Optimizing roots for sustainable crop production in Europe – pure cultures and cover crops.

To reduce the effect of climate change on food security, carbon farming is indispensable. Mobilizing crop producers to support this transformation requires promotion of cropping systems with equivalent profitability, but higher soil C sequestration. The most viable yet neglected option is through increased and deeper roots of main and cover crops. MaxRoot-C will pioneer assessment methods closing this knowledge gap by providing robust hard data on the root C inputs of main crop varieties and different cover crops across the EU, to determine main drivers and model the C sequestering potential therein. It will provide policy relevant data on which to base future CAP instruments and contribute to the development of future carbon sequestration standards for the EU approved seed lists.