Soil Management and Sustainability: Key Insights from the MOSOEX Project
The MOSOEX Project was created with a clear objective: to demonstrate that more sustainable agronomic management—based on increasing soil organic matter, crop rotation, and reduced tillage—improves long-term productivity and soil health while reducing the environmental impacts of extensive agriculture. A vision that fully aligns with the project’s philosophy: the soil is not an inheritance from our parents, but a loan from our children.
To achieve this objective, MOSOEX brought together farmers, technical centers, and specialized entities. Among them, Solid Forest played the key role of assessing, with scientific rigor, the actual environmental impact of the different agronomic practices implemented across dozens of farms throughout Spain.
What Did Solid Forest Do in MOSOEX?
During the two project periods, Solid Forest developed the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of the main participating crops: wheat, barley, oats, sunflower, broad beans, peas, and other extensive herbaceous crops. The work included:
- Comprehensive collection of actual data from each farm: fertilization, tillage, treatments, machinery consumption, yields, etc.
- Environmental modeling using Air.e LCA™, our professional tool, applying ISO 14040/44 standards.
- Assessment of up to 14 environmental impact categories, including climate change, acidification, ecotoxicity, eutrophication, and water use.
- Incorporation of methodological improvements between annual periods (indirect emissions, water modeling, Ecoinvent database updates, etc.).
This analysis enabled objective comparison of systems such as no-till, minimum tillage, or traditional methods, as well as evaluation of the effect of introducing organic fertilization, broader rotations, or tillage reductions.
Results That Demonstrate the Value of Better Soil Management
The reports show that the practices promoted by MOSOEX—especially reduced tillage, increased crop diversity, and improved soil organic matter—tend to:
- Reduce energy consumption associated with machinery.
- Decrease dependence on external inputs (fertilizers and pesticides).
- Improve key indicators such as climate change and acidification.
- Make systems more resilient and efficient in the long term.
These conclusions support MOSOEX’s central message: better soil management not only improves its health, but also reduces environmental impacts and enhances future profitability.
Conclusion
Solid Forest’s participation provided the MOSOEX project with a solid and transparent analytical foundation to demonstrate, through quantitative data, that agronomic sustainability and environmental sustainability advance together.
Our work reinforced the evidence that practices such as no-till, minimum tillage, and the use of organic matter are not merely theoretical recommendations, but strategies that reduce real and measurable impacts.
With MOSOEX, Solid Forest reaffirms its commitment to a more efficient, resilient agricultural model aligned with current climate challenges.
