Call for Partners | SoilAmend: Platform for assessing Quality and Effect of Soil Amendments
Soil amendments are products that are applied to increase crop quality (e.g. efficiency of nutrient use), resilience (e.g. resistance to abiotic stress) and yield. However, the reported effects that these soil amendments have on crop quality, resilience, and yield are often unsubstantiated, and robust methodologies to determine and optimise these effects are lacking.
Partner up for impact
This project will develop applicable knowledge on the use of soil amendments and their effects on soil life and functioning, crops, and food safety.
We are looking for
- 1 April 2026 - 1 April 2028
- TKI Agri&Food
- Contribution by partners & ministry
- Organisations that generate or process organic by-products
- Develop innovative soil amendments
About the project
A valued and effective circular application is important for by-product producers, for companies which convert these by-products into valuable soil amendment and for agricultural producers. For many applications a clear understanding of their possibilities and effects in crop production is missing, hampering implementation and valorisation. Therefore:
- We will explore which by-product, residual streams can be used as soil amendments, and if any pre-processing is needed for efficient and safe application. We will evaluate which mixing gives optimal results. Characteristics and possible variation in quality of products will be determined.
- We will investigate the effects of soil amendments on soil health, crop quality, yield, resilience and safety to generate useable and substantiated knowledge on their real-world applications. This will increase awareness on the beneficial effects of soil amendments and thereby enabling by-product valorisation.
- Together we will develop a protocol for the reliable and fast evaluation of the effectiveness, quality and safety of soil amendments that can be used after the project. This will enable stakeholders also after the project to distinguish between valuable soil amendments and counterfeit products.
Figure 1: The SoilAmend project will evaluate quality and effect of soil amendments. Together with (A) food producers and processors, (B) by-product processors and fertiliser producers) and (C) farmers and growers (the users who benefit a good quality soil amendment), a workflow to distinguish valuable effective (side)products from counterfeit products.
More about the project
We will design a (digital) tool that facilitates conscious choice of (combinations and mixing of) soil amendments to improve soil health, crop quality, yield and resilience, and maintain food safety at the same time. This can also include new options for soil amendments, optimised mixtures of existing products or predicting effects based on product-characteristics.
Are you part of an organisation that generates or processes organic by-products? A company who converts by-products into valuable soil amendments? An agricultural producer applying products for soil and crop quality? We would love to hear from you! By participating in the upcoming Public Private Partnership (PPP) call (2025), together we will co-develop a project with outcomes that are relevant and applicable in practice. Partners are expected to contribute to the project, which will be doubled by the ministry in the PPP construction.
Let's connect
Do you have a question about our call or working together with us? Ask our expert.
dr.ir. TFJ (Tess) van de Voorde
Researcher soil health
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