A database of diversification impacts from European field experiments
The database, developped by the DiverIMPACTS project, records a wide range of expected impacts stemming from 10 diversification field experiments carried out throughout an array of diverse physical and socio-economic environments in Europe.
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Output Description
DiverIMPACTS project established a network of ten preexisting or planned field experiments located in six participating countries to assess and quantify the benefits of diversified cropping systems. The network is being used to:
- demonstrate field benefits of different strategies (rotation, intercropping and multiple cropping) with different species under a range of diverse soil and climatic conditions in Europe.
- test new temporal and spatial arrangements of species and management (low input practices including machinery) to better achieve expected benefits for farmers and value chain requirements.
DiverIMPACTS considers eight categories of Expected Impacts (EI) stemming from diversification and spanning from economic to environmental and climate change effects.
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EI1: Higher arable land productivity and land-equivalent ratio (LER) for intercropping systems.
EI2: Diversification and increased revenue for farmers through access to new markets and reduced economic risk.
EI3: Lower environmental impact of diversified cropping systems with reduced use of pesticides, chemical fertilisers, energy and water.
EI4: Improved delivery of ecosystem services, including biodiversity, soil fertility, pest and disease control, groundwater and surface water quality and carbon sequestration.
EI5: Organisation of resource-efficient downstream value chains with the involvement of relevant actors and decreased use of energy along the chains.
EI6: Market provision of food, feed and industrial products from harvested crops and residues/co-products to contribute to the sustainable development of the bioeconomy.
EI7: Increased awareness and knowledge/data exchanges among actors on the benefits of diversified cropping systems (covering different pedo-climatic conditions, using different crops) and downstream value chain organisation across Europe.
EI8: Increased crop diversification and biodiversity in Europe, an objective of the common agricultural policy.
The database of field experiments provides access to impact data and information concerning the multiple benefits of different diversification strategies (in time and space) at the cropping system level. A series of measurements are carried out following common protocols to allow for benchmarking. These measurements include yield (per ha and year, Land-Equivalent Ratio), use of resources (light, water, nutrients), input use (fertilisers, pesticides, energy, water), weed, pest and diseases pressure, soil fertility and biodiversity. For example, to assess the EI on land productivity (EI1), the year's criteria include yield, quality, aboveground biomass, LER, and variability. To assess the EI on the lower environmental impact of diversified cropping systems with reduced use of pesticides, chemical fertilisers, energy and water (EI3), the criteria include water use, pesticide use, energy use, N use, N fertiliser efficiency, N balance, risk of N leaching, and GHG emissions.
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Yield: Measured as t/ha/crop and t/ha/year and t/ha/diversification system.
Quality: The quality of the harvested products is measured through their % protein, % oil, and sanitary and organoleptic qualities for some vegetables.
Aboveground biomass: all living biomass above the soil, including stem, stump, branches, bark, seeds and foliage of harvested and not harvested products, including cover crops.
Land Equivalency Ratio (LER) is the ratio of land area needed under sole cropping to the area of intercropping at the same management level to obtain an equal amount of yield.
Variability: Variability captures the minimum and maximum yield during the rotation and number of crops with a yield lower than a pre-defined threshold.
Water use: Measures the volume of water as (crop, year, system).
Pesticide use: Measures the volume of active ingredients applied through pesticides as g/ha/crop, year, system, and the treatment and frequency.
Energy use: Estimates the energy produced by cover crops used for energy production (crop, year, system).
N use: Measures nitrogen use as (crop, year, system) from organic or inorganic fertilisers and N2.
N fertiliser efficiency: Measured as yield per water use, pesticide use, energy use, fertiliser use.
N balance: Estimated (crop, year, system).
Risk of N leaching: The nitrogen soil content estimates the risk of nitrogen leaching at the time of harvest.
GHG emissions: Estimated (crop, year, system).
Relevance for monitoring and evaluation of the CAP
Information on potential impacts of diversification. The database of field experiments offers evaluators information on the possible impacts of diversification and, where possible, quantifies the criteria of expected impacts which can be used for estimating various indicators. For example, the Expected Impact 3 on ‘the lower environmental impact of diversified cropping systems with reduced use of pesticides, chemical fertilisers, energy and water (EI3)’ quantifies the criterion ‘Risk of N leaching’, which is a measurement of the content of soil nitrogen at the time of harvest. The nitrogen content can be used to estimate the impact of a diversification strategy on the PMEF indicator I.15 on ‘Improving water quality’ by controlling the gross nutrient balance on agricultural land.
Relevant for estimating impact indicators. The database of expected impacts from field experiments can support an evaluation in different ways. First, suppose the field experiment is located at the Member State and region of the evaluation. In that case, the quantified impacts can be used directly in estimating the impact indicators. Second, some evaluation studies may not directly use the quantitative estimates of impacts because of different environmental conditions. For example, the exact quantity of nitrogen at the time of harvest found in an experiment may not accurately reflect the quantity of nitrogen in another area with different physical conditions. In this case, the evaluation can benefit from the database regarding which impacts and how to measure them.
Relevance of the output per CAP Objectives
- Specific Objective 1 - Ensure a fair income for farmers
- Specific Objective 2 - Increase competitiveness
- Specific Objective 3 - Improve farmers' position in the food chain
- Specific Objective 4 - Climate change action
- Specific Objective 5 - Environmental care
- Specific Objective 6 - Preserve landscape and biodiversity
- Specific Objective 7 - Support generational renewal
- Specific Objective 8 - Vibrant rural areas
- Specific Objective 9 - Protect food and health quality
Additional output information
Data collection systems used:
- Ad-hoc data collection
Type of output:
- New / improved data for M&E
- Database / data registry
Associated evaluation approaches:
- Desk research
- Impact evaluation analysis
- Impact evaluation ex post
Spatial scale:
- Parcel
- Farm holding
Project information
Diversification through Rotation, Intercropping, Multiple Cropping, Promoted with Actors and value-Chains towards Sustainability
To achieve the full potential of diversification of cropping systems for improved productivity, delivery of ecosystem services and resource-efficient and sustainable value chains by:
- assessing performances of crop diversification through rotation, intercropping and multiple cropping,
- providing rural actors with those key enablers and innovations that would remove existing barriers and ensure actual uptake of benefits of crop diversification at the farm, value chain and territory levels,
- making recommendations to policy-makers to facilitate the coordination of all relevant actors within the value chain.
Project’s timeframe: 2017 – 2022
Contacts of project holder:
- Andrea Ackermann, Johann Heinrich von Thünen Institute: Federal Research Institute for Rural Areas, Forestry and Fisheries (andrea.ackermann@thuenen.de)
- Dr Antoine Messéan, Institut national de recherche en agriculture, alimentation et environment INRAE, Avenue Lucien Brétignières, 78850 Thiverval-Grignon, France Phone +33 1 30 81 52 09 (antoine.messean@inrae.fr) www.inrae.fr
- Dr Didier Stilmant, Centre Wallon de Recherche Agronomiques CRA-W, Rue de Liroux 9, 5030 Gembloux, Belgium Phone: +32 61 23 10 13 (d.stilmant@cra.wallonie.be) www.cra.wallonie.be/fr
Website: DiverIMPACTS: https://www.diverimpacts.net/index.html
CORDIS database: https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/727482
Territorial coverage: Belgium, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Romania, Sweden, The Netherlands.