Legume-cereal intercropping for sustainable agriculture across Europe
Abstract
As conventional cropping systems face deterioration of soil quality, loss of biodiversity, and declining ecosystem services, there is an urgent need to change practices to more sustainable yet productive systems. Intercropping enhances biodiversity, maximizes land productivity, and optimizes biogeochemical cycles in agroecosystems, but is lacking acceptance from European farmers. Legumebased intercropping takes advantage of biological diversity and synergistic effects between companion plants while reducing external inputs. A major objective of LEGUMINOSE is to identify the obstacles to intercropping and enhance farmers’ acceptance by providing knowledge and demonstrations that promote economic, environmental, and social benefits of legume-cereal intercropping. LEGUMINOSE will assess intercropping potential by focusing on pesticide reduction, plant-microbe mediated element cycling, soil health improvement, and crop quality and health. To overcome barriers to intercropping implementation, we will establish a network of six field trials and farm labs (20 farms in each country; 180 on farm trials) in different pedo-climatic zones across Europe (IT, DE, DR, ES, PL, CZ, UK), Egypt, and Pakistan. Furthermore, we will integrate remote sensing and crop modelling to survey fields, upscale the field-scale results, and create a web-based decision support system on intercropping. In collaboration with various stakeholders, legume-intercropping systems' economical, ecological, and social gains will be assessed and disseminated with international outreach from farm-level to policymakers. We will recognize and involve the whole value chain to explore and test innovative marketing strategies for the products of intercropping. LEGUMINOSE will contribute to the ecological intensification of European agriculture by providing science-based, farmer-led, and economically viable transformations for legume-based intercropping systems.
Legumes Cereals Intercropping Crop modelling Biodiversity
Publikationen
Project staff
Ahmad M. Manschadi
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ahmad M. Manschadi
manschadi@boku.ac.at
Tel: +43 1 47654-95112
BOKU Project Leader
01.11.2022 - 31.10.2026
Ishan Bipin Ajmera
Dr. Ishan Bipin Ajmera
ishan.ajmera@boku.ac.at
Project Staff
24.03.2023 - 31.10.2026
Leonardo Amaral Monteiro
Dr. Leonardo Amaral Monteiro
leonardo.amaral-monteiro@boku.ac.at
Tel: +43 1 47654-95120
Project Staff
22.02.2024 - 31.10.2026
BOKU partners
External partners
Ain Shams University Cairo
none
partner
IFAU APS
none
partner
Agritec Plant Research s.r.o.
none
partner
FARM EUROPE AISBL
none
partner
CONFEDERAZIONE ITALIANA AGRICOLTORI TOSCANA
none
partner
Government College University Faisalabad
none
partner
AGENCIA ESTATAL CONSEJO SUPERIOR DE INVESTIGACIONES CIENTIFICAS
none
partner
THE UNIVERSITY OF READING
none
partner
INSTYTUT AGROFIZYKI POLSKIEJ AKADEMII NAUK
none
partner
GOTTFRIED WILHELM LEIBNIZ UNIVERSITAET HANNOVER
none
partner
DEUTSCHE SAATVEREDELUNG AG
none
partner
UNION DE PEQUENOS AGRICULTORES Y GANADEROS
none
partner
THE SOIL ASSOCIATION LIMITED
none
partner
Technische Universität Wien
none
partner
UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI FIRENZE
Shamina Imran Pathan
coordinator
AARHUS UNIVERSITET
none
partner