Hats off for MIXED farming and Agroforestry!
Hats off for our fantastic MIXED consortium, with teams from 10 European countries and 14 networks of farmers, that for around the past five years have developed research and innovation of more Mixed Farming and Agroforestry Systems, documented in the MIXED-project.eu homepage.
Certainly, the many inspiring case studies, general research results and policy recommendations, show important new solutions for a more sustainable development of European farming systems, value chains and agricultural landscapes! And certainly, lots of new knowledge has been generated and spread across countries and borders, for use by future generations of farmers and researchers!
A classical example studied, is the Portuguese Montado System, combining pine, cork and wood production with livestock grazing and arable production. We visited the system, lifted our cork shaded hats for it in the group photo above, and tasted the unmatched local black-pig meat (as proofed by the below photo of the project advisory committee, served with the local products during the visit). Many challenges are faced, producing and marketing the multiple products from such mixed farming and agroforestry system, including pressures from climate change, and new European policies to be adopted. The MIXED-project.eu provides a suite of science-based solutions and recommendations proofed to address such challenges and opportunities, in relation to the many promising new developments in Mixed farming and Agroforestry; in organic as well as conventional food and farming systems.
For instance, the total of 37 practice abstracts, collected in the EU CAP network database, give examples of how our results have been implemented around Europe, together with the long list of reports and research publications collected.
During the project a close relationship and coordination was build up with the Agromix and Stargate sister projects, including common knowledge synthesis seminar presentations available, conference sessions and participation in mutual policy workshops etc. Recently, the MIXED project successfully hosted a policy workshop in Brussels, with subsequent sets of policy recommendations published, for use regionally and nationally, and of course for the new EU Commission, and the development of future agro-environmental policies and EU CAP revisions.
We are proud that our networks of farmers have inspired one another, for example with the visit of French farmers to Scotland, bringing home new ideas for combined grazing and growing of winter cereals, or with cross-country and institutional exchange visits from PhD students and young researchers, promoting ideas for innovation, and the education of new generations of researchers. For the Project Steering Committee, and the whole consortium, it has certainly been rewarding to develop the important agenda around MIXED Farming and Agroforestry, including input to new research programs such as the EU Agroecology Partnership and Horizon Europe, thereby creating footprints for a sustainable development of future European agriculture and food systems. Thank you for a fantastic team spirit and a happy project period.
