INTERNATIONAL PROJECTS

HORIZON EUROPE

InterCropValues

Developing Intercropping for agrifood Value chains and Ecosystem Services delivery in Europe and Southern countries - IntercropVALUES

About the Project

Intercropping is an agroecological practice recognized as a way to increase the sustainability of crop production. The number of farmers applying intercropping—namely, growing two or more crops simultaneously on the same plot—is steadily growing. This approach is considered sustainable, environmentally friendly, and potentially economically viable. However, its application is not without challenges. Bringing together researchers, farmers, and food value chain actors from 14 countries across three continents, as well as various organizations and stakeholders, the project will implement 13 case studies based on co-innovating intercropping systems that can be managed in a way that ensures productivity and profitability along the entire agri-food chain.

Objectives

IntercropVALUES aims to create productive, diverse, sustainable, profitable, and agroecologically friendly cropping systems applicable to farmers and participants in the agri-food chain. The goal is to develop locally adapted and innovative agri-food value chains. Through 15 meta-experiments, the aim is also to understand the functioning and interaction in intercropping to maximize productivity and the delivery of ecosystem services, understand the efficiency of intercropping through modeling (simulation studies providing new information), then acquire new knowledge about the quality of grain obtained from cereal-legume intercropping compared to those from sole cropping, and uncover key bottlenecks and levers at the value chain level to encourage the transition towards increased intercropping application in agricultural production. Project results will be used to improve methods and tools for managing intercropping systems, thereby contributing to their broader and more efficient application in sustainable agriculture.

Watch the project video

Consortium

The project is led by CIRAD, a French agricultural research and international cooperation organization working on the sustainable development of tropical and Mediterranean regions. The project consists of 27 partners from 15 countries, namely: France, Germany, Austria, Belgium, China, Denmark, Spain, Greece, Italy, Mozambique, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Serbia, Switzerland, and Sweden.