Practice Abstract - Research and innovation

Common visions for mixed farming and agroforestry systems in Europe – but different pathways to get there

To develop an understanding of the current state of mixed farming in Europe a participatory back casting approach was implemented in the MIXED project to identify possible transition pathways to future sustainable mixed farming systems. “Back casting” sets targets at a future date based on expert judgment, best available technologies, and other factors, with technical pathways subsequently developed for achieving those targets by working backwards in time towards the present. It is a problem-solving approach which enables stakeholders to set priorities, rank solutions and identify steps that need to be taken (and when) to reach desired outcomes.
The back casting workshops were conducted in all 10 countries participating in the MIXED project. In total 13 workshops took place in the UK (Scotland), Austria, France (2), Germany (2), Denmark (2), Portugal, Poland, Switzerland, Romania, and The Netherlands.
The following six broad themes of challenges were identified from the workshop outputs: 
• Technical issues 
• Knowledge and skills
• Farm business
• Supply chain
• Policy
• Cultural challenges
Each of these individual challenges is further divided into sub-categories. The full report and overview of categories can be found here:
https://projects.au.dk/fileadmin/projects/mixed/MIXED_D1.1.pdf 
Outputs from the back casting workshops are extremely important for not only providing context for the development of mixed farming and agroforestry in Europe but they also provide alternative future pathways and scenarios for testing in the various activities in MIXED.

Source Project
MIXED - Multi-actor and transdisciplinary development of efficient and resilient MIXED farming and agroforestry systems
Ongoing | 2020-2025
Main funding source
Horizon 2020 (EU Research and Innovation Programme)
Geographical location
Denmark
Project details

Project Keywords