KLIMA: Together building the agriculture of tomorrow
The weather is becoming more unpredictable. Rainfall is more intense, droughts last longer and soils are under increasing pressure. In the Ems-Dollard region — the border area between the northern Netherlands and north-west Germany — farmers feel this every day. Waterlogging on one field, drought stress on the next. Meanwhile input costs rise, regulations tighten and the pressure to farm differently keeps growing. But how do you do that? And where do you start?
The KLIMA project helps farmers and students in agricultural education take that step. Not with loose advice or thick reports, but with practical knowledge, good measuring instruments and a network of people who share the same goal: farming that strengthens the soil rather than depletes it.
A living soil as the foundation
A healthy soil is not a dead substrate, but a living ecosystem. Roots, fungi, bacteria and minerals work together continuously. They build organic matter, store carbon and retain water during drought. A well-functioning soil is the best protection against climate extremes.
This is the core of the modern humus theory, and KLIMA translates it into concrete daily practice: year-round soil coverage with cover crops, undersowing with clovers and herbs, surface composting, stimulation of soil life with compost extract, minimal tillage and the complete avoidance of synthetic pesticides and fertilisers. Methods that farmers can apply right now on their own fields.
Farmers measure for themselves
One of the most innovative parts of KLIMA are the farmer-science tools: simple, affordable measuring instruments with which farmers and students independently assess the condition of their own soil — without a laboratory or external adviser. They measure water infiltration, soil life, structure, pH and organic matter content, directly in the field.
Those measurements are entered into the KLIMA app: an open source, AI-driven tool that combines observations at field level with European soil data and satellite imagery. The result: concrete advice tailored to the actual situation on the ground. No averages, but customised guidance for each individual field. Farmers and students can also compare their measurements with others in the study group — creating shared insight across the region.
Learning from and with each other
Farmers learn from other farmers in peer-learning study groups where experiences are shared and solutions worked out together. Students do placements on participating farms and work on six demonstration fields across the Netherlands and Germany, where regenerative practices are tested under real conditions on the region’s specific soil types: from sandy and peat soils to marine clay areas.
The collaboration is deliberately two-way. Students bring fresh knowledge and new measuring methods. Farmers bring years of practical experience and a sharp instinct for what actually works in the field. Together they develop knowledge that could not come about in this way anywhere else.
Cross-border and lasting
Regenerative methods were largely developed for different climates and soils. The Ems-Dollard region — with its maritime climate, sandy and peat soils and marine clay areas — has its own conditions. Cross-border collaboration between Dutch and German farmers, educational institutions and knowledge partners makes it possible to develop approaches that truly fit this specific area.
Learning materials, farmer-science tools and the KLIMA app will remain openly available after the project ends. Comparable practical tools from earlier projects in the region are still actively used years after their development. KLIMA builds on that tradition and creates a knowledge base that will also benefit the next generation of farmers and students.
KLIMA prepares the Ems-Dollard region for a future in which farming does not fight against the climate, but works with nature — with a living soil as its foundation.
