Periodic Reporting for period 2 - AGROMIX (AGROforestry and MIXed farming systems - Participatory research to drive the transition to a resilient and efficient land use in Europe)
Período documentado: 2022-05-01 hasta 2023-10-31
Agriculture and land use in Europe are at a crossroads: agriculture is a leading cause of climate change and land degradation, creating some of the greatest challenges of our time. Farming practices that follow agroecological principles with more agroforestry and mixed farming offer an opportunity for transforming landscapes. They must become a larger part of the solution and contribute to food systems that are truly sustainable, fair and resilient to climate impacts and within the planetary boundaries.
To lead this change, the 7 million Euro, 4-year, Horizon 2020 RIA (Research and Innovation Action) AGROMIX brings together long-term replicated agroforestry trial sites, farmers, advisors, researchers, policymakers and consumers to explore agroecological solutions to preserve existing agroforestry and mixed farming systems in Europe and equally foster new agroforestry innovations and supply chain products. The project integrates environmental, socio-economic and policy aspects of agroforestry and mixed farming systems; it aims to fill knowledge gaps about trees and mixing diverse enterprises support participatory co-design and implementation of these systems with the objectives: 1) To unlock the full potential of synergies in mixed farming and agroforestry; 2) To develop and promote value chains and infrastructure for these systems; 3) To develop a toolkit and a co-design approach for these systems; 4) To identify and model key transition scenarios and trade-offs in climate-smart land use systems, value chains and infrastructure to inform policy options; 5) To develop policy recommendations and action plans for a successful transition; and 6) To maximise the impact and legacy of the project for building low-carbon climate-resilient societies.
To unlock the full potential of agroforestry with mixed farming it is important to learn from the very few long-term (at least 20 years) sites existing in Europe. Nine of them, a large proportion of the total, are in the AGROMIX project, they can contribute largely to the robust long-term, replicated research insights needed for evidence based policy making and on-farm decision making.
To lead this change, the 7 million Euro, 4-year, Horizon 2020 RIA (Research and Innovation Action) AGROMIX brings together long-term replicated agroforestry trial sites, farmers, advisors, researchers, policymakers and consumers to explore agroecological solutions to preserve existing agroforestry and mixed farming systems in Europe and equally foster new agroforestry innovations and supply chain products. The project integrates environmental, socio-economic and policy aspects of agroforestry and mixed farming systems; it aims to fill knowledge gaps about trees and mixing diverse enterprises support participatory co-design and implementation of these systems with the objectives: 1) To unlock the full potential of synergies in mixed farming and agroforestry; 2) To develop and promote value chains and infrastructure for these systems; 3) To develop a toolkit and a co-design approach for these systems; 4) To identify and model key transition scenarios and trade-offs in climate-smart land use systems, value chains and infrastructure to inform policy options; 5) To develop policy recommendations and action plans for a successful transition; and 6) To maximise the impact and legacy of the project for building low-carbon climate-resilient societies.
To unlock the full potential of agroforestry with mixed farming it is important to learn from the very few long-term (at least 20 years) sites existing in Europe. Nine of them, a large proportion of the total, are in the AGROMIX project, they can contribute largely to the robust long-term, replicated research insights needed for evidence based policy making and on-farm decision making.
We created a conceptual framework of resilience in the context of mixed farming and agroforestry systems, identified their benefits and developed a methodology to identify resilience. We reviewed the extent of these systems in Europe and how these areas will be affected by climate change. We created a GIS database to model upscaling of these systems. The estimated total surface area of these systems in the EU is 7.7% of utilised agricultural area. Silvopastoral land use is dominant, while agroforestry systems with permanent crops are relatively scarce. Results also indicate a higher versatility of land uses in Southern Europe. Further details also including small woody features are forthcoming for publication.
We developed a participative design approach for sustainable and resilient systems and organised workshops with farmers. We also created of a detailed catalogue comprising of currently 78 case studies in 12 countries across Europe, where information can be accessed in a user-friendly manner.
Our field trials have measured and collected data on key indicators of performance, carbon balance, and biodiversity. All field sites have replicated trials and ongoing multi-year trials to ensure scientific rigour possible. We improved models to estimate performance and design novel approaches to predict resilience of complex systems, with climate datasets scenarios until 2100 being integrated in the models.
We carried out a multi-criteria assessment training with farmers, including analysis and selection of indicators for sustainability and resilience decision trees. It produced a handbook for participatory GIS mapping and carried out work to support the development of an online app.
We developed a conceptual framework that applies to these farming systems and analysed their socio-economic performance, which highlighted the differences between them in terms of typologies and economic variables. Agroforestry is not currently integrated in universally accepted accountancy databases, which suggests that economic databases need to be adjusted to better understand changes due to the integration of diverse type of activities. We also assessed value chain networks to identify successful value chains, obstacles, enabling factors and opportunities for development; and analyse infrastructure.
We carried out an inventory of current policy contexts, instruments, and operational means to support of mixed farming and agroforestry systems and have now published 2 peer-reviewed papers on policy. Further work is on 14 co-design policy workshops which were conducted in 2023, feeding into the AGROMIX policy summit in Brussels 17 April 2024. Our analysis confirms that policies are very heterogeneous, and that agroforestry –and even less mixed farming– is not always explicitly included or specifically supported. We make recommendations how to change this.
We have worked to ensure continuous interaction and communication with all relevant stakeholders and the wider public with dissemination of results to maximise impact. We engaged with other research projects and organised events on key issues around the topic of resilience. We created 12 Knowledge Exchange Hubs to share relevant information on studies, projects, events, key stakeholders in different languages.
We developed a participative design approach for sustainable and resilient systems and organised workshops with farmers. We also created of a detailed catalogue comprising of currently 78 case studies in 12 countries across Europe, where information can be accessed in a user-friendly manner.
Our field trials have measured and collected data on key indicators of performance, carbon balance, and biodiversity. All field sites have replicated trials and ongoing multi-year trials to ensure scientific rigour possible. We improved models to estimate performance and design novel approaches to predict resilience of complex systems, with climate datasets scenarios until 2100 being integrated in the models.
We carried out a multi-criteria assessment training with farmers, including analysis and selection of indicators for sustainability and resilience decision trees. It produced a handbook for participatory GIS mapping and carried out work to support the development of an online app.
We developed a conceptual framework that applies to these farming systems and analysed their socio-economic performance, which highlighted the differences between them in terms of typologies and economic variables. Agroforestry is not currently integrated in universally accepted accountancy databases, which suggests that economic databases need to be adjusted to better understand changes due to the integration of diverse type of activities. We also assessed value chain networks to identify successful value chains, obstacles, enabling factors and opportunities for development; and analyse infrastructure.
We carried out an inventory of current policy contexts, instruments, and operational means to support of mixed farming and agroforestry systems and have now published 2 peer-reviewed papers on policy. Further work is on 14 co-design policy workshops which were conducted in 2023, feeding into the AGROMIX policy summit in Brussels 17 April 2024. Our analysis confirms that policies are very heterogeneous, and that agroforestry –and even less mixed farming– is not always explicitly included or specifically supported. We make recommendations how to change this.
We have worked to ensure continuous interaction and communication with all relevant stakeholders and the wider public with dissemination of results to maximise impact. We engaged with other research projects and organised events on key issues around the topic of resilience. We created 12 Knowledge Exchange Hubs to share relevant information on studies, projects, events, key stakeholders in different languages.
Progress beyond the state of the art includes a resilience framework for mixed farming and agroforestry systems, the selection of indicators for the evaluation of these systems’ resilience, and the creation of a GIS database to integrate in modelling scenarios for land uses. These results are complemented by the creation of a catalogue of existing sites with available quantitative and qualitative data,. The participative design methodology was implemented in 6 different systems and locations, complemented by sustainability and resilience assessments and the handbook for participatory GIS mapping. 14 co-design policy workshops were conducted across Europe and a large stakeholder conference with policy representation was held in Belgrade, Serbia, linked to EU accession and landscape transformation.
Further results completed by the end of the project include: completion of data collection analysis and statistics from the field trials; development of a novel methodology to model resilience; completion of modelled scenarios, including climate and economic data; agentbased landuse modelling; completion of co-design activities on all 12 locations; how value chains and networks need to adapt; agroforestry innovation management and the EU agroforestry policy summit with recommendations for future policy, in cooperation with sister projects.
Further results completed by the end of the project include: completion of data collection analysis and statistics from the field trials; development of a novel methodology to model resilience; completion of modelled scenarios, including climate and economic data; agentbased landuse modelling; completion of co-design activities on all 12 locations; how value chains and networks need to adapt; agroforestry innovation management and the EU agroforestry policy summit with recommendations for future policy, in cooperation with sister projects.