The project "Livestock products that restore natural capital, mitigate climate change, and promote rural development" (PASTURE+, July 2022-December 2025) is supported by the Biodiversity Foundation of the Ministry for Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge (MITECO) and funded by the European Union – NextGenerationEU, as part of the Recovery, Transformation, and Resilience Plan (PRTR).

PASTURE+ aims to restore soils, biodiversity, and mitigate climate change through the implementation of sustainable livestock practices across the country. Key actions include the application of Holistic Management practices on 36 pilot farms and two experimental herds, assessing environmental, economic, and productive impacts. Additionally, a training program will be developed on grazing management, ecological monitoring, and product commercialization.

The project also promotes the differentiation of environmentally-friendly livestock products by adapting the PASTURE+ standard to validate ecological outcomes across different ecoregions, contributing to their market commercialization.

Entities involved include Fundación Cooprado (coordinator), ACTYVA S. Coop, CICYTEX, Fundación Valhondo, Fundación Global Nature, Bedarbide, APAEMA, and ALAND. The scientific committee consists of seven organizations with extensive experience in the project's areas of focus.

More information:

https://pastureplus.org/ 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PasturePlus

Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/proyecto_pastureplus/

The InBestSoil (IBS) project, funded by the EU’s "Incentives and Business Models for Soil Health" initiative under the Horizon Europe program, is led by the University of Vigo and involves a consortium of 19 partners from 10 countries, with a duration of 48 months.

The main objective of IBS is to quantify the economic benefits of healthy soils and analyze the costs and benefits of interventions aimed at improving soil health. This will facilitate investments, generate new business models and incentives, and establish policies that contribute to the recovery of degraded soils.

One of the case studies takes place at the El Baldío farm (Cáceres), where the effects of rotational grazing on soil health are investigated. The studies cover different land uses in four European biogeographical regions.

With a multi-actor approach, the project collects data from key stakeholders to select indicators and design incentives and policies. IBS aims to scale up the business models created in the case studies and establish incentive systems and policies to improve soil health.

More information: InBestSoil