The aim of task 4.2 was to establish a platform for agricultural cultivation systems. To reach this goal an inauguration meeting with about 30 participants took place in Klementowice Agrobusiness School on 11th April 2011. During this meeting various aspects of crop cultivation according to conventional, sustainable and organic systems were discussed. While working on this platform we noticed, that it would be more efficient if the subject of the platform would be broader.

In September 2011, as a part of Polish presidency to UE, together with Polish Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development we organized the European conference in Brussels on soil organic matter. The conference showed that in many European countries there is a problem of decreasing content of organic matter. Also in September 2011, under Proficiency project, coordinator prof. Wieslaw Oleszek attended a meeting in Berlin (in German Academy of Sciences) to develop bases for organization of European network on “Soil and Land Use”. Poland would like to participate actively in this initiative, but first we needed to organize national platform for that.

Therefore, with the agreement of EU Officer, we changed the subject of the platform for “Soil and Land Use” platform. The new name reflected new trends in understanding the function of soil.

Establishment of the international ‘Soil and Land Use Platform’ was the aim of international meeting which was held in September 2013 in Pulawy. The objective of the Platform is to bring end-users, decision makers, agencies and soil scientists together in order to make the soil related information that is being, or can be, generated more useful for protection of soil resources and the environment. The following problems were discussed during 3 sessions of the meeting:

 1. Research needs, challenges and soil management approaches, with the following main presentations:

• Introduction to the Soil Platform (Grzegorz Siebielec, IUNG),
• Soil monitoring activities in Slovenia: current status and gaps (Borut Vrscaj),
• Sustainable Soil and Land Management in the City of Stuttgart (Peter von Schnakenburg),
• Strategy and priorities of soil research for the nearest period in Slovakia (Jozef Kobza),
• Urban SMS - Impacts on the pilot city of Celje and its future Project Plans (Sasha Heath-Drugovic),
• Soil assessment in Estonia - moment situation and needs for the future (Endla Reintam).

 2. European soil protection projects for end users, presented by:

• Long-term efficiency of gentle soil remediation options - the Greenland project (Markus Puschenreiter) and Plant-based techniques for the remediation of trace element-contaminated mine-soils: use of organic waste products as soil amendments (Petra Kidd),
• Recent changes in climate and deposition of atmospheric pollutants in the trans-boundary Lower Silesia - Saxony region. Results of the KLAPS Project (Mieczyslaw Sobik),
• Compatibility of Agricultural Management Practices and Types of Farming in the EU to Enhance Climate Change Mitigation and Soil Health (Alina Syp, IUNG),
• Innovative sustainable Mixed Farming Systems in the European CANTOGETHER-project (Hein Korevaar),
• Urban SMS for better soil management and raising soil awareness (Grzegorz Siebielec, IUNG),
• ENORASIS irrigation support system (Rafał Wawer, IUNG),
• REFERTIL: reduction of mineral fertilizers by use of biochar for low-carbon economical developments (Edward Someus),
• Changing pattern of landslide risk in Europe - The SafeLand project (Bjorn Kalsnes).

3. Soil monitoring programs and tools, as presented in:

• EX-ACT, a tool for enhancing SOC sequestration in policies and public decision making (Louis Bockel),
• Up-scaling soil organic matter balances from farm to regional level (Marjoleine Hanegraaf),
• Long-term soil monitoring in the Czech Republic (Sarka Polakova),
• Soil monitoring in Switzerland (Andreas Gubler),
• Soil monitoring programs in Poland (Grzegorz Siebielec, IUNG).

Forty one representatives of research institutions from 15 European countries (Austria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland) including representatives of Polish Ministry of Agriculture and local public administration from Poland, Slovenia and Germany, joined the meeting.

The following out-comes of ‘Soil and Land Use Platform’ meeting have been agreed:

1. International Soil Platform initiative as a forum for cooperation between scientific bodies and end-users e.g. administration, policy makers to better deal with sustainable soil management was appreciated by the all  participating parties.
2. In order to make this Platform fully successful further integration and broadening of cooperation between research institutions and science end-users is needed.
3. Next steps will involve a position paper, defining the Platform structure and major topics, link to other soil international initiatives.