SOB4ES spends Open Field Day with Czech Farmers at the 3rd Progress Meeting in Prague
On the occasion of the third annual progress meeting in Prague, Czech Republic, the SOB4ES consortium spent an Open Field Day with Czech Farmers. On two different farms outside Prague, the SOB4ES experts demonstrated how to find and determine soil biodiversity in an effort to give farmers the tools to report their own soil health according to the EU monitoring directive.
A productive progress meeting in Prague
Between June 9-10, 2026, the SOB4ES consortium came together for the Third Annual Progress meeting. Hosted by Charles University at the National Museum of Agriculture in Prague, Czech Republic, the partners spent two enjoyable days, sharing highlights and learnings from the last year.
Looking ahead to the project's next phase, partners presented recent findings and ongoing analyses, including results from expert and user surveys on biodiversity indicators and assessments of their cost-effectiveness. The partners also discussed upcoming publications as well as efforts to integrate the knowledge they have gained on soil biodiversity into ecosystem services.
Open Field Day highlights need for customized soil health monitoring
In addition to the productive discussions during the progress meeting, a key highlight of the week took place on June 11, 2026. The consortium went on an Open Field Day to visit two farming sites outside of Prague. There, the host farmers presented their farming practices to the consortium and engaged with SOB4ES experts in practical demonstrations on assessing and monitoring the health of their soils.
Karen Vancampenhout from SOB4ES partner KU Leuven demonstrated how to assess physical and chemical soil quality by excavating and analysing a soil profile. Olaf Schmidt, from SOB4ES partner UCD, then introduced methods for monitoring soil macrofauna, particularly earthworms, and demonstrated how farmers can use soil biodiversity as an indicator of soil quality with limited equipment. Afterwards, Javier Rodeiro Iglesias from SOB4ES coordinator University of Vigo presented insights into the SOB4ES Booster tool, a decision-support tool designed to help farmers identify practices that can enhance soil biodiversity and related ecosystem services under their specific field conditions.
During the Open Field Day the farmers showed a keen interest in the biodiversity of their soils and were particularly interested in hearing tailored recommendations on how to improve soil biodiversity at their specific sites. This interest highlights the need to provide farmers and land managers with tools to monitor and improve soil biodiversity based on their specific conditions.
The SOB4ES consortium spent a few enjoyable days sharing insights and learnins on the 3rd annual progress meeting in Prague 
The consortium visited two farms outside Prague, Czech Republic, for an Open Field Day with Czech Farmers 
Karen Vancampenhout demonstrates how to dig a soil profile and analyse soil composition 
Olaf Schmidt and Maria Briones discuss soil biodiversity