Grójec Living Lab

1,268 km²

Total area

~100 000

Population

Apple Orchards

Permanent Crops

Józef Chojnicki jozef_chojnicki@sggw.edu.pl
Living Lab Leader

The Territory

The Grójec Living Lab is located in central Poland, in a region widely known as Europe’s largest orchard. This area has built its reputation on apple production, supported by favourable soils, climate conditions, and a long-standing farming tradition.

The landscape, shaped by glacial processes, combines clay and sandy soils with river terraces and gentle plains, creating ideal conditions for fruit cultivation. This heritage was formally recognised with the Protected Geographical Indication status awarded to Grójec apples, highlighting their unique quality.

Today, apple production is the backbone of the local economy, making soil health a critical factor in sustaining both productivity and regional identity.

The Crop

Apple orchards are at the core of the Grójec region’s agricultural system. Their productivity, quality, and long-term viability depend directly on soil health.

Apple Orchards

Apple orchards in the Grójec region are predominantly intensive, using dwarfing rootstocks that maximise yield per hectare but also place high demands on soil fertility and management. Most orchards rely on mineral fertilisers, pesticide applications, and managed orchard floor system, practices that, over many decades of continuous apple monoculture, have created significant soil health challenges that the Living Lab is now working to address.

Main Challenges

Decades of intensive apple monoculture have created a set of compounding soil health challenges that threaten the long-term productivity and ecological balance of the Grójec region’s orchards.

Nutrient Imbalance

Continuous apple monoculture, combined with heavy reliance on mineral fertilisers, has progressively disrupted nutrient cycling in Grójec’s orchard soils. Over time, this leads to imbalances in macro and micronutrient availability – reducing tree vigour, fruit quality, and the natural capacity of the soil to support healthy plant growth. Restoring balanced nutrient dynamics through more sustainable fertilisation strategies is one of the Living Lab’s central objectives.

Soil and Crop Contamination

Intensive apple production requires frequent pesticide applications to manage a wide range of pests and diseases. Repeated use of these products over many years has led to the accumulation of pesticide residues in orchard soils, with potential consequences for soil organisms, water quality, and the safety of the agricultural produce itself. Reducing chemical inputs while maintaining effective crop protection is a key challenge for the sector.

Decreasing Soil Organic Matter Content and Quality

Long-term monoculture, intensive soil management, and limited organic matter inputs have resulted in a progressive decline in soil organic matter across the region’s apple orchards. Lower organic matter reduces the soil’s ability to retain water and nutrients, weakens its physical structure, and undermines the biological communities that support healthy root systems and natural nutrient cycling. Rebuilding organic matter levels is foundational to improving all other dimensions of soil health in this Living Lab.

Soil Microbiome

The combination of pesticide accumulation, declining organic matter, and continuous monoculture has significantly reduced soil microbial diversity and activity in many Grójec orchards. A healthy and diverse soil microbiome is essential for nutrient cycling, disease suppression, and overall soil resilience – making the restoration of microbial communities a priority for the long-term sustainability of apple production in the region.

A Partnership Rooted in the Orchard

The Grójec Living Lab is built on a partnership connecting leading agricultural research institutions, fruit grower organisations, cooperatives, and industry actors. It combines scientific expertise with deep practical knowledge of the apple sector.

Research leadership is provided by the Warsaw University of Life Sciences (WULS), with active involvement from fruit growers, advisors, and companies that together represent the full value chain of apple production in the Grójec region. The GOA cooperative plays a central role in ensuring that the practices tested in the Living Lab are relevant, transferable, and adopted at scale.

This co-creation model ensures that sustainable soil management solutions developed within LivingSoiLL respond directly to the real challenges faced by apple growers in the region, and that the knowledge generated reaches those best placed to act on it.

Open Call Beneficiaries

The Grójec Living Lab has welcomed new partners through the LivingSoiLL 2025 Open Call, strengthening its network with additional expertise and on-the-ground presence in the apple sector. The following organisations joined the Living Lab as beneficiaries, contributing to three approved projects:

Grojecki Soil Lab

Beneficiaries: