NEWS

The CEN Workshop on 'Methodology to quantify the global agricultural crop footprint including soil impacts' is a result of the Spanish Retos-Colaboración 2017 project FERTILIGENCIA (Innovative fertilizers to reduce the environmental impact of agriculture and development of a standard for assessing the sustainability of agroecosystems), whose general objective is to develop intelligent fertilizers using the understanding of the soil-microbiome-plant system, setting the first steps for an agriculture new revolution, able to satisfy the future food demand, minimizing the environmental impacts and loss of fertile soil.

The CEN Workshop specifies a methodology for identifying, characterizing, and implementing a single indicator to assess the quality and degradation of agricultural soils and the overall impact of the agriculture processes. The agriculture impacts are assessed through the mechanical, fertilization and irrigation activities associated. Furthermore, soil affection is evaluated accounting with soil erosion and parameters such as nutrients, texture, and organic matter. The developed methodology allows a simple but robust assessment of soil biogeochemical processes and the loss of fertility and degradation.

For more than 30 years, CEN/TC 144 'Tractors and machinery for agriculture and forestry' has been producing standards in the service of agriculture, forestry and gardening activities. CEN/TC 144, whose Secretariat is held by AFNOR, the French national standardization committee, is currently developing 50 projects that are geared towards machine safety and operator protection, taking into account the protection of the environment, technological innovations and efficiency needs.

Today and tomorrow (15-16 October 2020), the European Commission is holding the important conference “Farm to Fork - Building sustainable food systems together”. This event is the first in a series of annual gatherings of European stakeholders willing to engage and help shape the EU's path towards sustainable food systems and contribute to the recently approved ‘Farm to Fork Strategy’.