Grasslands are important for agriculture. Permanent and temporary grasslands cover 61 million ha across the EU-28 representing 16% of the total land area and 40% of the European agricultural area. These EU grasslands serve multifunctional purposes ranging from provision of autochthonous fodder for animal husbandry (and hence food provision for citizens) to biodiversity, to the provision of traditional originated landscapes that European citizens appreciate for recreational purposes. Almost all acreage of grasslands in Europe is exclusively used as animal feed. Ruminant production is a major component of European agriculture at several levels. The production of dairy, beef and sheep is of major economic importance to many member states and the number of farms and farming families involved in ruminant production is large; about 4.5 million holdings hold grazing livestock in the EU-28
in 2013 (Eurostat). The large acreage of grasslands and the many environmental benefits (e.g. biodiversity, mitigation of climate change) that grasslands can provide are important reasons for requiring innovations in grasslands. This multi-functionality of grasslands often is not seen as advantageous by EU farmers; in fact, this multi-functionality is completely understated and not fully understood. In a time where market-driven concepts for ecosystem services rewards are not or not sufficiently developed or understood, the multi-functionality of grasslands often causes competitive claims. EU-grasslands are becoming more and more areas of conflicts between food demand and provision of other ecosystem services. Many EU farmers and farmers’ associations are struggling to seek solutions on how to increase the contribution of grasslands in terms of economic added value and at the same time stimulate rural development, ecological benefits and societal requirements such as healthy food production. Furthermore, grassland-based farming was in the last decades not seen as just as economically viable as many other sectors (e.g. arable production) in many European grassland areas, leading to a decrease in the total grassland area. This was associated to a restrained adoption of innovations in grasslands. Several reasons explain the low adoption of innovations in grasslands: i) grassland-based production systems are complex and therefore innovative systems must be implemented as a combination of innovative practices that show a dependency to local conditions, ii) benefits from innovation on grasslands are perceived with some time lag, iii) grassland innovation affects the various aspects of sustainability (profitability, environment, social acceptance) and often in a contradictory manner and above all iv) limited interaction between practice and research.
The overall objective of Inno4Grass is to close the gap between practice and science and to ensure implementation of innovative systems on productive grasslands to achieve profitability of European grassland farms and to preserve environmental values.
