Project

Analyses of plant protection products and antibiotic residues in LUCAS soil samples

LUCAS is an EU-wide land cover and soil monitoring system that uses consistent methods for the collection and analysis of soil samples. The aim of the LUCAS topsoil component was to create a harmonised and comparable dataset of physical and chemical parameters of topsoil in the EU for supporting policymaking. In the 2019 Topsoil Survey, a number of pesticides and certain antibiotics have been included as target parameters for the first time in the LUCAS program. Pesticides and antibiotics will be determined in a selection of these samples (approximately 2,500 for pesticides and 700 for antibiotics) and 500 additional samples.

The main objectives of the project under are:

I) to provide high quality and representative data on the occurrence and concentrations  of a selection of pesticides and two antibiotics, in selected topsoil samples from the LUCAS topsoil collection, in a timely manner;

ii) to report the data in a prescribed format to facilitate assessment of the role these substances may play in soil quality.