Abstract
Agroecology calls for a global approach, integrating scientific, practical, and advocacy dimensions, to redesign agricultural systems based on ecological and socio-cultural processes and emphasizing biodiversity. This review is grounded on the results of DIVERSIFOOD, a European H2020 multi-actor research project, and explores the concept of cultivated diversity using various dimensions relevant to foster sustainable organic food systems and agro-ecological transition. From the evaluation of underutilized genetic resources and forgotten crops, DIVERSIFOOD has proposed plant breeding strategies, on-farm experimentation, and statistical tools to create new populations, landraces, and organic cultivars with intra-varietal diversity. The added value of Community Seed Banks and forms of collective seed management in Europe have been described in terms of goals and activities, and their value for improving seed regulations, treaties, and genetic resources management is discussed. In the context of the current agro-food system characterized by standardization, DIVERSIFOOD raised awareness of qualities of ‘biodiverse food systems’ in which all actors have a role to play. It highlighted the critical capacity to preserve a diversity of cultural values embodied in ‘biodiverse products’, thereby involving consumers in collective strategies for reviving diversity, and empowering all actors of organic food systems to really and efficiently implement research within their farms and networks.
Highlights
Agroecology calls for an integrated and global approach of agricultural systems, embracing scientific, practical, and advocacy dimensions, aiming to redesign agricultural production systems based on their underlying ecological processes [1]
This paper aims to share the main results and key lessons from the DIVERSIFOOD project, covering complementary approaches connected with crop diversity for resilient sustainable food systems:
As in the official registration system for crop varieties, the Value for Cultivation and Use (VCU) of the candidates populations are assessed based on their yield averaged over a set of trials carried out under standardized conditions, the classical centralized breeding tends to have the objective of improving the overall genetic potential (G) of the breeding lines
Summary
Agroecology calls for an integrated and global approach of agricultural systems, embracing scientific, practical, and advocacy dimensions, aiming to redesign agricultural production systems based on their underlying ecological processes [1]. Transition steps as summarized by Gliessmann [4] include (i) increased input efficiency, (ii) substitution of industrial inputs with alternative inputs and practices, and (iii) redesign of the system based on a set of ecological processes These three steps, mostly focusing at a farming system scale, would ideally be integrated with two other steps aiming to (iv) re-establish connections between food users and producers and (v) a worldwide new food system instead of a linear value chain. Another concept has emerged in 2012 ‘the European Innovation Partnership for Agricultural productivity and Sustainability’ (EIP-AGRI) which has been launched to contribute to the European Union’s strategy ‘Europe 2020’ [12] To achieve this aim, the EIP-AGRI brings together innovation actors (farmers, advisors, researchers, businesses, Non Governmental Organizations) and helps to build bridges between research and practice: a multi-actor and transdisciplinary research was encouraged to cross-pollinate all forms of knowledge. DIVERSIFOOD, one of the first H2020 research projects, aimed to enlarge the circle of actors committed to increasing diversity in agriculture and active management of genetic resources in local contexts
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