For the first time, the Land and Soil Management Award was presented on stage during the Annual Conference of the Forum for the Future of Agriculture, following a day when several presenters had already stressed the importance of soil in achieving sustainable agriculture.

Since its creation in 2008, the Land and Soil Management Award has recognised innovative and impactful practices that protect and restore soils while promoting sustainable land use. The award highlights exemplary efforts that address soil threats such as erosion, degradation, compaction, loss of biodiversity, and contamination, and fosters the broader implementation of resilient and scalable solutions across Europe.

The German project Gut & Bösel was awarded the 2024-2025 Land and Soil Management Award during the Forum’s closing session, in recognition of the project’s transformative approach to regenerative land and forestry management on over 3,000 hectares in Brandenburg.

Martin Gerzabek, President of the Jury, Land and Soil Management Award, commended the high quality of this year’s entrants with 23 applications from 11 countries. He presented the award to Benedict Bösel. Explaining the jury’s choice, he said the project had demonstrated economic feasibility, cooperation with a non-profit research company, a scientific approach and substantial outreach. “I found it one of the best applications I have ever seen.”

Mr Bösel accepted the award “not just on behalf of myself, but on behalf of the soil”. He emphasised: “We are not owners of the land. We are its guests, its students, and hopefully its regenerators.” The project had shown that agriculture did not just provide food, but could heal ecosystems, build resilience and reconnect people. The benefits can be seen “in a living soil that stores water and carbon, in trees that bring shade and income, in farmers that become stewards, innovators and storytellers”. His was not a romantic story, but one of “economics, policy, science and courage”. He called for a rethink of values where regeneration, not depletion, is rewarded. This requires alliances involving boardrooms, parliaments and classrooms to “turn agriculture into one of the most powerful climate and peace solutions of our time”. The question is not can we afford to change, but can we afford not to?

Given the high standard of entries, the jury awarded two diplomas of recognition. One went to Joseph’s Dream in Portugal. This has transformed agriculture “into a force for environmental restoration, rural revival and sustainable economic growth”. Jacques Naudé launched the project which has turned hundreds of hectares of abandoned land into organic almond and walnut orchards, created jobs and “demonstrated that the circular economy approach is both profitable and scalable”.

The other was The San Giorgio Soil Regeneration Project in Sicily led by Rudolf Freiherr von Freyberg-Eisenberg. It uses innovative water management strategies and reforestation to create a resilient ecosystem able to absorb water during floods and decrease desertification. Socially, the project successfully integrates traditional knowledge with modern science. “The property serves as both a testing ground and a model for adaptive agricultural practices.”

The award is supported by the European Landowners’ Organization, the European Commission, the Joint Research Centre, Syngenta, University of Ljubljana, University of KU Leuven and University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna.