SUSTEMICROP - Development of eco-sustainable systemic technologies and strategies in key Mediterranean crops systems, contributing to small farming socio-economic resilience.

In the past decades, the Mediterranean region has experienced unsustainable agricultural practices, low productivity, biodiversity loss and climate change that altogether represent an enormous challenge for small farming systems. The European Green Deal, launched by the EC, has been designed to deal with climate and environmental-related challenges, in an attempt to build a sustainable response. Among several topics, agricultural activities have been addressed. This includes measures (included in the European Farm to Fork Strategy) linked with the use of Plant Protection Products (PPP) and fertilizers of synthetic origin, given their negative effect on air and water pollution, soil degradation, food safety, and human health. However, the accomplishment of all the established measures has become a challenge especially for small farmers, with lesser economic resources and limited training skills. There is an urgent need to address some of these threats effectively and achieve sustainable agroecological practices to improve small farmers’ resilience and adaptation to climate change. SUSTEMICROP focuses on three crops (grapevine, hops, and date palm), due to their social and economic relevance in the Mediterranean region, their total surface occupied, but also due to the main challenges facing these crops, which may well be treated with the same technological methodology, promoting scientific trans-disciplinarity. The chemical pesticides used in crop protection to reduce the damage caused by pathogens and pests in agricultural fields, pose many long-term threats and risks to living beings due to their harmful side effects. Productivity and economic sustainability of many herbaceous and woody crops are increasingly seriously threatened by soil-borne fungal pathogens (such as those causing Fusarium Canker, Verticillium Wilt and Young Grapevine Decline-YGD). These pathogens develop most of their life cycle in soils and infect plants through their root systems. The fact that these fungi initiate infection and damage underground implies that early symptoms are not easily noticeable, and therefore, both crop yield and plant survival are frequently severely compromised by the time the infection is diagnosed, to such an extent that there are currently no effective natural treatments on the market. YGD is a destructive complex disease present worldwide, caused by different fungi and for which there is currently no cure. Among the most threatening soilborne pathogens are fungi of the genera of Verticillium, Fusarium and Dactylonectria genera, posing a great economic and environmental threat in the Mediterranean area. An additional problem with the crops mentioned above is that they generate a large amount of residues. In the case of hops fields, the only marketable part is the flower, so the rest of the plant is discarded, mainly burned, with a tremendous impact on the carbon footprint. A similar situation occurs in vineyards and date palms fields. Other important fungal pathologies affecting both hops and grapevines are Downy-Powdery Mildew, and Botrytis and Alternaria infections which can cause very severe losses. Their management commonly involves the use of repeated treatments with chemical pesticides, as there are no highly efficient natural solutions available. However, the current towards drastic reduction of conventional pesticides in crops, and their substitution by environmentally friendly methods, urges consideration of the possibility of developing disease control solutions based on: i) essential oils from aromatic plants extracts, these being an economically important crop for several Mediterranean countries and a source of potential AF substances and ii) molecules produced by the secondary metabolism of certain bacteria (priming molecules), that can interact in the plant-pathogen system, acquiring an AF role against phytopathogenic fungi causing fungal diseases in plants. On the other hand, and particularly for grapevines, the project will analyse the resilience and adaptation of new and existing varieties to climatic change adverse effects (Drought, elevated temperature, salinity and CO2 concentration). Features such as the stability and concentration of tartaric and malic acids, a low pH, the concentration of anthocyanins and sugar in berries are known to be negatively affected by rising temperatures. The production of quality wine and table grapes will soon be extremely problematic in the Mediterranean areas if it continues to be based exclusively on the current classical varieties. The project’s approach will also address the reduction of pesticides by using varieties that are more resistant to predominant diseases and the salinity problems. The adoption of new technologies and agriculture digitalization are also priority objectives for the EC and many other Mediterranean countries. In this sense, it is key to equip farmers with easy-to-use digital tools that allow an evaluation of their practices and their impact on their business, but also their impact on environmental and human levels, and better decision-making.

To respond to the challenges identified SUSTEMICROP proposes to: - Design and validate (at least) 16 innovative systemic solutions to address key pests, pathogens, and adaptation to climate change from 10 different Technological Case of Studies in 3 Mediterranean crops, by valorising, selecting, optimizing, and testing different natural resources, products and strategies. - Design a Sustainable Innovation Framework (SIF) to evaluate SUSTEMICROP practices and innovations applied in the key Mediterranean crops and context, with aggregated indicators (economic - social - environmental). - Design new crop management strategies for 3 different crops, to be used in current Integrated Crop management (ICM) or Integrated Pest Management (IPM) systems, by using the innovative systemic solutions obtained in SUSTEMICROP and evaluate its replicability, utility and usability in Mediterranean crops. - Understand the factors influencing adoption of innovative systemic solutions by smallholders, aligned with new legislations, the Sustainable Development Goals, and the Farm to Fork strategy. - Maximize the outreach and the beneficial influence of the project results, reach the target users, and other interested stakeholders (farmers, food manufacturers, retailers, local public authorities), through an effectively established communication, dissemination and exploitation plan.

SUSTEMICROP methodological approach is organized in 5 main phases. In the first phase (WP1) an analysis to define the project baseline will be carried out, allowing to update on the scientific advances and solutions emerging in market or other R&D projects to address the target crop pathologies as well as any advances at regulation level. This action will generate the SUSTEMICROP Technological, Regulatory and Stakeholders database (TRSd) creating engagement and synergies with interested entities. Additionally, a Sustainable Innovation Framework (SIF) will be designed to set a group of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to assess the impact at an economic, social and environmental level from the project products. The SIF will set all data that the Technological Cases of Study (TCS) needed to monitor and evaluate the current farmers’ performance. In the second phase, the project proposes the valorisation of natural resources from Mediterranean crops (crops residues, essential oils, soils microbiome, bacterial metabolism, resistant varieties), their selection, purification and optimization, and the evaluation of their effect in controlled laboratory, or small-scale field conditions, against key pathogens and diseases in the target crops. Additionally, the leaders of each TCS, will collect the information defined in the SIF (WP1), for the evaluation of the current practises versus novel proposed solutions. This second phase is structured in 3 work packages. WP2 aims to valorise crop residues through their composting. The obtained compost will be enriched with BCAs, and Plant Growth Promoting Rhizobacteria (PGPR), previously selected in order to formulate BF to combat key soil-borne fungal pathogens and/or increase crop productivity. WP3 will formulate new biopesticides against diseases based on essential oils (natural extracts from aromatic plants) and bacterial priming molecules (from Rhizobium and others). Essential oils and/or extracts from different aromatic plants will be investigated for their use to substitute synthetic pesticides to control plant diseases, without significantly affecting crop yields. WP4 will screen, monitor and test fungal disease resistant crop varieties that are more resilient and adapted to climatic change conditions in the Mediterranean context. More specifically, partners will evaluate several grapevine genotypes, for their ability to produce and maintain fruit and wine quality under environmental conditions matching the predicted by Global Climate Change models. In addition, varieties known to resist against downy and powdery mildew will be tested under different climate conditions, and new genotypes from early stage of selection will be tested in different CO2 conditions. The experimental trials and works proposed in WP2, WP3, and WP4, are organized in 10 TCS. To develop such TCS, some interested stakeholder have already been identified and engaged. The third project phase (WP5) is focused on the environmental, social and economic sustainability assessment (indicators set in WP1) of target crops and agroecological innovations from WP2, WP3, WP4 and also WP6. The focus will be on the assessment aimed at reducing chemical inputs, non-renewable resources, carbon footprint, biodiversity generation, use of crop waste, provision of ecosystem services, farmers’ income and human health, among others. This phase will generate results to be used and analysed in the next phase for small farmer assessment. The fourth phase (WP6) aims to evaluate and improve the SUSTEMICROP solutions and outputs acceptance by key users and stakeholders of the value chains from agricultural producers to the manufacturers. For that purpose, and within WP6 the TRSd defined in WP1 will serve as a multi-sectorial and multi-actor assistance network, to identify key aspects and current available agroecological solutions. Several local “Pilot field trials' ' will be deployed from the beginning of the project in three countries (Morocco, Spain and France) using commercial agroecological innovations (when possible, SUSTEMICROP products), and evaluating their performance and farmer capacity. Next action will focus on the sustainability assessment of the agro innovative solutions tested and the farmer´s acceptance or willingness to pay with qualitative measures and practises (surveys, Choice experiments, interviews, etc.). Practical information will be the basis to set the real “in field” situation for policy-making bodies, and, especially, establishing positive roadmaps to help adoption by end users.