The Centre for Agricultural Research (ATK), the largest agricultural research complex in Hungary, carries out basic and applied research and development in the field of agricultural sciences, participates in the dissemination of professional and scientific knowledge, and works in cooperation with organisations involved in agriculture, the foodindustry, rural development, environment protection and sustainable development, at both national and international levels.

Soils represent a considerable part of the natural resources of Hungary. Consequently, their rational utilization, conservation and the maintenance of their multipurpose functionality have particular significance for both the national economy and environment protection. ATK focuses among others also on research on the consequences of climate change for processes involved in the soil, water, material and energy cycles and the quality of surface waters, on relationship between crop yield, soil hydraulic properties and environmental factors.

ATK has 4 Institutes. The Institute for Soil Sciences (TAKI) has a role in the i-SoMPE project. It has around 80 employees, where about half of them are scientists. It has multidisciplinary research, focusing on

• studies on the effects of land-use changes, various land-use systems and climate change on processes involved in the soil, water, material and energy cycles and on the quality of surface waters, including modelling at the field and watershed levels using various spatial and time scales,

• research on the role of interactions between microorganisms, higher plants and the soil in soil processes, plant nutrition and soil remediation, and the characterization of the ecological status of the environment,

• mathematical modelling of the water and nutrient cycles and the biological processes taking place in the soil–plant–atmosphere system,

• use of digital soil mapping and spatial modelling tools to study soil processes and soil functions over time and space in order to characterise and prevent soil degradation processes, or to moderate their damaging effects.

The ATK cooperates with other research institutes in Hungary, and maintains contacts both with scientific institutions in other countries and with international scientific societies or bodies such as Global Soil Partnership (GSP), Sino-European Panel on Land and Soil (SEPLS), International Soil Modelling Consortium (ISMC), International Union of Soil Sciences (IUSS), European Soil Partnership (ESP).

• Centre for Agricultural Research (ATK) - http://www.atk.hu/en
• Institute for Soil Sciences (TAKI) - https://www.mta-taki.hu/en