Periodic Reporting for period 1 - IntercropValuES (Developing Intercropping for agrifood Value chains and Ecosystem Services delivery in Europe and Southern countries)
Reporting period: 2022-11-01 to 2024-04-30
Agriculture faces pressing challenges such as climate change, biodiversity loss, and the need for sustainable food production. Conventional agricultural practices often lead to soil degradation, increased pest pressures, and a dependency on chemical inputs. The IntercropVALUES project addresses these issues by promoting intercropping—a practice of growing multiple crops together, which can enhance biodiversity, improve soil health, and increase agricultural resilience.
Intercropping is a time-tested agricultural practice known for its potential to optimize resource use, reduce pests and diseases naturally, and boost yields sustainably, mostly efficiently in low-input systems. Despite its benefits, its adoption has been limited due to knowledge gaps and the lack of tailored management practices. IntercropVALUES seeks to bridge these gaps by:
1. Innovating Agri-Food Value Chains, by integrating intercropping into modern agri-food systems through 13 Co-Innovation Case Studies (CICS). These case studies explore diverse agricultural settings across Europe and beyond, showcasing how intercropping can be adapted to various local conditions and integrated into existing value chains.
2. Enhancing Understanding of Crop-Crop Interactions, by examining the interactions among different crops (genotype), their environment, and management practices, the project aims to identify optimal combinations that maximize productivity and ecosystem benefits.
3. Developing Management Tools, by creating new tools and strategies to manage intercropping systems effectively. This includes improving soil health, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and adapting agricultural machinery for intercropping.
4. Assessing Climate Resilience, by using simulation models to evaluate how intercropping systems can withstand climate variability and enhance resilience against pests and diseases.
5. Improving Grain Quality and Market Potential, by developing applied research on the nutritional and functional qualities of grains from intercrops helping to position these products in the food market, offering healthier and more sustainable options.
IntercropVALUES is designed to transform agricultural practices by embedding intercropping into mainstream farming and value chains. Its impacts are expected to be significant for the 3 pillars of sustainability: i) Environmental, by enhancing the biodiversity and ecosystem services, ii) Economic, by increasing profitability and resilience for farmers, and iii) Social, by Empowering local communities and greater adoption of sustainable practices and increasing the added-value of intercropping products.
This summary encapsulates the context, goals, and first achievements of IntercropVALUES after the first period of the project, highlighting its contributions to sustainable agriculture and policy development. For more information, please visit our public resources and communication channels.
Intercropping is a time-tested agricultural practice known for its potential to optimize resource use, reduce pests and diseases naturally, and boost yields sustainably, mostly efficiently in low-input systems. Despite its benefits, its adoption has been limited due to knowledge gaps and the lack of tailored management practices. IntercropVALUES seeks to bridge these gaps by:
1. Innovating Agri-Food Value Chains, by integrating intercropping into modern agri-food systems through 13 Co-Innovation Case Studies (CICS). These case studies explore diverse agricultural settings across Europe and beyond, showcasing how intercropping can be adapted to various local conditions and integrated into existing value chains.
2. Enhancing Understanding of Crop-Crop Interactions, by examining the interactions among different crops (genotype), their environment, and management practices, the project aims to identify optimal combinations that maximize productivity and ecosystem benefits.
3. Developing Management Tools, by creating new tools and strategies to manage intercropping systems effectively. This includes improving soil health, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and adapting agricultural machinery for intercropping.
4. Assessing Climate Resilience, by using simulation models to evaluate how intercropping systems can withstand climate variability and enhance resilience against pests and diseases.
5. Improving Grain Quality and Market Potential, by developing applied research on the nutritional and functional qualities of grains from intercrops helping to position these products in the food market, offering healthier and more sustainable options.
IntercropVALUES is designed to transform agricultural practices by embedding intercropping into mainstream farming and value chains. Its impacts are expected to be significant for the 3 pillars of sustainability: i) Environmental, by enhancing the biodiversity and ecosystem services, ii) Economic, by increasing profitability and resilience for farmers, and iii) Social, by Empowering local communities and greater adoption of sustainable practices and increasing the added-value of intercropping products.
This summary encapsulates the context, goals, and first achievements of IntercropVALUES after the first period of the project, highlighting its contributions to sustainable agriculture and policy development. For more information, please visit our public resources and communication channels.
The following technical and scientific progress were carried out during the first period of the project:
1. Innovative Agri-Food Value local Chains (WP1), with 2 major achievements: i) Established 13 Co-Innovation Case Studies (CICS) to explore intercropping across different agricultural contexts, ii) Engaged stakeholders to facilitate the integration of intercropping into existing farming practices.
2. Productivity and Ecosystem Services (WP2), with 2 types of achievements: i) Developed standardized protocols for field experiments, enabling comparative studies of intercrops versus sole crops for testing various hypotheses of performances; ii) Collected initial data on soil health and N2O emissions, for highlighting the potential environmental benefits of intercropping.
3. Intercropping Management (WP3), that was focused on the analysis of strategies for optimizing intercrop management, including the adaptation of current agricultural machinery to support intercropping systems.
4. Novel Modelling tools (WP4). Novel developments of models were achieved for simulating intercropping, and in particular the release of a novel version of the STICS soil-crop model, which simulates intercropping performance under different climatic and agronomic conditions, and a prototype of FSPM. Complementary works focused on weeds (Florys model) and diseases suppression (MILA coupled with STICS).
5. Grain Quality and Processing (WP5). In collaboration with WP2, the protocol to assess the post-harvest quality of grains from intercrops was defined, and in collaboration with WP1, products from interested CICS were selected to explore innovative food processing techniques.
6. Market Potential (WP6). The work identified numerous barriers to intercropping adoption and developed frameworks to evaluate economic viability, promoting the integration of intercropping into market strategies.
7. Communication and Dissemination (WP7). The activities were developed to both i) give visibility to the project (website, communication on social networks), and ii) disseminate knowledge about intercropping among the general population in science-society exchanges, through digital tools adapted to each group according to their knowledge, interest, language and usual media source (see https://intercropvalues.eu/(opens in new window)). The social media profiles were created for X, LinkedIn, Facebook, and YouTube. For YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/@IntercropVALUES(opens in new window)) the channel was merged with the previous channel from ReMIX H2020 project. IntercropVALUES has been announced in previous ReMIX social media communities for the remaining new channels. The project website includes a section in which the main practice-oriented results from the ReMIX project can be found, such as practice abstracts, guidelines, and policy briefs.
1. Innovative Agri-Food Value local Chains (WP1), with 2 major achievements: i) Established 13 Co-Innovation Case Studies (CICS) to explore intercropping across different agricultural contexts, ii) Engaged stakeholders to facilitate the integration of intercropping into existing farming practices.
2. Productivity and Ecosystem Services (WP2), with 2 types of achievements: i) Developed standardized protocols for field experiments, enabling comparative studies of intercrops versus sole crops for testing various hypotheses of performances; ii) Collected initial data on soil health and N2O emissions, for highlighting the potential environmental benefits of intercropping.
3. Intercropping Management (WP3), that was focused on the analysis of strategies for optimizing intercrop management, including the adaptation of current agricultural machinery to support intercropping systems.
4. Novel Modelling tools (WP4). Novel developments of models were achieved for simulating intercropping, and in particular the release of a novel version of the STICS soil-crop model, which simulates intercropping performance under different climatic and agronomic conditions, and a prototype of FSPM. Complementary works focused on weeds (Florys model) and diseases suppression (MILA coupled with STICS).
5. Grain Quality and Processing (WP5). In collaboration with WP2, the protocol to assess the post-harvest quality of grains from intercrops was defined, and in collaboration with WP1, products from interested CICS were selected to explore innovative food processing techniques.
6. Market Potential (WP6). The work identified numerous barriers to intercropping adoption and developed frameworks to evaluate economic viability, promoting the integration of intercropping into market strategies.
7. Communication and Dissemination (WP7). The activities were developed to both i) give visibility to the project (website, communication on social networks), and ii) disseminate knowledge about intercropping among the general population in science-society exchanges, through digital tools adapted to each group according to their knowledge, interest, language and usual media source (see https://intercropvalues.eu/(opens in new window)). The social media profiles were created for X, LinkedIn, Facebook, and YouTube. For YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/@IntercropVALUES(opens in new window)) the channel was merged with the previous channel from ReMIX H2020 project. IntercropVALUES has been announced in previous ReMIX social media communities for the remaining new channels. The project website includes a section in which the main practice-oriented results from the ReMIX project can be found, such as practice abstracts, guidelines, and policy briefs.
The main results after 18 months of the project are the following:
1. Advanced Modelling: development of novel simulation models that can predict intercropping performance under varying conditions, providing farmers with data-driven insights to enhance their practices.
2. Enhanced Intercrop Combinations: first identification of optimal crop combinations and management strategies that improve productivity and ecosystem services compared to traditional sole crops.
3. New Management Tools: first list of innovative tools and methods for intercropping, including machinery adaptations and soil health improvement techniques.
4. Demonstration activities in CICS: Field demonstrations to showcase the benefits of intercropping to a broader audience, encouraging widespread adoption.
5. Market Access and Commercialization: identification of strategies to integrate intercropping products into existing value chains and markets, supported by robust economic analysis.
1. Advanced Modelling: development of novel simulation models that can predict intercropping performance under varying conditions, providing farmers with data-driven insights to enhance their practices.
2. Enhanced Intercrop Combinations: first identification of optimal crop combinations and management strategies that improve productivity and ecosystem services compared to traditional sole crops.
3. New Management Tools: first list of innovative tools and methods for intercropping, including machinery adaptations and soil health improvement techniques.
4. Demonstration activities in CICS: Field demonstrations to showcase the benefits of intercropping to a broader audience, encouraging widespread adoption.
5. Market Access and Commercialization: identification of strategies to integrate intercropping products into existing value chains and markets, supported by robust economic analysis.