Mirror Groups are core instruments in the Mission Soil
DG AGRI official Luis Sanchez Alvarez presented the state of play, the tools and the road ahead at the Danish Mirror Group online kick-off meeting. Mirror groups and living labs were, in particular, a focus of attention.
Soil mirror groups are emerging all over Europe, and mirror groups or equivalent structures now exist or are in preparation in 19 Member States.
When the Danish Mission Soil Mirror Group held its kick-off meeting in March 2026, it did so with a notable guest. Luis Sanchez Alvarez, policy officer at the European Commission's Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development (DG AGRI) and a member of the Mission Soil Secretariat, joined online to give a first-hand account of how national mirror groups fit into the bigger picture.
His visit was a signal in itself. Mission Soil is not a programme that runs on autopilot from Brussels; it depends on national engagement, on researchers, farmers, policymakers and advisors who connect EU ambition to local reality.
A central part of Sanchez Alvarez's update was the Soil Monitoring and Resilience Directive, adopted in 2025 and commonly known as the Soil Monitoring Law. For Mission Soil, this is a significant development: it provides the legal framework for which the Mission has been building evidence, and it explicitly names mirror groups as tools for implementation.
Living labs work in tandem with mirror groups
Sanchez Alvarez was clear about the Mission's core operational instruments: living labs and mirror groups. The two are designed to work in tandem — living labs generate knowledge and test solutions in the field, while mirror groups ensure that this knowledge reaches all relevant stakeholders at the national level.
The target of 100 living labs by 2030 is on track and is expected to be exceeded. Currently, 45 are active across nine projects, covering more than 500 sites across all major biogeographical regions and land uses — agriculture, forestry, urban, industrial, and natural and semi-natural land. Investment to date stands at €107 million. A further 70 labs are planned through calls in 2025, 2026 and 2027, with a combined budget of €168 million.
The LILAS4SOILS project was cited as an example of the model working as intended: five living labs across six countries are testing carbon farming practices on real farms, supporting individual farmers with cascade grants of €5,000 per year over four years. An open call selects sites across regions and crop types. Other EU projects working on soil health may also apply for certification as an official Mission Soil Living Lab.
Mirror groups are national coordination bodies established by Member States to drive Mission objectives at the national level. They are designed to operate across sectors and policy areas with high-level political ownership, bringing together public administration, industry, academia and civil society.
As Sanchez Alvarez presented it, the network is expanding: mirror groups or equivalent structures now exist or are in preparation in 19 Member States. Six countries — Austria, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Slovakia and Spain — have formal mirror groups, while others operate national soil hubs. The Commission has committed €6 million under a 2025 coordination action specifically to strengthen these national structures.
National engagement turns ambition into results
Looking ahead, Sanchez Alvarez outlined the Work Programmes for 2026 and 2027, which open up substantial new funding. Topics include living labs for the Alpine and Atlantic biogeographical regions, agroforestry for soil health, soil resilience to extreme weather in a joint call with the Mission Adaptation to Climate Change, AI-based decision support for sustainable soil management, and a joint topic with the Mission Cancer concerning the monitoring of carcinogenic substances in soils.
Mirror groups are the mechanism through which this EU investment connects to national priorities. They can align national funding calls with Mission topics, facilitate knowledge exchange, identify success stories and advise on how EU soil policy intersects with national frameworks. The renewed Mission Soil Platform for 2026–2028 will support this work through a Knowledge Hub, thematic clusters and financial services.
The policy context is converging: the Soil Monitoring Law, the CAP 2028–2034, the Carbon Removal and Carbon Farming Regulation, and the Nature Restoration Regulation all point in the same direction. For Sanchez Alvarez, the message to the Danish mirror group was straightforward: the tools are in place, the funding is there, and national engagement is what turns EU ambition into results on the ground.