{"type": "FeatureCollection", "features": [{"id": "10.1016/j.envpol.2021.116827", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-07-27T16:16:26Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2021-03-09", "title": "Cocktails of pesticide residues in conventional and organic farming systems in Europe \u2013 Legacy of the past and turning point for the future", "description": "<p>&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Considering that pesticides have been used in Europe for over 70 years, a system for monitoring pesticide residues in EU soils and their effects on soil health is long overdue. In an attempt to address this problem, we tested 340 EU agricultural topsoil samples for multiple pesticide residues. These samples originated from 4 representative EU case study sites (CSS), which covered 3 countries and four of the main EU crops: vegetable and orange production in Spain (S-V and S-O, respectively), grape production in Portugal (P-G), and potato production in the Netherlands (N-P). Soil samples were collected between 2015 and 2018 after harvest or before the start of the growing season, depending on the CSS. Conventional and organic farming results were compared in S-V, S-O and N-P. Soils from conventional farms presented mostly mixtures of pesticide residues, with a maximum of 16 residues/sample. Soils from organic farms had significantly fewer residues, with a maximum of 5 residues/sample. The residues with the highest frequency of detection and the highest content in soil were herbicides: glyphosate and its main metabolite AMPA (P-G, N-P, S-O), and pendimethalin (S-V). Total residue content in soil reached values of 0.8 mg kg-1 for S-V, 2 mg kg-1 for S-O and N-P, and 12 mg kg-1 for P-G. Organic soils presented 70-90% lower residue concentrations than the corresponding conventional soils. There is a severe knowledge gap concerning the effects of the accumulated and complex mixtures of pesticide residues found in soil on soil biota and soil health. Safety benchmarks should be defined and introduced into (soil) legislation as soon as possible. Soil remediation techniques should be developed to keep the levels of pesticide residues below such benchmarks. Furthermore, the process of transitioning to organic farming should take into consideration the residue mixtures and their residence time in soil. &amp;amp;#160;&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;</p>", "keywords": ["2. Zero hunger", "Organic Agriculture", "Portugal", "Pesticide Residues", "Agriculture", "04 agricultural and veterinary sciences", "15. Life on land", "EU agricultural soils", "Europe", "Soil", "Mixtures of pesticide residues", "Spain", "13. Climate action", "Mixtures of pesticide residues; EU agricultural soils Organic", " conventional farming", "Soil Pollutants", "0401 agriculture", " forestry", " and fisheries", "Organic and conventional farming", "Netherlands"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2021.116827"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/Environmental%20Pollution", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.1016/j.envpol.2021.116827", "name": "item", "description": "10.1016/j.envpol.2021.116827", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.1016/j.envpol.2021.116827"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2021-03-03T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.1016/j.geoderma.2024.116862", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-07-27T16:16:48Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2024-03-27", "title": "Is the organic carbon-to-clay ratio a reliable indicator of soil health?", "description": "Climate action plans under the Paris Climate Agreement and other national commitments aimed at improving soil-based ecosystem services require the operational monitoring of soil carbon (C). The European Union is aiming to enhance soil health, and as part of the proposed Soil Monitoring Law, the European Commission recommends the monitoring of the soil C loss indicator among other soil health indicators. In this study, we evaluate the feasibility of the proposed soil C loss indicator by assessing its performance using the EU-wide 2009 LUCAS soil survey data. The proposed indicator is the soil organic carbon (SOC) to clay ratio, with a threshold value of 1:13. The results are also compared with the C stock changes reported by countries to the climate convention (UNFCCC). Our results reveal that the variation in SOC and clay content at European scale exceeds that of the data used to develop the proposed indicator. We also found that the variation in the SOC content was influenced not only by clay content but also by climate and land-use reflecting C input levels. Therefore, the defined threshold is inadequate for detecting degraded soils if the SOC and clay content are beyond the conditions used to establish the criteria. Furthermore, major discrepancies were observed between the soil carbon stock changes reported by the national greenhouse gas (GHG) inventories and the proportions of degraded soils identified by using the soil C loss indicator. We conclude that employing a single indicator such as SOC:Clay ratio with one threshold value for all soils across various land covers, management practices, and climatic conditions, as defined by the European Commission for the Soil Monitoring Law, is inappropriate for monitoring soil C loss.", "keywords": ["2. Zero hunger", "agricultural soil", "550", "Forest soil", " agricultural soil", "Science", "Q", "Soil organic carbon (SOC)", "Soil monitoring", "04 agricultural and veterinary sciences", "SOC:Clay ratio", "15. Life on land", "forest soil", "01 natural sciences", "630", "6. Clean water", "12. Responsible consumption", "soil organic carbon", "13. Climate action", "soil monitoring", "LUCAS soil survey", "11. Sustainability", "soc:clay ratio", "0401 agriculture", " forestry", " and fisheries", "European mineral soils", "0105 earth and related environmental sciences"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoderma.2024.116862"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/Geoderma", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.1016/j.geoderma.2024.116862", "name": "item", "description": "10.1016/j.geoderma.2024.116862", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.1016/j.geoderma.2024.116862"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2024-01-01T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.2139/ssrn.4681574", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-07-27T16:21:14Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2024-03-27", "title": "Is the organic carbon-to-clay ratio a reliable indicator of soil health?", "description": "Climate action plans under the Paris Climate Agreement and other national commitments aimed at improving soil-based ecosystem services require the operational monitoring of soil carbon (C). The European Union is aiming to enhance soil health, and as part of the proposed Soil Monitoring Law, the European Commission recommends the monitoring of the soil C loss indicator among other soil health indicators. In this study, we evaluate the feasibility of the proposed soil C loss indicator by assessing its performance using the EU-wide 2009 LUCAS soil survey data. The proposed indicator is the soil organic carbon (SOC) to clay ratio, with a threshold value of 1:13. The results are also compared with the C stock changes reported by countries to the climate convention (UNFCCC). Our results reveal that the variation in SOC and clay content at European scale exceeds that of the data used to develop the proposed indicator. We also found that the variation in the SOC content was influenced not only by clay content but also by climate and land-use reflecting C input levels. Therefore, the defined threshold is inadequate for detecting degraded soils if the SOC and clay content are beyond the conditions used to establish the criteria. Furthermore, major discrepancies were observed between the soil carbon stock changes reported by the national greenhouse gas (GHG) inventories and the proportions of degraded soils identified by using the soil C loss indicator. We conclude that employing a single indicator such as SOC:Clay ratio with one threshold value for all soils across various land covers, management practices, and climatic conditions, as defined by the European Commission for the Soil Monitoring Law, is inappropriate for monitoring soil C loss.", "keywords": ["2. Zero hunger", "agricultural soil", "550", "Forest soil", " agricultural soil", "Science", "Q", "Soil organic carbon (SOC)", "Soil monitoring", "04 agricultural and veterinary sciences", "SOC:Clay ratio", "15. Life on land", "forest soil", "01 natural sciences", "630", "6. Clean water", "12. Responsible consumption", "soil organic carbon", "13. Climate action", "soil monitoring", "LUCAS soil survey", "11. Sustainability", "soc:clay ratio", "0401 agriculture", " forestry", " and fisheries", "European mineral soils", "0105 earth and related environmental sciences"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4681574"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/Geoderma", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.2139/ssrn.4681574", "name": "item", "description": "10.2139/ssrn.4681574", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.2139/ssrn.4681574"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2024-01-01T00:00:00Z"}}], "links": [{"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "This document as GeoJSON", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items?keywords=+agricultural+soil&f=json", "hreflang": "en-US"}, {"rel": "alternate", "type": "text/html", "title": "This document as HTML", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items?keywords=+agricultural+soil&f=html", "hreflang": "en-US"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection URL", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main", "hreflang": "en-US"}, {"type": "application/geo+json", "rel": "first", "title": "items (first)", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items?keywords=+agricultural+soil&", "hreflang": "en-US"}, {"rel": "last", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "items (last)", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items?keywords=+agricultural+soil&offset=3", "hreflang": "en-US"}], "numberMatched": 3, "numberReturned": 3, "distributedFeatures": [], "timeStamp": "2026-07-28T07:13:25.848556Z"}