Your soil data could shape European policy: become a soil data steward

Robust data collection and easy sharing across the value chain are essential for accurate and cost-effective Monitoring, Reporting and Verification (MRV) for carbon farming. Building on insights from the three European Carbon Farming Summits (ECFS), we learned that data from Long-Term Monitoring sites (LTM) could be of use for model calibration and validation. Data collected in carbon farming projects, on the other hand, are useful to verify and improve monitoring approaches based on real farming conditions. However, greater trust and clearer incentives are still needed to encourage data [GR1]sharing between the public and private sectors.
Across the ECFS discussions, we highlighted key challenges and led to several important recommendations:
"Collect once, use many times": adopting this principle can reduce the reporting burden on farmers and streamline compliance across multiple schemes.User-friendly digital tools and data-sharing platforms, supported by clear licensing agreements and federated learning approaches, can help balance privacy, competition, and openness.Incentivize data sharing by respecting data privacy, defining reuse conditions, providing value in return, and recognizing intellectual property rights.Building mutual trust through transparency: Data users should clearly communicate their data needs, while LTM owners should disclose metadata on data quality, availability, and access conditions.At the conference, we will present guidelines for LTM sites to improve data FAIRification (Findability, Accessibility, Interoperability, and Reusability) in carbon farming. We will also share key recommendations from the 3rd ECFS on Data sharing in action: from uncertainty to trust in carbon farming MRV, along with next steps planned within the CREDIBLE 2.0 project.

Long-Term Field Experiments (LTEs) are agricultural research infrastructures designed to study the long-term effects of practices under changing climate conditions. These trials are essential for assessing the impacts of practices on crop production and soil across different types, and for understanding soil health trajectories. LTEs represent a high-value legacy data; however, their information is dispersed across institutions and difficult to access.
To address this challenge, we developed an open-access LTE-Map (https://lte.bonares.de) (Donmez et al., 2026*) to compile, harmonize, and reuse (meta)data from LTEs. The LTE-Map provides a spatial representation of LTEs and their key attributes by exchanging and harmonizing information from EU and other initiatives (BonaRes, SoilWise, EJP SOIL). LTEs are clustered into categories directly relevant to soil monitoring (management operations, land use, duration, status, etc.). Applying minimum duration thresholds of 20 years, the (meta)database currently includes approximately 700 LTE records in a structured form in a global context.
Our platform indicates that fertilization trials represent the dominant research theme, followed by crop rotation and tillage, highlighting both strengths and gaps in long-term soil research coverage. It facilitates the scaling up of soil and agricultural knowledge from field to landscape level and supports strategies for resilient agricultural production, soil management, and food security in Europe, contributing to the EU soil monitoring objectives.
*Donmez C., et al., (2026): Long-Term Field Experiments Overview Map: An interactive open-access metadata platform to enhance networking and data reuse. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compag.2026.111534 Computers and Electronics in Agriculture