Running from 2025 to 2028, HydroSoilWise project aims to develop an innovative toolbox for farmers that brings together various techniques to improve soil organic matter, to improve water use efficiency and to reduce erosion with focus on 4 drought-sensitive key crops (annual vegetables, potatoes, fruit and ornamental nursery trees).

The collaboration of 12 partners from Belgium, The Netherlands, France and Germany, will offer advantages by pooling dispersed resources and expertise, enabling a more comprehensive approach to optimal solutions.

Belgian partners

Viaverda

Viaverda vzw is the East Flemish practical research centre for agriculture and horticulture, specialising in potato cultivation, vegetable cultivation, ornamental plant cultivation and landscaping. Through research, demonstrations and education, Viaverda brings innovations in cultivation and techniques to growers.

The Viaverda team involved is located at the Destelbergen site. The site focuses on ornamental research, providing sustainable and commercially viable solutions for growers and landscapers in the ornamental sector. Viaverda supports growers by demonstrating the possibilities of different cultivation systems and communicates these to them. Growers are part of Viaverda steering committee, ensuring a bottom-up approach to research topics.

Viaverda is the lead partner of HydroSoilWise project: they will take care of the project management. They will also perform trials and demo trials at their own and at farmer locations with a focus on soil organic matter build-up, and increase of water use efficiency in tree nursery crops. The results and reports of the trials will be shared to update the technical datasheets on the techniques. Viaverda will help to translate the technical datasheets to Dutch and will oversee the update and finalisation of the online toolbox. Additionally, Viaverda can facilitate bottom-up feedback on the toolbox through their multiple events for growers and stakeholders in the ornamental sector.

Soil Service of Belgium

The Soil Service of Belgium (BDB) is an independent research and advisory institute specialised in soil, plant, and fertilisation management. It supports farmers and growers with analyses, field research, and tailored advice to improve soil health, crop productivity, and sustainable nutrient management across Belgian agriculture.

Within HydroSoilWise project, BDB focuses primarily on improving water use efficiency through smart irrigation and water management practices. The institute aims to gain a deeper understanding of how soil variability influences crop development. The effect of  differentiated irrigation on the yield of annual crops such as vegetables and potatoes will be evaluated.  For several years, the project will investigate how irrigation affects flower and fruit formation in a pear orchard, since soil conditions in one season can influence fruit production in the next. In addition to optimising irrigation strategies to enhance water-use efficiency, the project will also assess the effectiveness of subirrigation as a method to further reduce irrigation needs.

Ghent University

Ghent University is a public research university located in Ghent, in East Flanders province of Belgium. It is the second-largest Belgian University, consisting of 50,000 students and 9,000 staff members. HydroSoilWise is equally supported by 2 different labs of the department of Plants and Crops: The Laboratory of Horticulture and the Laboratory of Plant Ecology. Both labs are members of CropFit, the multidisciplinary consortium of Ghent University with expertise in biostimulants and biocontrol.

Ghent University is involved in HydroSoilWise project in the irrigation and soil quality trials with Viaverda (avenue trees and shrubs) and on the monitoring of drought stress on the whole-plant level with the Soil Service of Belgium (pear orchard).

Boerenbond Project vzw

Boerenbond is a farmers’ organisation in Flanders and East Belgium that represents farmers and horticulturists of all sizes and subsectors. They support and advise farmers through training, innovation support and expert visits.

Within HydroSoilWise, Boerenbond contributes to the development of the toolbox, the organisation of theoretical courses and demonstations. They will share the results of HydroSoilWise to the majority of the farmers in Flanders by organising field days, seminars and webinars. Additionally, Boerenbond can facilitate bottom-up feedback on the toolbox and follow-up of the uptake through multiple events for farmers and stakeholders in the whole agri- and horticultural sector.

Dutch partners

Delphy

Delphy is a leading knowledge company committed to successful and sustainable cultivation. The company is active in all plant production, among which fruits, and has a wide expertise and opportunities to cross-pollinate knowledge from different sectors in agriculture. Team Fruit cultivation (Team FC) is involved in both research and advice for fruit growers. Research is largely executed on farmers’ locations, and at FRC Randwijk (consortium partners and main location for orchard experiments in NL). Team FC advises many professional orchards in which water and soil challenges are increasing.

Within HydroSoilWise, Delphy will focus on developing the toolbox, creating technical data sheets, and providing dissemination of project results through the training programme.

FRC Randwijk

Fruit Research Centre Randwijk is currently the only independent practical fruit cultivation research centre in the Netherlands. The research site is 18 hectares in size and focuses on using novel techniques to solve challenges in cultivation while emphasising efficient use of (natural) resources.

The Fruit Research Centre Randwijk will perform physical demonstrations throughout the project and trials:

• On improving soil organic matter with compost, soil improvers, cover crops and biofoil.
• On improving water use efficiency by testing innovative irrigation techniques, level-steered drainage, biostimulants and wetting agents.
• On erosion reduction with buffer strips

The Fruit Research Centre Randwijk will contribute to updating the technical data sheets with finalised best practices for the toolbox.

Treeport

Treeport Zundert is a cooperative of tree nursery growers, suppliers, and advisors in the Zundert region, committed to sector‑wide sustainability and innovation. Through its ROOTZ knowledge and innovation centre, Treeport facilitates research, education, and collaboration between growers and knowledge institutions. Treeport also develops the Business Centre Treeport, a green business park integrating renewable energy, water buffering, and biodiversity corridors, showcasing sustainability in practice. Strategic themes include smart farming, peat‑free substrates, buffer strips and water management, and circular economy solutions.

Within HydroSoilWise, Treeport ensures grower engagement, aligns trials with practice, and supports knowledge exchange across the network. They will study the effectiveness of vegetated buffer strips in nursery systems, focusing on:

• Reducing soil erosion;
• Limiting runoff from production fields;
• Lowering nutrient losses (e.g., N and P) so that potentially harmful nutrients do not end up in surrounding surface waters.

Treeport will share results via working groups, contribute content to the online toolbox, and support outreach to growers.

French partners

ASTREDHOR

Certified as an Agricultural Technical Institute since 2008, ASTREDHOR develops innovative projects to create knowledge, new solutions and to update technical and economical references in horticulture, floristry and landscaping. The Institute transfers results to the professionals thanks to its certified advisors and with training sessions.

Within HydroSoilWise project, ASTREDHOR will lead the work package 1 “Data collection on 15 techniques to improve soil organic matter and water use efficiency, and toolbox development”. ASTREDHOR will manage experiments on biostimulants on potted plants production and mulching techniques in open ground, to study drought mitigation and the influence on soil moisture and structure. ASTREDHOR will also work on soil management techniques, irrigation and water management with experimentation on non-inversion tillage and sensors. Finally, ASTREDHOR is in charge of communication for HydroSoilWise.

Planete  LFP

PLANETE LFP is a recognized expert in vegetable crops (potato, cabbage, onion, asparagus, strawberry, berries and market gardening), ornamentals, and tree nursery production in North-Eastern France. It brings together 500 vegetables and 60 flowers producers in the “Grand Est” region and beyond, in both organic and conventional farming. Its missions are to provide solutions to specific problems faced by growers; to search and support product and process innovation, marketing, and organisation; and to provide independent expertise at the service of producers' technical and economic performance.

In HydroSoilWise, PLANETE LFP will focus on garlic, onion and potato to test innovative soil management techniques (micro-ridging), soil covering, drip irrigation systems, and water management tools (tensors). They will assess the combined effects of these practices on water-use efficiency, productivity, and quality.

VEREXAL

Based in Alsace (France), the Verexal association supports pome fruit (apple, pear) and stone fruit (cherry, apricot, damson plum, peach) growers in adopting more sustainable agricultural practices. Its mission is to promote a responsible production model that respects biodiversity and natural resources while ensuring long-term profitability for growers. To address the current challenges facing the sector, Verexal conducts numerous technical trials, both in its experimental orchard and directly on growers’ farms. These initiatives aim to test, adapt, and disseminate innovative solutions to improve orchard management.

The trials carried out as part of HydroSoilWise focuses on improving the soil’s water-retention capacity through the application of compost, with the goal of supporting growers who lack direct access to water resources. Additional experiments seek to optimise irrigation efficiency, reducing water consumption while maintaining yields comparable to those achieved under optimal water-supply conditions.

German partners

Geisenheim University

The Department of Vegetable Crops of Hochschule Geisenheim University (Germany) has a long tradition of research in irrigation scheduling and technology. They train students in sustainable agriculture practices and advanced plant physiology through a mix of classroom learning and hands-on experience. The Department collaborates with horticultural industry partners, farmers and agribusiness alike, to tackle current and emerging challenges in vegetable production.

Within HydroSoilWise, the Department conducts trials on improving water use efficiency by using mulch. They are searching to adapt irrigation management strategies for the use of mulch or other methods of increasing soil organic matter in accordance with farmers’ prevailing techniques and cultivation practices.

Kassel University

The Section of Organic Crop and Plant Production (FÖL) at the University of Kassel conducts cutting-edge research on innovative crop management systems with a strong focus on participatory and practice-oriented research. Its overarching goal is to increase crop productivity while simultaneously enhancing ecosystem services using biological and ecological processes.

The Section of Organic Crop and Plant Production (FÖL) is the work package leader for WP3 “Theoretical course and practical demonstrations to increase toolbox use and technique uptake.” They also conduct trials on soil quality and water management in organic and conventional onion field cultivation.