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Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - DIVERSify (Designing InnoVative plant teams for Ecosystem Resilience and agricultural Sustainability)

Teaser

Summary

A 60% increase in agricultural production is needed by 2050 to feed the growing global human population. The rapid increases in crop yields achieved post-1950 through crop breeding advances and farming inputs are now starting to plateau. At the same time, there is pressure on farmers to produce food sustainably with fewer chemicals due to decreased availability of effective pesticides and to minimise environmental damage. This poses a significant challenge for maximising productivity and reducing losses, creating an urgent need to increase the efficiency and sustainability of agriculture in Europe and globally. There is no single solution to this challenge. Crop scientists must devise novel cropping systems for farmers to increase efficiency and reduce pollution, breeders need new knowledge and tools to develop crop varieties suitable for novel ways of cropping, and agronomists need knowledge of how to manage these cropping systems. Recently, scientists have acknowledged that agricultural systems could learn from ecology: natural habitats with high levels of biodiversity often show increased productivity and are less prone to environmental stresses such as drought or pest and disease outbreaks. Ecological principles could be used to understand the plant characteristics and biological mechanisms that lead to increased productivity in biodiverse systems and apply this knowledge to optimise the performance of multi-species cropping systems or â€˜plant teamsâ€™.

Societal benefits of plant team cropping will result if crop production and the supply of harvested products for food, feed and fuel is stabilised. Plant teams offer a promising solution to stagnating crop yields and fluctuations in crop yields between each growing season, particularly under a changing climate. By working with international partners, DIVERSify will identify plant teams that are resilient to climatic conditions anticipated under future scenarios for parts of Europe and worldwide. By developing and testing plant teams that can be grown with limited pesticide use, society will also see benefits from minimising pesticide residues in the environment and harvested products, whether for animal or human consumption, reducing the potential for effects on human health by residue accumulation through the food chain. With plant teams that are less dependent on chemicals for pest and disease control, DIVERSify will help farmers address a significant challenge facing agriculture: how to sustain and increase production if changes in legislation lead to withdrawal from sale of pesticides and fungicides. DIVERSify aims to promote more widespread growing of plant teams containing legume crops, increasing the availability of an enriched source of plant protein that can contribute to healthy diets.
The overarching goal of DIVERSify is to provide a novel system for sustainable crop production by developing arable and grassland \'plant teams\' with improved productivity, pest and disease control and environmental benefits. The six objectives are: 1) identify current best practice for plant teams; 2) determine the mechanisms promoting positive crop-crop and crop-environment interactions; 3) devise improved plant teams and identify potential breeding targets for crops used in plant teams; 4) work with farmers to test plant teams and their management; 5) construct a decision aid for plant team selection and agronomy; and 6) work with stakeholders for participatory knowledge exchange.

Work performed

Existing expertise on plant team cropping has been collated through participatory engagement with farming practitioners at 15 national stakeholder meetings in 11 partner-countries. This information has been used to extend the range of plant teams tested in experimental trials, including novel crop combinations, and identify the main barriers to growing plant teams. Plot-scale field experiments have been conducted in nine partner-countries across two growing seasons to identify crop varieties that perform best in cereal-legume and species-rich grassland plant teams and the variety characteristics that might contribute to better performance. The best-performing plant teams identified in results from the first growing season or from previous knowledge have been grown in the second season in large scale trials at six partner farm sites distributed across Europe. In parallel, plant team combinations of interest to farmers were grown in 26 different participatory trials in farmers\' fields in the UK, Sweden, Denmark, Austria, Switzerland and Italy. These trials are providing a better understanding of the practicalities of sowing, harvesting and managing plant teams. A database has been created for storing project datasets, which will be made open-access and searchable. A project website and social media have been created and used to communicate project activities to scientists, organisations in the agricultural supply chain, policy advisors and the wider public. In tandem, a first set of EIP-AGRI practice abstracts has been produced based on outcomes of the national stakeholder meetings and field experimentation. Partners have demonstrated project activities and discussed their findings with stakeholders at agricultural, scientific and public events, and via their local and national media. Partners and stakeholders have participated in filming for project mini-documentaries for dissemination and transfer of knowledge arising from the project. DIVERSify is working with five other Horizon 2020 projects to collaborate on project activities, share information and maximise the overall impact of the projects on uptake of different crop diversification strategies in Europe.

Final results

The DIVERSify project is a response to real-world farming challenges and is designed to create a step-change in European agriculture by:
â€¢ Championing the multi-actor approach by bringing together researchers and stakeholders, including plant breeding and seed supply companies, farmer networks and agricultural advisors, ecologists, modellers, crop scientists and technology SMEs specialising in data management and communication;
â€¢ Innovating in partnership with stakeholders to accelerate progress in plant team cropping by co-designing practical tools and technical guides and identifying ways to overcome the practical and economic challenges faced in adopting plant teams in European farming;
â€¢ Conducting participatory research with farmers to identify the plant teams in arable and grassland systems where research is most needed to rapidly improve performance;
â€¢ Working across multiple geographic areas and pedo-climatic zones, making use of knowledge from countries that already experience climatic conditions predicted for many parts of Europe, and proactively anticipating and contributing to the future-proofing of European agricultural production;
â€¢ Devising novel user-friendly tools for research into, and practical use of, plant teams, including a novel minimalist mathematical model that pushes the boundaries of what can be achieved using contemporary modelling and an innovative decision aid using advanced data management technology;
â€¢ Building farming capacity to grow plant teams and providing evidence-based support to EU policy to encourage uptake of plant teams and enhance the environmental resilience of European agriculture.