Land and Soil Management Award 2026/2027 (€5,000 award)

Applications are open for the Land and Soil Management Award 2026/2027. The prize rewards land use and soil management practices mitigating soil threats such as soil degradation, erosion, reduction of organic matter content, diffuse contamination, and compaction, as well as the reduction of soil biodiversity, salinization, sealing, flooding, and landslides.

In doing so, the award sheds light on outstanding achievements, encouraging new concepts of land and soil protection and their implementation in land management, as well as enhancing awareness about the importance of land and soil functions.

This award was launched in 2008 by the European Landowners’ Organization (ELO), under the auspices of the European Commission (DG Environment, DG Agriculture and the Joint Research Centre) and in association with the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU) of Vienna, Syngenta International AG, as well as the Centre for Soil and Environmental Sciences of the Ljubljana University. Since then, the award jury has selected outstanding achievements throughout Europe in the field of sustainable soil and land management.