|
Project Topic
|
Intensive agricultural production utilizes large amounts of chemical input such as nitrogen and pesticides that are applied to the crop or soil to secure high crop yields. Mismanagement of these inputs in combination with excessive irrigation poses high risks of water and soil pollution in the Mediterranean regions where the agri-food activities represent two of the most important economic sectors. Within these agri-food chains, tomato (Solanum Lycopersicon L) and olive (Olea europaea L.) represent tho most widespread species cultivated in the Mediterranean. The project aims to propose innovative farm management strategies able to prevent and reduce nitrate, pesticide environmental pollution and salinization related to agricultural practices, with an approach that will consider the management of the main chemical inputs involved in the agricultural production and their interaction with the irrigation management. The project will focus on two of the most widespread crops in the Mediterranean basin as tomato within vegetable crops (grown in open field and greenhouse conditions) and olive for fruit tree crops. The specific objectives are: 1) Improvement of N fertilization management with different N sources (organic and/or mineral fertilizers, green manuring, biostimulants), doses and crop N monitoring tools (optical sensors, quick tests) to increase crop N use efficiency while reducing N leaching; 2) Reduction of the use of pesticides (herbicides and copper to control plant diseases) to avoid or minimize the risk of water and soil pollution by chemical inputs; 3) Improvement of combined irrigation and salinity management strategies to reduce N leaching, pesticides movement with the soil water, and salinization of soil and water bodies; 4) Scaling of optimal N fertilizer, pesticide and irrigation management across the different soil-climate situations in Mediterranean countries using agro-ecosystem modeling; 5) Socio-economic evaluations to assess the cost and benefit of the innovative proposed management strategies. Field trials, pot/greenhouse experiments and on farm-fields will be set in different countries of the Mediterranean basin to achieve the objectives described above. The effects of the proposed agricultural strategies on the reduction of pollution in soil and water (soil solution and groundwater bodies) and salinization will be evaluated through a multidisciplinary approach thanks to the several experts involved in the partnership (agronomists, hydrologists, plant physiologists, plant pathologists, geoecologists, chemists, economists) that will work in seven different countries around the Mediterranean basin. The ambition of our project is to combine these approaches to offer an integrated panel of agricultural practices that will consider all these aspects (salinity, N leaching. pesticides) and that can be easily transferred to farmers. Moreover, the outputs from this proposal will be integrated with results from previous national and international research activities linked to this project and carried out in the same environments to improve the parameterisation of agroecosystem models and to better evaluate socio-economic effects. In such a way, these results may be extended to a wider environment or to future changed climatic conditions. Indices and/or ranges for soil and water chemical parameters will be carried out for stakeholder uses. The project will contribute to developing sustainable agricultural practices for food systems according to “Farm to fork” strategies. The proposed N management strategies will allow respecting the European Nitrate Directive. With the proposed agricultural technologies Safe-H2O-Farm aims to contribute to improved surface water quality (reduction in Biochemical Oxygen demand) and reduced nitrate leaching to groundwater. We also aim to contribute to SDG6.3, especially Indicator 6.3.2 and to SDG 6.4, Indicator 6.4.1. The expected results will reach TRLs ranging from 3 to 7.
|
