The novelty of HARVEST research is to identify sustainable managements that improve soil health, by looking to the impact of these managements on selected biological soil health indicators. Special attention was given to management that include growing mixtures of grasses and legumes (also called flower-strips). In the flower-strips, the flowers attract the natural predators of aboveground pests, decreasing the need of pesticides. However, so far it was not known the effect that flower-strips may have on soil biological processes in orchards. Investigating on an agricultural practice that simultaneously acts on above and below-ground natural processes to improve the quality of the farming system is key for leading agronomic research. This study proves that in productive systems, growing plant species mixtures improves soil health by increasing soil microbial, activity and widening the microbial catabolic profiles, as well as increasing abundance of saprotrophs.
The results form HARVEST have an impact in Danone Regenerative Agriculture strategy, that benefit from testing scientifically the effect of the applied management on soil health. This has an intrinsic value for the company since the results from HARVEST in orchards can be applied to other productive systems. Additionally, the soil scientific background of the fellow was very valuable to Danone to get expert advice on many running projects that tested sustainable agricultural practices in soil.
From the societal and environmental approach, HARVEST had a positive impact towards (1) contributing to solve global food crisis, and (2) contribute to improve adaptability of food production systems to climate change. These impacts align with the EU Agriculture and Green Deal goals.
1- To produce enough food for everyone it is necessary to transform agricultural systems towards a more sustainable management systems that simultaneously secure food quality and production, as well as respect natural resources. To achieve this transformation, it is necessary that all main actors of the food chain work together towards solving the global food crisis. The HARVEST consortium involved farmers and industry (Danone), the scientific community Wageningen University (Netherlands) and the Institute National de la Recherche Agronomique (France)This strong multi-stakeholder partnerships and the network established, can be beneficial for future and similar partnerships.
2 - Additionally, HARVEST also contributes to improve adaptability of food production systems to climate change. By applying management that enhance soil health, such as growing flower strips in the tree inter rows, and not ploughing the soil, several soil processes are activated, and as a result, there is more soil organic matter in the soil that provides better soil structure, better nutrient and carbon cycling, and higher carbon sequestration. All these traits are essential to improve adaptation as well as mitigation of climate change.
