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Supporting French farmers to bring health and vitality back to soils

Supporting French farmers to bring health and vitality back to soils

Projet Sols Vivants en France

The Living Soils Initiative aims to accelerate the adoption of conservation agriculture practices by farmers.

According to the FAO, these type of agricultural practices bring economical, agronomical and environmental benefits to farmers while fighting climate change as they allow the storage of carbon in the soil.

The project is based on two key work pillars:

Pillar one is dedicated to supporting farmers who are willing to implement those conservation practices but lacking the technical support. A pilot project financed by Nestlé, has started in one of the leading arable region of France: the Santerre (North of France). This pilot is impacting a core of more than 30 farmers producing: potatoes, sugar beet, wheat and vegetables, mainly arable crops produced for industrial purposes.

Pillar two focuses on developing new financial tools to accelerate farmers’ agricultural transition. We believe that if we want to be able to bring change at a larger scale for the agricultural sector, and increase the number of farmers practicing such a responsible agriculture, we need to create innovative financial tools that can accelerate change by reducing the perceived risk associated to it. As conservation practices are storing carbon in soil we are developing a methodology to economically value the ecosystem services generated by farmers’ agricultural practices that store carbon in the soil. This will allow for farmers to receive a complementary income for their agricultural practices.

Learn more at the Living Soils website (French)

Collaborating members

Members make far-reaching commitments to respect people and nature in their supply chains. They work with us on an ongoing journey of improvement and innovation.

Nestlé
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