Improving agricultural diversity for sustainability and resilience
The EU Horizon2020 project, MIXED, was featured at the Landscape2021 conference 20-22. September 2021 - a conference that brought together scientists from across disciplines with key actors to explore whether and how diversity and diversification can contribute to a more sustainable and resilient agriculture.
22 Sep., scientists from MIXED and its sister-project AGROMIX chaired the session "Mixing crops, livestock and trees in farms and landscapes for people and planet" and presented the two projects. The session focused on how mixed and agroforestry systems can increase production efficiency, while decreasing input use, and minimizing negative environmental and social impacts, including greenhouse gas emissions.
Dr. Nicholas-Davis from Aberystwyth University, presented how participatory methods are used in MIXED to identify and address the challenges of mixed farming and agroforestry systems. She also described preliminary findings identified in collaboration with groups of farmers in 10 European countries. She concluded that:
"research to facilitate the shift towards mixed farming and agroforestry systems must be relevant and rewarding for farmers - and the best way to ensure that is through this type of collaborative, reflective learning process taking place in MIXED".