EJP SOIL

What EJP SOIL does

EJP SOIL is the European Joint Programme on Soil, a publicly funded research coordination consortium launched in 2020 and co-funded by the European Commission under Horizon 2020 and 24 European countries. The programme aligns soil-related research at national and European scale, uniting more than 1,000 scientists across 24 EU member states through National Hubs, Annual Science Days, science-policy workshops, and a Soil Network Europe community open to advisors, farmers, NGOs, and researchers. Its core-purpose deliverables are policy-relevant soil research on organic carbon, biodiversity, erosion, climate adaptation, and soil monitoring, rather than commercial products.

The programme's technology stack centres on open-access soil data infrastructure: a Soil Data Catalogue System with CSW and DOI harvesting, the INSPIRE-SOIL Geopackage (developed by CREA) for standards-compliant soil data encoding, a Cookbook on Soil Data Assimilation developed with WUR and ISRIC, the Carbon Schemes Inventory (C.S.I.) Platform covering 160 European carbon farming schemes, and a Long Term Experiments overview map documenting 570 agricultural experiments with 20+ year duration. Outputs are disseminated via peer-reviewed publications on Zenodo, Science Snack Cards in multiple languages, a video library, policy briefs, and an event-driven Annual Science Days format highly rated by participants (4.42–4.69/5 in 2025).

EJP SOIL does not operate a commercial revenue model. All research outputs, datasets, and tools are distributed free of charge, and the programme is funded via a multi-country public grant structure coordinated by a small Secretariat (6 employees) hosted at Aarhus University in Denmark, with scientific leadership from Coordinator Claire Chenu at INRAE, France. The entity's primary "customers" are policymakers, farmers, advisors, and the European soil research community; commercial monetisation is being explored through the newly launched Soil Innovation Partnership (SIP, scoping October 2025–June 2026) in partnership with Climate KIC, which introduces private capital, philanthropic, and market-readiness dimensions.

Name

EJP SOIL

Legal name

EJP SOIL Secretariat (European Joint Programme Soil)

Website

https://ejpsoil.eu

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

EJP SOIL is a European Joint Programme on Soil co-funded by the European Commission and 24 EU countries, coordinating over 1,000 scientists across soil research, data infrastructure, and science-policy activities serving policymakers, farmers, and researchers. It is a publicly funded research consortium hosted by Aarhus University, not a commercial enterprise.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Agricultural Research Services

NAICS

Support Activities for Crop Production (11511), Scientific Research and Development Services (5417)

SIC

Agricultural Services (700), Services-Commercial Physical & Biological Research (8731)

akta.pro primary industry

Soil Health & Regenerative Agronomy Consulting (AFACABAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Agriculture, Food Security & Nutrition Technical Assistance (BPADAEAG), Sustainable/Regenerative Agriculture & Conservation Practices (EDAOAOAO)

Keywords

• Soil research coordination
• Agricultural soil science
• Soil data management
• Soil monitoring systems
• Climate-smart agriculture

Headquarters

HQ city

Aarhus

HQ country

Denmark

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Research Programme Funding: EJP SOIL is implemented and co-funded by the European Commission (H2020 programme) and by 24 European countries. The programme operates as a research coordination action rather than a commercial enterprise generating revenue.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

EJP SOIL (European Joint Programme on Soil) is a publicly funded research coordination programme launched in 2020 that brings together 1,000+ scientists across 24 European countries. It funds and coordinates soil research projects to address key societal challenges related to agricultural soils and climate change. The programme delivers harmonised soil data infrastructure, evidence-based policy recommendations, training resources, and open-access research outputs to support the EU Soil Monitoring Law and sustainable soil management across Europe.

Product overview

EJP SOIL is a European research consortium (not a commercial product company) focused on agricultural soil management research. It is co-funded by the European Commission and 24 European countries. The consortium's offerings include: research projects across soil carbon sequestration, biodiversity, erosion control, and climate adaptation; knowledge outputs including publications, policy briefs, and datasets; educational materials such as Science Snack Cards (bite-sized research summaries); video resources including webinars and impact interviews; a Soil Data Catalogue system; the Soil Innovation Partnership (SIP) initiative; Soil Network Europe community platform; and various tools for soil data harmonization and INSPIRE-compliant data exchange.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Quantifiable outcome

• EU Soil Monitoring Law adopted by European Parliament on 23 October 2025
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Ten partnerships are on record, tiered core, major and minor.

• Aarhus UniversitycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAarhus University hosts the EJP SOIL Secretariat and coordinates the overall programme. Brian Eskeorg (Rector) and Jesper Emborg from Aarhus University participated in Annual Science Days 2025 opening and closing sessions.
• 24 European CountriescoreStrategic or Co-development Partner24 European countries co-fund EJP SOIL and support the programme through National Hubs. Countries include Denmark, France, Sweden, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Switzerland, Hungary, Estonia, and others with active participation in research and science-policy activities.
• Soil Innovation Partnership (SIP)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSIP is a pan-European initiative building on EJP SOIL's success, uniting science, policy, philanthropy, and business to transform soil research into real-world impact. SIP operates through three pillars: Knowledge to Practice, Market Readiness, and Unlocking Private Investment.
• CREA (Council for Agricultural Research and Economics, Italy)majorTechnology or IntegrationCREA developed the INSPIRE-SOIL Geopackage and hosts the Carbon Schemes Inventory (C.S.I.) Platform. CREA researchers contribute to soil data harmonisation and science-policy activities.
• WUR & ISRICmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerWageningen University & Research (WUR) and ISRIC World Soil Information collaborated on workshops for the Cookbook on Soil Data Assimilation, providing technical guidance on metadata management and data harmonisation.
• Climate KICmajorGTM or Marketing PartnerClimate KIC partners with EJP SOIL on the Soil Innovation Partnership, facilitating innovation acceleration and market readiness for soil health solutions. Dr. Saskia Visser and Raisa Gerasina represent Climate KIC in programme activities.
• Agroscope (Switzerland)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerSwiss research institution contributing keynotes at Annual Science Days (Olivier Heller on soil management indicators) and represented by Dr. Lutz Merbold on the SIP panel.
• INRAE (Institut national de recherche pour l'agriculture, la alimentation et l'environnement, France)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerINRAE hosts the EJP SOIL Coordinator Claire Chenu. INRAE contributes to science-policy workshops, soil ecosystem services research (SERENA project), and policy forum presentations.
• UNCCDminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerUnited Nations Convention to Combat Desertification contributes to land degradation webinars and workshops, with Barron Joseph Orr presenting on Land Degradation Neutrality monitoring.
• Global Long-Term Experiment Network (GLTEN)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerInternational network included in the Long Term Experiments overview map, contributing to the 570 documented agricultural experiments with 20+ year duration.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• UNCCD (UN Convention to Combat Desertification): UN body addressing land degradation and soil health that partners with EJP SOIL on webinars and workshops. Comparable as a multilateral, policy-driven soil and land governance body.
• CGIAR: Global agricultural research partnership coordinating multi-country, multi-thousand-scientist research programmes. EJP SOIL's structure — co-funded international consortium with a central secretariat — closely mirrors CGIAR's operating model.
• Wageningen University & Research (WUR): Dutch agricultural research institution collaborating on EJP SOIL's data harmonisation cookbook. A leading European university in soil science, sustainable agriculture, and applied agronomic research.
• European Environment Agency (EEA): EU agency providing environmental data and indicators including soil and land assessments. Shares EJP SOIL's policy-bridging mandate and its audience of European policymakers and member states.
• INRAE: French national research institute hosting the EJP SOIL Coordinator. Comparable as a major European agricultural and environment research organisation producing soil health, biodiversity, and climate research outputs.
• Joint Research Centre (JRC): The European Commission's science and knowledge service, which conducts soil-related research and produces EU-wide soil assessments at greater scale and with dedicated funding. It is a direct peer in the policy-relevant soil science space EJP SOIL occupies.
• Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) — Soils & Land Resources: UN agency operating the Global Soil Partnership and producing policy guidance on sustainable soil management. Comparable as a global-scale, publicly-funded soil research and policy coordination body.

Direct peers

• Global Long-Term Experiment Network (GLTEN): International network of long-term agricultural experiments, included in EJP SOIL's LTE Overview Map. Directly comparable in curating and harmonising long-term agricultural experimental data.
• Climate KIC: EU-backed climate innovation partnership that co-develops the Soil Innovation Partnership with EJP SOIL. Shares the mission of mobilising private investment and innovation for climate/sustainability outcomes.
• ISRIC — World Soil Information: Global soil data catalogue and harmonisation specialist that co-developed EJP SOIL's Cookbook on Soil Data Assimilation. Operates a competing/cooperating function in standardised soil data and INSPIRE-compliant soil information services.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/ejp-soil

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about EJP SOIL