Description
Presentation at "Agriculture and Land-use in Ireland – Pathways to a Sustainable Future Conference" in the Session 'Behaviour Change' with the following Abstract- Healthy soils are central to Ireland's agricultural productivity, climate action commitments, biodiversity restoration, water quality protection and long-term rural resilience. Yet estimates suggest that 60–70% of European soils are already in an unhealthy condition. While soil plays a foundational role in national sustainability strategies, soil literacy across education systems remains uneven and fragmented, limiting the capacity of future farmers, land managers, policymakers and citizens to engage meaningfully with sustainable land-use transitions. The LOESS (Literacy boost through an Operational Educational Ecosystem of Societal actors on Soil health) project (2023–2026), funded under the EU Mission 'A Soil Deal for Europe' addresses this challenge by strengthening soil health education across primary, secondary, vocational and higher education and also amongst the general public. A triangulated research phase, combining desk research, focus groups and interviews across fifteen European countries identified limited curricular integration of soil health in most cases, a dominant emphasis on knowledge acquisition over experiential and doing-based learning, and insufficient collaboration between soil scientists, educators and wider societal actors. These deficits are particularly pertinent within the Irish context of agricultural intensification, peatland management, nutrient loss and land-use change (EPA, 2024). In response, LOESS partners co-developed a coordinated ecosystem of open-access resources including learning scenarios, an augmented reality app, a module on Community Engaged Research and Learning (CERL) supporting university community collaboration, MOOC course and many others which are consolidated in the LOESS Soil Atlas. These also include a modular higher education framework linking soil, society and sustainability; participatory and field-based learning resources; role-play simulations on land-use decision-making; and a citizen science-based crowdmapping platform enabling place-based soil problem identification. By embedding soil literacy as sustainability competence rather than a narrowly scientific topic, LOESS offers a practical and transferable model for Irish education and advisory systems seeking to align agricultural knowledge, behavioural change and land-use policy.| Period | 26 May 2026 |
|---|---|
| Event title | Agriculture and Land-use in Ireland: Pathways to a Sustainable Future |
| Event type | Conference |
| Location | Portlaoise, IrelandShow on map |
| Degree of Recognition | National |