoting agroecological practices among the population of Madrid through workshops. <\/p>\n\n

Next, Pablo Garc\u00eda Palacios<\/strong>, a researcher at ICA-CSIC, highlighted the importance of urban soils, the central theme of World Soil Day in 2025, due to the ecosystem services they provide. The results of his research showed that urban soils are capable of storing as much carbon as the natural soils in their surroundings. In terms of biodiversity, despite the homogenisation experienced by urban soil biota, some urban soils exhibit very high biodiversity values, as is the case with urban gardens. Finally, he emphasised that there is no single solution when pursuing different goals. <\/p>\n\n

Carmen Mart\u00edn<\/strong>, as principal investigator of the SUS-SOIL Project,<\/a> presented this European project by ETSIAAB, which aims to promote soil and subsoil health through the application of agroecological land use and management to improve the provision of ecosystem services. She highlighted the lack of knowledge about the subsoil (>30 cm) despite its importance in providing services. During her presentation, she presented the results of a survey on soil health and the challenges of the Living Lab of the Community of Madrid, highlighting biodiversity as one of the main challenges. <\/p>\n\n

On behalf of Fertinagro Biotech, Marcos S\u00e1nchez Cano<\/strong> presented a series of strategies to improve soil health through profitable and sustainable agriculture. After highlighting the current low efficiency in nitrogen use and the challenge of substantially increasing it, he emphasised soil-plant synchronisation and the need to understand the soil, the quality of organic matter and biota in order to develop an appropriate fertilisation plan. <\/p>\n\n

This was followed by a round table discussion, moderated by Blanca Sastre (<\/strong>IMIDRA), in which the views of a farmer (Eva Castillo<\/strong>), an agricultural union (UPA, with Javier Alejandre<\/strong>), political authorities (Bibiana Rodr\u00edguez<\/strong>, MAPA) and Guillermo Guardia<\/strong>, member of CEIGRAM, as representative of the academic community, were shared. This round table highlighted the importance of proper nutrient management<\/strong>, especially nitrogen, for reducing greenhouse gases and protecting aquifers. The focus was on ammonia emissions, in addition to nitrous oxide emissions, and the advisability of combining organic and mineral fertilisation. Furthermore, the need for research and transfer to the sector<\/strong> was highlighted, as well as the difficulty of transitioning from conventional agriculture to more sustainable agriculture, with a case study of an organic olive grove with plant cover in the Community of Madrid. <\/p>\n\n

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To close the event, Chiquinquir\u00e1 Hontoria<\/strong> presented the most relevant conclusions of the day, highlighting the role that urban soils play in sustaining healthier cities and the need to protect soil and reduce soil sealing, which is precisely one of the objectives of the Soil Monitoring Directive. She also thanked the participants and celebrated the synergies that were established during the event. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

5 December is the date that the United Nations has designated as World Soil Day. Soil is a highly complex living system, in which physical, chemical and biological elements converge. Soil is becoming increasingly important, as we understand that the health of the planet depends on our connection to it. Sustainable soil management practices improve […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":23435,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[184],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23440","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ceigram.upm.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23440","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ceigram.upm.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ceigram.upm.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ceigram.upm.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ceigram.upm.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23440"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ceigram.upm.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23440\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23441,"href":"https:\/\/ceigram.upm.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23440\/revisions\/23441"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ceigram.upm.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23435"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ceigram.upm.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23440"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ceigram.upm.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23440"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ceigram.upm.es\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23440"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}