Sustainable agricultural soil management practices are key to restore, maintain and improve soil health. The European Joint Programme for SOIL (EJP SOIL) has identified twelve main soil challenges in Europe. To assess the potential and eventually increase the adoption of soil‐improving management practices, it is necessary to know (i) the current levels of adoption of the practices, (ii) socio‐technical barriers influencing their adoption, and (iii) their bio‐physical limits. This study compiled an inventory of soil‐improving management practices relevant to European conditions, and used a survey among soil scientists to assess the levels of adoption of these practices in Europe. In total, 53 soil management practices were identified that address one or several of the soil challenges. The adoption of most practices was low or spatially heterogeneous across Europe, highlighting region‐specific limitations to sustainable soil management. Qualitative interviews were conducted to explore the importance of socio‐technical aspects of adoption. Using conservation agriculture as an example, factors that can hinder adoption included the availability of knowledge and adequate machinery, financial risks, and farming traditions. Through a modelling approach, 54% of arable land in Europe was found to be suitable for cover cropping, indicating that the adoption of soil management practices is frequently limited by climatic constraints. We propose a region‐specific approach that recognizes the importance of identifying and overcoming socio‐technical barriers, and by acknowledging bio‐physical limits that may be expanded by innovation.

Spraying with various types of agrochemical substances, including biostimulants, is one of the basic agricultural treatments affecting the yield size and quality. The selected type of spraying nozzles can influence biological effectiveness of the applied substances. A 2-year field study showed which of the investigated nozzles increase the effectiveness of foliar application of a free amino acid biostimulant. The type of nozzle used for the application of biostimulants was reported to significantly influence the biometric properties and yield of soybean cultivation. It was observed that spraying nozzles, which generate finer droplets positively influence positively the biometric properties of plants and seed yield of seed than injector nozzles, which produce coarser droplets. A significant reduction of the thousand seeds mass after applying the biostimulant with standard flat fan nozzles is an exception. A 25.61% increase in soybean yield was reported after applying the biostimulant with standard flat fan nozzles and a 11.35% increase – with injector nozzles..

Application of biostimulant in the form of a spraying requires appropriate selection of technical parameters. One of the key factors in ensuring that the liquid is sprayed correctly is the choice of suitable spray nozzles. This study investigated selected technical parameters of seaweed biostimulant spray applications as a factor for plant biometrics, crop quality and yield, and the economic viability of production. This objective was achieved by conducting a two-year field experiment involving spraying soybean plants with a biostimulant containing seaweed extract. The spraying was carried out with two types of nozzles (standard and air-injector), for which the droplet size and the degree of plant coverage were tested at 4.0 MPa. The surface tension of the spray liquid and the area and volume of the droplets were tested. The height of soybean plants, the height and the position of the first pod, the number of pods, seed yield, and the weight of 1000 seeds were measured. The physical properties of the liquid sprayed on the plants and the type of nozzles used were factors affecting the height of the first pods, plant height, and protein content. The application of biostimulants using standard nozzles is more economically advantageous compared to nozzles with an air-injector.

The study assesses the impact of the economic size of farms on the efficiency of their material and energy expenditure, based on 679 farms from the Lubelskie Voivodeship. The analysis was made for the years 2013-2015 and the farms were divided into six economic size classes. 5 indexes for the efficiency of material, energy and material-energy expenditures were calculated for all farms. The aim of the work was to select a group of farms with the highest efficiency of energy and material expenditure. It was found that economically small farms managed this expenditure most effectively, as evidenced by the highest values of 4 out of 5 analyzed indexes. Very small and medium-small farms demonstrated the highest efficiency of material expenditure. In contrast, energy expenditure was most efficiently used by medium-small farms. The farms that were the largest economically were characterized by the highest efficiency index of material and energy expenditure, calculated as the ratio of total production to the expenditure.