LIFT

Low-Input Farming and Territories - Integrating knowledge for improving ecosystem-based farming

Abstract

Ecological approaches to farming practices are gaining interest across Europe. As this interest grows there is a pressing need to assess the potential contributions these practices may make, the contexts in which they function and their attractiveness to farmers as potential adopters. In particular, ecological agriculture must be assessed against the aim of promoting the improved performance and sustainability of farms, rural environment, rural societies and economies, together. The overall goal of LIFT is to identify the potentiel benefits of the adoption of ecological farming in the European Union (EU) and to understand how socio-economic and policy factors impact the adoption, performance and sustainability of ecological farming at various scales, from the level of the single farm to that of a territory. To meet this goal, LIFT will assess the determinants of adoption of ecological approaches, and evaluate the performance and overall sustainability of these approaches in comparison to more conventional agriculture across a range of farm systems and geographic scales. LIFT will also develop new private arrangements and policy instruments that could improve the adoption and subsequent performance and sustainability of the rural nexus. For this, LIFT will suggest an innovative framework for multi-scale sustainability assessment aimed at identifying critical paths toward the adoption of ecological approaches to enhance public goods and ecosystem services delivery. This will be achieved through the integration of transdisciplinary scientific knowledge and stakeholder expertise to co-develop innovative decision-support tools. The project will inform and support EU priorities relating to agriculture and the environment in order to promote the performance and sustainability of the combined rural system. At least 30 case studies will be performed in order to reflect the enormous variety in the socio-economic and bio-physical conditions for agriculture across the EU.

Project details

Unibo Team Leader: Davide Viaggi

Unibo involved Department/s:
Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Agro-Alimentari
Dipartimento di Scienze Statistiche "Paolo Fortunati"

Coordinator:
Inra Cnrgv(France)

Other Participants:
Sveriges Lantbruks Universitet -Slu- (Sweden)
MAGYAR TUDOMANYOS AKADEMIA KOZGAZDASAG- ES REGIONALIS TUDOMANYI KUTATOKOZPONT-Hungarian Academy of Economics Regional Research Centre (Hungary)
ALMA MATER STUDIORUM - Università di Bologna (Italy)
Instytut Rozwoju Wsi I Rolnictwa Polskiej Akademii Nauk-Institute For The Development Of Rural Areas And Agriculture Of The Polish Academy Of Sciences (Poland)
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Belgium)
Teagasc (Ireland)
University Of Kent (United Kingdom)
EUROPEAN COMMISSION - JOINT RESEARCH CENTRE Directorate F-Health, Consumers and Reference Materials (Belgium)
Ecozept Gbr (Germany)
Hellinikos Georgikos Organismos-Dimitra-Hellenic Agricultural Organization-Demeter (Greece)
Inra Transfert Sa (France)
Sruc (United Kingdom)
Universität für Bodenkultur Wien (Austria)
Institute Of Agricultural Economics -Iea (Romania)
Institut D Enseignement Superieur Et De Recherche En Alimentation Sante Animale Sciences Agronomiques Etde L Environnement Vetagro Sup (France)
Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn (Germany)

Total Eu Contribution: Euro (EUR) 5.000.000,00
Project Duration in months: 48
Start Date: 01/05/2018
End Date: 30/04/2022

Cordis webpage

Zero hunger This project contributes to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals of the UN 2030 Agenda.

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 770747 This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 770747