On 1 February 2024, Soils for Europe's project partner the Norwegian University of Life Sciences organised a webinar in the context of the project's Soil Weeks, which engaged local stakeholders in discussing the drivers and barriers of soil health, specifically focusing on soil organic carbon (SOC). The online event was attended by approximately 60 participants.

The participants included advisers within agriculture and environment, farmers, representatives from the Norwegian Research Council, researchers from agronomy and forestry research institutes and Universities, advisers from the Norwegian Agricultural Adviser Service (NLR), NGOs, and private companies such as BAMA and YARA.

The webinar focused on identifying the current knowledge gaps and bottlenecks related to conserving and increasing soil organic carbon stocks. The participants expressed a commitment and enthusiasm for enhancing soil health, acknowledging the crucial role of soil organic carbon (SOC) in sustainable agriculture and environmental conservation. They identified several gaps and bottlenecks hindering progress in soil health initiatives, including achieving consensus on the soil parameters that effectively describe soil health and the availability of tested and documented analysis and devices for measuring these parameters. 

The discussions centred around potential solutions to address these challenges, such as increasing funding allocation from the Norwegian Research Council to support fundamental studies on soil parameter analysis linked to soil health.