The SUNRISE project was presented at the EGU General Assembly 2026, held in Vienna, Austria, through the conference abstract “Advancing Soil Health in Practice: Monitoring and Awareness through Agroecological Living Labs” authored by S. Franz Bender, Lino Ambrosini, and Anna Muntwyler from Agroscope.
The abstract highlighted SUNRISE’s efforts to promote sustainable soil management through Agroecological Living Labs established across ten European countries. Bringing together farmers, advisors, value-chain actors, NGOs, policymakers, consumer organizations, and researchers, these Living Labs provide real-world environments for co-creating and testing innovative approaches to improve soil health.
A central focus of the presentation was SUNRISE’s integrated soil health monitoring framework, which combines a citizen science smartphone application, laboratory soil analyses, and an agroecological management questionnaire. Applied across 75 farms and 150 plots, this harmonized approach enables the assessment of multiple dimensions of soil health while supporting farmers in evaluating the impact of agroecological practices.
The abstract also emphasized the role of Living Labs in strengthening soil literacy, enhancing stakeholder collaboration, and supporting the transition towards more sustainable and resilient food systems. By bridging scientific knowledge with practical farming solutions, SUNRISE aims to empower land managers and food system actors to drive long-term improvements in soil health across Europe.