Research priorities for the diversification of cropping systems
A review of the research outcomes from nine EU-funded projects identifies barriers to its adoption and suggests 17 priorities to overcome current challenges and contribute to supporting an agroecological transition.
Presentation
Crop diversification can enhance agricultural productivity, ecosystem services and resilience in EU farming systems. A review of the research outcomes from nine EU-funded projects identifies barriers to its adoption and suggests 17 priorities to overcome current challenges and contribute to supporting an agroecological transition.
Crop diversification – the increase in space and time of in-field crop diversity – is recognised as a central strategy to improve productivity, delivery of ecosystem services (e.g., biodiversity conservation, water quality preservation, pesticide-free pest and disease control, improved soil quality, and climate change mitigation) and resilience of cropping systems. It has the potential to boost an effective agroecological transition of EU farming systems.
This research brief explores the status of crop diversification and the barriers and opportunities for further uptake, drawing on the indings from nine EU-funded projects since 2017. Key outcomes from the projects include the development of new knowledge, tools, and frameworks, such as typologies of innovation settings and diversification pathways. These typologies reveal that crop diversification can be applied in various contexts, ranging from short and long value chains to both organic and conventional farming.
The barriers to the widespread adoption of diversified cropping systems identified by the research projects are related to inputs, knowledge, support and advice, technical, economic, socio-cultural, and organizational aspects. These barriers are context-specific, interconnected, and occur at multiple levels simultaneously along the supply chains.
To overcome them, the research brief provides an R&I agenda with 17 priorities, advocating for a coordinated approach to accelerate the uptake of crop diversification in farming systems at the upstream, midstream and downstream of value chains – based on the policy briefs published by the selected research projects along with relevant deliverables, and advice from a Scientific Committee.
The recommendations include integrating these research priorities into the next Research Framework Program as well as enhancing the Common Agricultural Policy to better support crop diversification. Three identified key factors for crop diversification to contribute to a paradigm shift towards agroecology are multi-actor participation, strategic scales of action, and relevant size of farms and value chains.
The European Sustainable Agriculture Dialogue (ESAD) is a multi-stakeholder platform created in 2019 that brings together various actors from across society – including industry, civil society, universities, and research centres – to discuss key topics, exchange views and standpoints, and recommend research needs to achieve sustainable agriculture.
The brief was developed in consultation with ESAD members and the authors took their inputs into account in the drafting process. The paper does not reflect the views and opinions of single ESAD members. As such, their contribution is not to be interpreted as an endorsement of the final paper.
