1. SOCO Sustainable Agriculture and Soil Conservation 1 Ancona, 1 February 2008 Sustainable Agriculture and Soil Conservation: The SOCO project Brechje Maréchal, Ezio Rusco, Luca Montanarella

2. SOCO Sustainable Agriculture and Soil Conservation 2 Ancona, 1 February 2008 Initiative European Parliament – agricultural sustainability Main objective Rural Development Program Common Agricultural Policy Soil conservation practices Cross compliance Environmental legislation related to agriculture Implementation capacity

3. SOCO Sustainable Agriculture and Soil Conservation 3 Ancona, 1 February 2008 Workflow WP1 27 member states Soil degradation – agricultural land Wind & water erosion Compaction Organic matter Salinisation Soil conservation practices Review of policies & regulations March 2008 WP2 10 Case studies Belgium Bulgaria Czech Republic Denmark France Germany Greece Italy Spain UK September / October 2008

4. SOCO Sustainable Agriculture and Soil Conservation 4 Ancona, 1 February 2008 Existing institutions & governance structures Soil conditions & farming practices Current performance Effectiveness of soil conservation measures Efficiency of institutions & governance structures Best desired performance changes to be made

5. SOCO Sustainable Agriculture and Soil Conservation 5 Ancona, 1 February 2008 WP3 Soil conservation and policy conclusions Environmental Policy Integrated Climate Model calculations ( EPIC ) Assess environmental benefits: Agricultural Conventional conservation  agricultural practices practices November / December 2008 WP4 Dissemination Materials for technical training Workshop Spring 2009 Workflow

6. SOCO Sustainable Agriculture and Soil Conservation 6 Ancona, 1 February 2008 http://eusoils.jrc.it/projects/SOCO/ Thank you for your attention !