CheTerraPesti - The earth beneath your feet #100

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Editorial - Cheterrapesti #100

Cheterrapesti – The Earth Beneath Your Feet has reached issue #100. Born in June 2012, the newsletter has changed its look more than once and, admittedly, it has not always kept a perfect schedule. Yet its original spirit has remained intact: to speak about the world of soils and sustainability,

Editorial - Cheterrapesti #100

Headlines

How soil could help us reach climate targets

Soils store more carbon than atmosphere and vegetation; restoring and increasing soil organic matter (via better land use, afforestation, peatland restoration) can aid climate targets but cannot replace fossil-fuel cuts.

How soil could help us reach climate targets

Mapping the unseen: How Europe is fighting back against invisible soil pollution

Europe is waking up to “invisible” soil pollution like PFAS. New mapping projects, citizen involvement, and EU rules aim to find hotspots, stop new contamination, and clean up legacy sites before they harm food and health.

Mapping the unseen: How Europe is fighting back against invisible soil pollution

An analysis of Sustainable Development Goals in Italian cities: Performance measurements and policy implications

Study ranks 103 Italian cities on 45 SDG indicators, showing big north–south gaps. It suggests targeted local policies and monitoring to improve weaker areas’ sustainability.

An analysis of Sustainable Development Goals in Italian cities: Performance measurements and policy implications

The microbiome of an entire country mapped for the first time

Researchers created a “microbe map” of Denmark, sampling thousands of places. It shows disturbed sites share the same microbes, while natural areas keep unique diversity and influence N2O emissions.

The microbiome of an entire country mapped for the first time

Ukraine’s farms once fed billions but now its soil is starving

Ukraine’s fields fed the world, but years of unbalanced fertiliser use and today’s war are draining key nutrients; better manure recycling and smarter fertiliser plans could restore soils.

Ukraine’s farms once fed billions but now its soil is starving

Preface: Illuminating soil's hidden dimensions, a decade of progress and future directions in agrogeophysics research

This overview shows how “seeing” underground with geophysics is transforming farming: quick, non-destructive soil mapping and monitoring of water, compaction and carbon, guiding smarter management under climate pressure.

Preface: Illuminating soil's hidden dimensions, a decade of progress and future directions in agrogeophysics research

Ancient stalagmite provides insights into how climate affected early communities in cradle of civilization

A cave stalagmite in Iraqi Kurdistan acts like a climate diary, showing big swings in rain and drought (including the Younger Dryas) that likely delayed farming and kept communities mobile longer.

Ancient stalagmite provides insights into how climate affected early communities in cradle of civilization

Politics

CURIOSOIL - Updates & Events

CURIOSOIL’s “Updates & Events” page lists upcoming meetings and conferences plus recent project news and newsletters—so you can quickly see what’s next, what just happened, and how to stay involved.

CURIOSOIL - Updates & Events

Vision for Agriculture and Food | Future-proofing EU Agri-Food through research and innovation

The EU’s “Vision for Agriculture and Food” is a roadmap to keep farming attractive and competitive while cutting red tape, supporting fair farmer incomes, boosting innovation/digital tools, and protecting soils, water and biodiversity.

Vision for Agriculture and Food | Future-proofing EU Agri-Food through research and innovation

More than 520 chemicals found in English soil, including long-banned medical substances

Economic dynamics of the Italian agricultural land structure

Using 2010–2020 census data, it shows Italian farms are consolidating: agritourism and solar panels help farms grow, while gaps persist—especially for young and female managers.

Economic dynamics of the Italian agricultural land structure

Land is Africa’s best hope for climate adaptation: it must be the focus

13 years of detailed US CO₂ emissions data

This paper introduces Vulcan 4.0: a detailed U.S. map of CO₂ emissions (2010–2022), down to 1 km squares, to help cities and states pinpoint where emissions come from and act.

13 years of detailed US CO₂ emissions data

A landfill tax could halt the vast amounts of healthy soil that are needlessly thrown away

In the UK, builders dump huge amounts of mostly clean excavated soil because it’s cheap. A higher landfill tax would make them test, reuse and keep soil on-site.

A landfill tax could halt the vast amounts of healthy soil that are needlessly thrown away

China and Mongolia are battling to control massive dust storms

Northern China’s dust storms often originate in Mongolia, worsened by warming, drying and land degradation. China offers “Great Green Wall” techniques, but Mongolia’s nomadic rangelands resist fencing-style controls.

China and Mongolia are battling to control massive dust storms

The race to mine the Moon is on – and it urgently needs some clear international rules

Countries and startups are gearing up to mine the Moon for water ice, metals and helium-3. But space law is outdated, so unclear ownership and “safety zones” could spark disputes.

The race to mine the Moon is on – and it urgently needs some clear international rules

Climate adaptation in urban space: the need for a transdisciplinary approach

The paper says cities can’t adapt to climate change with engineering alone. Combine architects, social innovators and ecologists, use nature-based solutions and co-design, and consider sounds, smells and wildlife needs.

Climate adaptation in urban space: the need for a transdisciplinary approach

Science, info & more...

Why has the price of chocolate become so volatile?

Chocolate prices swing because cocoa harvests get hit by weird weather, cocoa trees take years to replace, and trade tariffs plus gold mining squeeze supply; greener farming could help.

Why has the price of chocolate become so volatile?

‘We can tell farmers the problems’: experts say seismic waves can check soil health and boost yields

Scientists are testing “soilsmology”: hit a metal plate with a hammer and read the returning vibrations to spot compaction, dryness and other hidden soil issues—helping farmers target fixes and boost yields.

‘We can tell farmers the problems’: experts say seismic waves can check soil health and boost yields

Turning everyday cameras into crop analysis tools

Researchers show regular RGB photos (even from phones) can be “translated” with machine learning into richer spectral data, helping farmers cheaply estimate sweet potato quality and maize chlorophyll without expensive sensors.

Turning everyday cameras into crop analysis tools

GIS-based multicriteria land suitability assessment for nature-based solutions for the enhancement of carbon sequestration in Emilia-Romagna, Italy

The study builds a GIS scoring map for Emilia-Romagna to show where nature-based actions capture the most carbon—street trees in cities, new green spaces, and farm buffer strips—mainly near urban areas and the coast.

GIS-based multicriteria land suitability assessment for nature-based solutions for the enhancement of carbon sequestration in Emilia-Romagna, Italy

Spatial hotspots and bundles of soil functions across Europe

-Soil multifunctionality hotspots are rare and scattered across European croplands and grasslands. -Grasslands do not consistently outperform croplands in soil function supply across Europe. -Five distinct soil function bundles reflect regional trade-offs and synergies. -Pedological constraints seem to limit multifunctionality despite favourable land management. -Linking soil function supply to stakeholder demand will require negotiation on targeted bundles.

Spatial hotspots and bundles of soil functions across Europe

Representing soil landscapes from digital soil mapping products – helping the map to speak for itself

Soil maps are useful for many applications, e.g., hydrology, agriculture, ecology, and civil engineering. The dominant mapping method is Digital Soil Mapping (DSM), which uses training observations and machine-learning to predict per-pixel. Accuracy is assessed by statistical evaluation at known points, but soils occur in spatial patterns. We present methods for helping the map to "speak for itself" to reveal patterns of the soil landscape.

Representing soil landscapes from digital soil mapping products – helping the map to speak for itself

Territorial mapping of soil type and land cover influence on ecosystem services

Study repurposes the Destisol tool for rural landscapes, grouping 85 soil profiles into eight soil types and mapping nine soil benefits, showing land cover and depth/texture strongly shape services.

Territorial mapping of soil type and land cover influence on ecosystem services

Healthy soils as a booster to EU competitiveness

EU soils are in bad shape—over 60% unhealthy—costing >€50bn a year. It argues soil-friendly businesses (cleanup, carbon farming, regen ag, agritech) could boost competitiveness if policy speeds up.

Healthy soils as a booster to EU competitiveness

The soil microbiome as an indicator of ecosystem multifunctionality in European soils

Across 484 European soils, researchers found soil “all-round” performance is best in grasslands/woodlands and humid regions. Soil properties lead, but microbe communities add clues, especially in clay and drier soils.

The soil microbiome as an indicator of ecosystem multifunctionality in European soils