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Project Topic
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Agricultural crops are currently managed with unsustainable practices that cause the loss of biodiversity. In particular, pest management in the Mediterranean region still largely relies on chemical pesticides that negatively affect beneficial insects such as natural enemies (predators and parasitoids) and pollinators, disturb beneficial microbial communities in the soil, threatening stability of agroecosystems, food security and human health. The negative impacts of unsustainable crop management are likely to be aggravated by the effects of climate change. ECOBOOST with identify, develop, validate, and promote novel agroecological practices that boost functional biodiversity and maximize ecosystem services in solanaceous crops, while minimizing negative environmental impacts of agriculture and preserving farmers’ income. This goal will be achieved following a holistic approach that will provide Mediterranean farmers the knowledge and tools needed to implement agroecological practices and promote biodiversity at different levels: a) aboveground, with the use of wild flowering plants in non-managed habitats to restore biodiversity of beneficial insects; b) belowground, with the use biostimulants for seed coating and soil inoculation with selected key microbes to enhance soil biodiversity and promote soil and crop health; c) at crop biodiversity level with the exploitation of germplasm of solanaceous crops, by screening local varieties/breeds which are not only better adapted to Mediterranean conditions but also possess early defences against pests, thus further decreasing the need for pesticide applications. To reach ECOBOOST objectives, we will first identify, with a combination of laboratory and small experimental assays, the most promising wild Mediterranean plants, microbial stimulants and local varieties of solanaceous crops. Then pilot demonstration trials, targeting directly end-users (farmers, SMEs), will validate the effect of the previously identified candidates as tools to improve the resilience of small-scale Mediterranean farms. We will use a multi-actor approach where stakeholders, farmers and end-users will provide guidance to co-design the proposed agroecological practices and foster farmer-researcher interactions. In addition, ECOBOOST will increase public awareness of the nature of the proposed practices and carry out environmental and socio-economic analyses to assess the impact of their implementation in agriculture and the determinants of the acceptance by end-users. Gender will be specifically considered as a key factor in such analyses. It is expected that implementation of the proposed agroecological practices will increase the stability of agroecosystems and therefore, reduce the costs that farmers incur to control pests thus contributing to increase farmers’ income and to the zero-pollution ambition in the Mediterranean countries. Our consortium includes 10 partners from Italy, Greece, Germany, Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia and Turkey whereas farmers associations, SMEs and NGOs have expressed their support to the project. ECOBOOST will generate new knowledge on how to manage complex interactions that occur in Mediterranean agroecosystems among trophic levels (microbe-crop-pest-beneficial organisms) and develop novel sustainable tools and practices that exploit natural biodiversity to maximize ecosystem services.
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