Target groups: The microbiome of cereal plays an important role in plant fitness of cereal plants, resilience to disease and crop productivity. Therefore, the presented information can be useful to farmers, food producers and consumers.

Main results/outcomes and practical implementation

Our research compared the microbiome composition of spring wheat in monocropping versus intercropping with red clover. The results indicate that intercropping positively altered the wheat microbiome, increasing the presence of bacteria belonging to the Bacillus genus. Some of these bacteria species are nitrogen-fixing bacteria, which enhance soil fertility, reduce the need for the nitrogen fertiliser, enhance plant health and contribute to more resilient and productive crops.

Benefits and impact

Intercropping spring wheat with red clover enhances microbial diversity and fosters beneficial plant-microbe interactions. More broadly, our findings show that intercropping not only supports a healthier and more diverse spring wheat microbiome but also improves soil health and overall crop productivity. 

Challenges and solutions

Our results underscore the importance of crop diversification as a sustainable farming practice. However, scaling up intercropping poses challenges, such as adapting current farming practices and equipment to manage diverse crops simultaneously. 

Team and contact

Magdalena Frąc, Dominika Siegieda, Jacek Panek

m.frac@ipan.lublin.pl; https://www.ipan.lublin.pl/; https://www.leguminose.eu/ 

Target groups: The target group of this project are farmers focused on arable and livestock farming, considering that all farmers can benefit from intercropping in some capacity. 

Main results/outcomes and practical implementation

Although intercropping is already practised in Poland, its adoption remains limited. Common intercrop mixtures in Poland involve cereals such as oats, barley, wheat and sometimes maize, paired with legumes such as peas, lupins, faba beans and sometimes soybeans. 

Benefits and impact

Intercropping offers numerous environmental and socioeconomic benefits for farmers. These include lowering the need for mineral nitrogen fertilisers, reducing the carbon footprint of farming, mitigating soil degradation, increasing biodiversity, and improving water use efficiency. By adopting intercropping, farmers can reduce dependency on fertilisers, leading to lower production costs.

Challenges and solutions

Adopting intercropping often presents challenges, such as the need to modify agricultural equipment, finding a market for mixed grain yields, or separating crops post-harvest. Potential solutions include developing new markets for mixed cereal, such as for novel food products, or planning the intercropping system to allow for separate harvesting of the two crops.

Team and contact

Magdalena Frąc, Michał Pylak, Karolina Oszust

m.frac@ipan.lublin.pl; https://www.ipan.lublin.pl/; https://www.leguminose.eu

Target groups: Soil microbiome research and intercropping practices are relevant to modern agriculture development and raising awareness among farmers and food producers about benefits of these approaches in sustainability context. 

Main results/outcomes and practical implementation

Our research on soil microorganisms in legume-cereal intercropping systems focused on enzymatic activity, functional diversity and the genetic and taxonomic composition of soil microbial communities. Our findings show that intercropping enhances soil microbial biodiversity, which is crucial for maintaining plant health.

Benefits and impact

The soil microbiome plays a key role in plant health and soil productivity. A diverse microbial community in the soil improves the availability and transfer of soil nutrients to plants, promotes plant growth, protects against pathogens and supports soil fertility. Intercropping increases the diversity of microbial communities and enhances plant defense systems against phytopathogens. 

Challenges and solutions

Legume-cereal intercropping has positive effects on the soil microbiome. It promotes biodiversity, helps suppress harmful pathogens and promotes overall soil health. Maintaining a healthy and diverse soil microbiome is essential for improving agricultural production, protecting the environment, and enhancing ecosystem services. 

Team and contact

Magdalena Frąc, Agata Gryta, Mateusz Mącik, Priyal Sisodia

m.frac@ipan.lublin.pl; https://www.ipan.lublin.pl/; https://www.leguminose.eu/ 

Target groups

Farmers growing summer cereals in very simple crop rotation systems who are thinking about the possibilities of how they could increase the diversity in the systems. 

Main results/outcomes and practical implementation

In large trials conducted in the Czech Republic (2023–2024), adding field peas to wheat or barley helped improve crop health. The intercrops suppressed cereal aphid populations more effectively than monocrops. This was due to the increased natural pest control by beneficial insects such as parasitic wasps and predators like hoverflies. 

Intercropping also reduced the damage caused by pests like cereal weevils, gout flies, frit flies, and wheat bulb flies. This effect likely occurred because cereal-pea intercrops were less attractive to pest insects for laying eggs, and because of higher predation of pest eggs by beneficial insects.

Additionally, intercrops slowed the spread of diseases like net blotch, leaf spot, and rusts. However, there was no significant difference in weed suppression between intercrops and monocrops.

Benefits and impact

Intercropping with field peas led to fewer pesticide applications during the growing season, thanks to the natural support of beneficial organisms. Thus, intercropping can help farmers adapt to the reduced availability of synthetic pesticides, which are increasingly banned.

Challenges and solutions

The key challenge is finding the best intercrop combinations to enhance resilience against pests and diseases. Tailored intercropping systems are essential for improving crop protection.

Team and contact 

Marek Seidenglanz, Petra Hanáková, Ram Kumar, Lukáš Blažek

seidenglanz@agritec.cz; www.agritec.cz

Target groups: Cooperatives, Value-Chain Actors and Farmers 

Main results/outcomes and practical implementation:

Intercropping of cereals and grain legumes offers a number of benefits, such as enhanced nitrogen use efficiency, lower inputs of agrochemicals and yields stability. However, a major obstacle to implementing intercropping is the lack of established markets for mixed grain products. To address this issue, we conducted a stakeholder workshop in Denmark to identify barriers and generate solutions to open market access for mixed grain products. On-farm solutions are needed to manage uneven maturity and drying of mixed grain. Pre-harvest cutting and drying could be a solution for uneven maturation of intercrops and for obtaining sufficiently dry grains. The mixed grains can be separated, but another option is to analyze the quality of the mixed product and use it directly for food or feed. 

Practical recommendations: 

Target groups: Farmers and advisors in Central Europe

Main results/outcomes and practical implementation

Intercropping has long been successfully practised in organic farming, resulting in some well-established combinations such as pea/barley, pea/triticale and faba bean/wheat.

We tested intercropping of winter faba bean/winter wheat and winter pea/triticale as winter crops, along with a spring mixture of white lupine and alternate wheat. In all cases, the crops were simultaneously sown.

The intercropping of winter faba bean (Augusta, NPZ) and winter wheat (Champion, DSV) at  application rates of 12.5 and 125 seeds/m², respectively, proved to be highly successful. There is also potential to increase the application rate of the winter faba bean to 20 - 23 seeds/m² for even better results. 

Benefits and impact

When selecting the optimal intercropping partners, several factors need to be considered in advance. The most important factor is simultaneous ripening. To achieve this, consider the ripening time of the legume and adjust the choice of cereal accordingly. Additionally, determine whether the crops can be sown at the same time or if a second pass is necessary. 

Challenges and solutions 

Despite the overall success, we encountered certain challenges. The winter pea failed to produce a harvest due to its sensitivity to excessive soil moisture. In the white lupine and alternate wheat combination, the wheat matured slightly earlier than the lupine.. Further testing is needed to optimise these intercropping strategies, particularly in terms of effective weed control.  

Team and contact

Andre Gohlke (DSV), Norman Gentsch (LUH)

andre.gohlke@dsv-saaten.de , www.leguminose.eu 

Target groups

Farmers, seed suppliers, agricultural consultants, and researchers 

Main results/outcomes and practical implementation

In Egypt, 20 on-farm living labs tested legume-cereal intercropping in the Nile River Valley and New Valley. Legumes such as faba beans, beans, and peas were grown with cereals such as wheat and barley. We found that local farming conditions are central for determining the best crop combination for successful intercropping. In general, intercropping is a promising farming practise for improving sustainability in Egyptian agriculture.

Benefits and impact

In the Nile River Valley, strip intercropping methods were used in 70% of the cases. There, intercropping faba beans with wheat increased total yields by 25% compared to monocropping. The land equivalent ratio (LER) of 1.2 indicated enhanced efficiency in resource utilization. 

Conversely, in the harsher, arid conditions of the New Valley, alternate row intercropping was the preferred practice. Here, faba beans and barley improved water use efficiency by 20% and reduced soil salinity by 10% - key advantages for farming in arid environments.    

Our results showed strategic adaptation of intercropping to local conditions. Although less common in Egypt, organic systems improved soil health and decreased reliance on chemical inputs.

Challenges and solutions

Intercropping in Egypt's diverse agroecosystems is highly adaptable and beneficial. However, its success depends on carefully choosing the right crop combinations and management practices for each region. Our findings highlight the need for continued research and farmer education to improve intercropping methods, boosting food security and agricultural sustainability in Egypt. 

Team and contact 

Shamina Imran Pathan (UNIFI) – shamina.pathan@unifi.it

Giacomo Pietramellara (UNIFI) – giacomo.pietramellara@unifi.it 

Ahmed Sharaf  (UNIFI) - ahmedsharaf.hassan@unifi.it 

Ahmed H. El-Naggar (Ecologica) - aen@ecologica.ae

Main results/outcomes and practical implementation

Wheat-legume intercropping is a sustainable agricultural practice that promotes resource use efficiency, enhances soil fertility, optimises crop yields, and stabilises soil health. As a step towards advancing agricultural research and innovation in semi-arid regions, we have established 18 legume-cereal intercropping living labs across Pakistan under the LEGUMINOSE project. We successfully collected grain yield and total biomass data from 14 of these living labs; the remaining four living labs faced significant challenges that led to crop failure. 

Benefits

Overall, our results indicate that intercropping wheat with legumes leads to more stable yields compared to growing wheat alone. In most cases, the intercropped legumes enriched the soil, which in turn benefited the wheat crops. Moreover, the rooting patterns of the two crops allowed for more efficient use of soil moisture, which is crucial in semiarid regions. 

Intercropping not only increased productivity but could also improve soil fertility, as the diverse plant species efficiently complemented each other’s nutrient needs. Farmers also benefited from increased profitability by cultivating appropriate varieties simultaneously.

Challenges

Most farmers in Pakistan have limited experience with intercropping. Sowing methods and the lack of available farm-machinery are major challenges for local farmers. Additionally, managing weeds and pests in intercropped fields can be complex and challenging, which may lead to reduced crop yields. Irrigation problems, such as uneven water distribution and poor scheduling, may further impact crop productivity.

Team and contact 

Muhammad Riaz*, Maryam Adil, Hashir Najeed 

*Email: muhammad.riaz@gcuf.edu.pk; website: www.gcuf.edu.pk 

Target groups: DIPs reflect local challenges and opportunities for taking up innovations in agri-food value chains. Agricultural advisors, farmers, businesses and researchers are the most relevant but not exclusive target groups. 

Main results/outcomes and practical implementation

A Dynamic Innovation Partnership (DIP) offers a forum to exchange views on technical requirements, market challenges, and gaps in value chains linked to legume-cereal intercropping. DIPs could be a solution to support the uptake of a new product, practice or process by actors across the agri-food value chain.

Each DIP focuses on one specific innovation and its corresponding value chain. For example, in the case of a new grain cleaning process, a DIP could include technology providers, farmers, agribusinesses, quality control entities, and researchers. 

To initiate a DIP, you need a facilitator. This could be a motivated farmer, an advisor, a business or a researcher. Connect with enthusiastic farmers and value chain stakeholders who are  interested in the specific innovation. Organise regular meetings to explore end-user needs and necessary adjustments to the innovation, for example a new grain cleaning process.

Benefits and impact

DIPs foster communication across various sectors including research, innovation, practice and business. This collaborative approach helps with widespread adoption and enhances the overall success of the innovation within the value chain.

Challenges and solutions

The primary challenge is initiating the DIP. Personal networks and an understanding of local business needs are vital for this process. Create a small group of 2-3 key stakeholders, then expand by connecting with more actors to form a robust partnership that can promote the uptake of the specific innovation.

Team and contact 

Karen Hamann - IFAU Institute for Food Studies & Agri Industrial Development; www.ifau.dk; Karen@ifau.dk 

Target groups: Farmers and feed mills

Main results/outcomes and practical implementation

Intercropping produces a mixture of grain legumes and cereals. One perceived barrier is the need to separate crops for sale. For livestock feed, protein is the desired ingredient and legumes supply that protein. An unseparated crop could provide a protein content of between 15-18% Crude Protein, which is too wide a range for feed mills.

To assess accurate protein values and determine financial value for the farmer, buyers can screen incoming loads by sieving to assess legume and cereal ratios. Feed mills can then use intercrops either by adding protein (a ration needing 10% peas could be made up of 2% peas from the intercropped mix, and 8% supplemented peas) or by using a 'high protein blend' (an intercrop containing 25% beans and 75% wheat would have a calculated protein of 17% and so could be added as a 17% product).

Benefits and impact

Putting a value on intercropped products ensures the farmer and the buyer are able to negotiate value and demonstrate a direct financial benefit.

Challenges and solutions

Animal feed mills want a consistent product in order to produce a consistent product to sell, although there are tolerances on feed analysis. They also often have limited storage capacity on site to handle a potentially diverse product.  A simple analysis of incoming intercropping products can be carried out and on site blending of commodities can increase consistency.

Contact

Jerry Alford - Soil Association, jalford@soilassociation.org

Target groups: Decision makers in Agriculture, Policy makers, Agricultural Consultants, Farmers, Researchers

Main results/outcomes and practical implementation

The LEGUMINOSE project is developing a web-based tool to help users find the optimal crop combination for intercropping, i.e. simultaneous cultivation of two or more crops in the same field. The tool is accessible via browser at: https://leguminose.farming.software

Users can select or draw a field and choose a combination of cereal and legume crops. The tool provides the soil and meteorological data for the selected field and within seconds calculates and displays the most effective intercropping mixture based on specific conductions, such as the sowing date or fertiliser use. The tool simulates daily crop growth and resource demand, including plant dry mass production, phenological development, leaf area development, light use, dynamics of soil water, carbon, and nitrogen (N), etc. 

Ultimately, the tool helps users explore alternatives to their current cropping plan, enabling informed decisions about switching to an intercropping system. The tool's user-friendly interface enables users to assess whether any European field is suitable for intercropping with a few mouse clicks.

Benefits and impact

The entire intercropping community benefits from a tool for exchanging information and practices of intercropping throughout Europe, overcoming language barriers.

Farming advisors can better assist clients in identifying suitable intercropping techniques, while interested farmers can use the tool themselves to evaluate different strategies. Policy makers benefit from being able to simulate the effects of increasing climate variability and biodiversity.

Challenges (and solutions)

Intercropping can provide a number of advantages, if applied in the right way. But what are the optimal crop combinations for local soil and weather conditions, fertiliser use, and management practices? Our web-based tool supports users by modelling various scenarios and suggesting the optimal crop combinations adapted to the user’s location and management practice. The results are presented in an easy-to-apply format.

Target groups: Farmers, Agricultural Consultants, Researchers

Main results/outcomes and practical implementation

Sowing time is critical for successful intercropping. 

The LEGUMINOSE project is testing different combinations of cereal and legume species in over 165 field trials across nine countries (seven European and two non-European). This research helps develop practical guidelines to make intercropping not only better for biodiversity and soil health but also more profitable for farmers.

Benefits and impact

Legume-cereal intercropping harnesses the benefits of nitrogen-fixing species, such as legumes, and crops that utilise the fixed nitrogen, like cereals.

Success of intercropping depends on carefully planning the optimal sowing time. For instance, winter-sown cereals develop more slowly at first compared to legumes, but during tillering and stem elongation, they may overshadow low-growing legumes like lentils or grass peas. Therefore, it is advisable to consider spring sowing or using shorter cereal varieties when intercropping with these species.

To maximize nitrogen benefits from legumes, it is essential to align the peak nitrogen release during the legume's vegetative phase with the grain-filling stage of the cereals, as this is when the cereals have the highest nitrogen demand.

Challenges and solutions

We have identified three main sowing strategies for intercropping:

Target groups: Farmers.

Main results/outcomes and practical implementation
Does legume-cereal intercropping improve soil conditions? To address this, we are conducting soil analyses within the LEGUMINOSE project on the fields of participating farmers across various countries. Our goal is to develop a  catalogue of practical recommendations for implementing intercropping. We are in an initial phase and there are currently no concrete results.

Benefits and impact

Integrating legumes in crop rotations is incentivised by agricultural policies, but combining leguminous crops with cereals remains challenging. We aim to gather valuable information on how intercropping can improve biodiversity, soil structure and fertility, organic matter content, disease control, the relationship between plants and soil, etc. This information could help achieve economic sustainability with reduced input costs.

Challenges and solutions

Currently, there are many technical barriers to cultivating a cereal and a legume in dry Mediterranean climates, particularly when aiming to harvest two grain crops. These challenges include problems with planting, weed control and harvest organisation, as well as a lack of interest in the agrifood sector. During the project, we will explore possible solutions to these challenges.

Conventional farming produces high yields but often leads to environmental issues, like nitrate leaching, where soluble nitrogen (N) contaminates water. Intercropping, especially cereal-legume mixtures, offers a sustainable alternative that reduces nitrate leaching.

In October 2023, wheat and faba bean were planted as monocrops and intercrops at the University of Reading. Intercrops were sown in alternate rows at 50% of the monocrop density. In March 2024, N fertiliser was applied – 180 kg N/ha for wheat monocrop and 90 kg N/ha for intercrops and faba bean monocrop – together with unfertilised plots of intercrops and monocrops. 

Soil water nitrate levels were monitored all season across all plots. Before fertilisation, all crop combinations showed similar nitrate concentrations in soil water. However, from March to June, intercrops demonstrated reduced nitrate concentrations compared to monocrops in fertilised plots, suggesting more efficient nitrogen use and lower risk of nitrate leaching..

Practical recommendations: