Achieving the full potential of diversification of cropping systems is the main overall goal of the new EU project DiverIMPACTS. CEMA is part of a stakeholder platform to evaluate the project and give advice. A first encounter of the experts took place on 4 June.
Traditional farm holdings in Europe used to be highly diversified, but during the last 50 years, there has been a trend towards specialisation and intensification, with the aim of increasing efficiency of the food production and the agri-food sector as a whole. This negatively impacted crop diversity.
The overall goal of the EU project DiverIMPACTS – Diversification through Rotation, Intercropping, Multiple Cropping, Promoted with Actors and value-Chains towards Sustainability – is to achieve the full potential of diversification of cropping systems for improved productivity, delivery of ecosystem services and resource efficient and sustainable value chains.
DiverIMPACTS will propose a range of technical and organisational innovations to remove the lock-in from farmers to consumers as well as strategies and recommendations to sustain crop diversification.
A dedicated work package will address the need for structural and strategic adaptations and changes of the agricultural knowledge and innovation system. Additionally, through a stakeholder platform they will closely collaborate with key actors from all relevant sectors. CEMA is present in the stakeholder platform, to provide its advice on enabling technologies.
An initial meeting of this platform took place on 4 June for a first brainstorming session. This will be repeated every year and the results from the project will serve as basis for discussion.