VALMEDALM - VALorization of MEDiterranean ALMond orchards through the use of intercropping integrated strategies

The Mediterranean region has strong and old agricultural traditions associated with conventional agronomic practices. In various countries, such practices are losing efficiency under a climate change scenario, leading to reduced crop yield and productivity and thus resulting in reduced economic returns for local farmers. For instance, almonds are a typical Mediterranean crop, adapting to very diverse edaphoclimatic conditions. In 2018, Spain (339 030 ton), Morocco (117 270 ton) and Turkey (100 000 ton) were the main producers1. However, data reporting yields for the same period, show that Israel (21 418,1 kg/ha) and Lebanon (68 236 kg/ha) present better yields. Although FAO reported data might not be exact, it is known that water availability, use of different varieties and diverse management practices have important impacts in productivity and on the sustainability of nut production. Furthermore, the producer price deeply varies between Mediterranean countries. For example, in 2018, Israel (10 483,5 USD/tonne) and Greece (3 234,00 USD/tonne) presented the highest producer price values, while Spain (1 350,70 USD/tonne) and Cyprus (1 216,50 USD/tonne) showed the lowest values1. Hence, there is room to improve and achieve better nut production valorisation for small-scale farmers, both through improved management practices that could lead to higher yields but also improved nutritional quality that can lead to higher value. Typical Mediterranean almond orchards are on a mono-cropping system, which are either implemented with long tree spacing for rainfed farming (with frequent tillage to control weeds in the alleys), or intensively cultivated (with intensive irrigation, fertilization, and plant protection practices, pruned yearly), which increase cultivation costs with high yields expectations. Moreover, most Mediterranean small-scale farmers have small holdings, i.e. <5 ha. Soil management practices used over the last decades, in conjunction with the climatic conditions of the Mediterranean region and the current climate change scenario, have led to decreased soil organic matter, soil erosion, water scarcity and biodiversity loss2,3. Hence, there is a critical need to improve and spread scientific knowledge and initiate a change towards sustainable orchards that can truly impact the Mediterranean basin Sustainable agronomic practices can be focused on several areas, but among them all, the implementation of environmentally friendly farms with cover crops have been shown the potential to increase soil organic matter, increase field productivity, increase soil nitrogen availability and possibly increase biodiversity depending on plant species used. Specifically, intercropping both for harvesting for food/feed or for grazing, has been focused the most as it has major benefits on enhancing biodiversity and ecological stability; improve productivity; enhance the biological control of insect pests and support pollinators; reduce fertilizer applications; and improve soil health. Altogether, intecropping has the potential to support farmer income; and yet to improve the sustainability using natural resources. Still, these studies have not been applied on a wider scale, throughout the Mediterranean basin, and not specifically focused on one major Mediterranean crop. While intercrops such as vegetables, legumes or aromatic plants can be exploited, there is a wide range of possible negative and positive effects that must be assessed, including effects on almond nut quality and produced intercrops food quality, reduction of pesticide use, soil and plant/entomofauna biodiversity, pest incidence, reduction of inorganic fertilizer efficiency, and modification of irrigation practices. Hence, this proposal aims to use intercrops within almond orchards as an integrated strategy, aligned with economic, social and environmental aspects and implemented across the Mediterranean basin, which can assist in adapting farming systems to climate change and to increase farmers' incomes, especially in those countries with lower reported productivity and valorisation outputs. The implementation of intercropping practices in almond orchards, at a truly Mediterranean scale, will be achieved by using demo sites for optimizing and showcase such practices and for transferring knowledge to local farmers.

The initial stage of project VALMEDALM refers to the innovation efforts of aligning with the needs of Mediterranean local farmers and the challenges of different regions (WP1-4). - Inventory of intercropping strategies in almond orchards from the Mediterranean, promotion of such systems in demo sites from various regions of the Mediterranean and evaluation of the effects of intercropping on the production and environment (WP1). - Inventory of the main pests affecting almond orchards in the Mediterranean and of the existing practices for pest and weed management associated with intercrops (WP2). Following such inventory, the impact of intercropping practices implemented in demo sites will be evaluated for pest and weed management. - Assess the impact of the intercropping practices in demo sites: i) Evaluation of the nutritional and functional properties of almonds and associated crops, through physicochemical characterization, determination of the chemical composition and bioactivity evaluation (WP3); ii) Economic analysis on the almond production using outputs from WPs 1-3, definition of the most suitable environmental, technical and social indicators, and effective integration using multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) tools (WP4). The second stage is directed to a work plan composed of transversal activities to achieve local farmers training and an effective dissemination and communication (WP5-6). - Implement methods and technologies for the training of local farmers and transfer developed knowledge across the actors within the project (WP5), through the promotion of effective interaction channels in collaboration with farmers associations, knowledge transfer using demo sites as focal points, use of network strategies for promoting collaborative work within farmers. - Development of dissemination, communication and exploitation strategies (WP6): i) dissemination and communication plan through the use of diverse communication tools; ii) development of a comprehensive exploitation and dissemination of results plan to identify innovations to be marketed and project outcomes to be transferred to local farmers and associations. Finally, project coordination and management at both administrative and financial level is the purpose of WP7.

Project VALMEDALM has identified a set of expected impacts to be achieved through the execution of the project activities: - Improve sustainable food production systems. VALMEDALM will promote the use of agroecology principles, focused on intercropping practices, which will include the implementation of 6 demo sites for training, awareness raising and learning-by-doing approaches to encourage the wider uptake, and up-scaling of these practices by local farmers. Promoting a learning-by-doing approach will allow farmers to put into practice the activities and strategies proposed in the VALMEDALM project. Contribution to KPIs: VALMEDALM project will develope 15 innovations in farming systems, since 6 demo sites will be implemented in different Mediterranean countries; each demo site will be divided by 1 or 2 specific plots, implemented in both traditional rainfed and intensive irrigated almond orchards, and testing of different plant species for intercrops (e.g., peas, garlic, basil, and others), as well as different types of intercropping practices (e.g., strip, alley, mixed, other). - Increase farmer’s income, also including other possible agricultural-linked income sources and ensure transparency and fair pricing structure along the value chain. To encourage local farmers and agricultural SMEs to apply intercropping practices as a mean to increase farmer’s income, field courses and training sessions will be conducted in the demo sites. A digital platform (VALMEDALM network) will be developed, published, and updated throughout the project to have the largest extension of the project results. This platform will give access to health properties, nutritional value, yield, among other information, concerning nuts produced using intercropping strategies. Other communication campaigns (such as sustainability events) will be promoted in VALMEDALM, to reach local farmers, producers associations and related institutions, and also to strenghen the relationship between producer and consumer, in order to consumers to valorise the food products and the work conducted by farmers that ensure environmental sustainability, biodiversity and ecological balance. Contribution to KPIs: The implementation of intercropping practices in 6 demos sites will allow the development of guidelines that can increase small scale farmers gross income at least 50% per hectare related to increased almonds yields and the extra income from different crop species used in intercropping system (e.g., legumes, vegetables, aromatic plants). Subsequently, to increase the income of small producers from each participating Mediterranean country, tools and materials (ex. best intercropping practices guides, training and demonstrations sessions) will be created to transfer the knowledge. - Promote access to work for young farmers and women. VALMEDALM project will promote events (workshops, training sessions, webinars) whose number of women and young farmers will exceed 50% aiming that women/young can share their experience in the agricultural markets, inspire and motivate other women/young farmers, improve their agricultural skills and knowledge of the best agriculture practices, namely associated with intercropping. Furthermore, social network platforms will be used to directly support women’s engagement in agronomic activities, which will increase their access to information and financial resources and increase the collaboration between men and women. - Enable access to markets, i.e., ensure access of local producers to distribution channels and markets, providing the general population with healthy and sustainable products. VALMEDALM will act as an outstanding support focus for local farmers of Mediterranean countries covering the critical gap of fair income and provide a social impact of changing towards a more developed and strong agricultural system. This project intends to supply local farmers with techniques that allow them to increase and diverse their productivity, in close contact to small- and large-scale markets. The use of intercropping strategies and its eco-friendly principles will provide healthier and sustainable products to the food markets thus benefitting consumers in general. Moreover, the socio-economic impact of this transition will be assessed as well as the measures to improve. - Improve sustainable food production systems with efficient use of natural resources and with eco-friendly processes with low GHG emission. VALMEDALM will design sustainable processes and preserve Mediterranean local biodiversity through the valorisation of other domesticated plant species to be used in intercropping with almond trees. The sustainability of the food production systems will be considered through the generation of a secondary economic value and by generating waste with minimum environmental impact. The waste produced by the cultures used in the intercropping system will have the potential to be a resource for soil valorisation in an eco-friendly context. Moreover, focusing on intercrops as cover crops within almond orchards will improve carbon sequestration. - Reduce food losses along production and supply chains, including post-harvest losses and potentially valorising the waste left. VALMEDALM will promote the reduction of food losses within the food value chain through the implementation of sustainable agricultural practices valorising the waste generated by harvest remains of almond trees and the “partner” plant species of the intercropping strategy for soil conservation and nutritional balance, plant productivity and fruit quality. Moreover, the partners are involved in other EU funded initiatives for food valorisation (e.g., LOCALNUTLEG) that could benefit from the work performed in VALMEDALM in terms of providing information relating to potential critical points for post-harvest food losses.