Fifty existing tools and methods already available for farmers and advisors

The first step was to give an overview of the existing tools and methods to promote crop diversification, including all its components (e.g., rotation, multiple cropping, intercropping) at the value chain and territory levels.

The scope of this inventory is wide; it aims to identify both tools and/or methods created to support crop diversification (with one or more identified strategies) as well as those that use crop diversification as a means to achieve an expected impact.

The inventory was based on an online survey as well as interviews. 58 responses have been collected from 38 different people from 11 countries.

Fifty tools and methods already identified and characterized

To date, the database contains 42 tools and nine methods from eight countries. A tool/method often allows users to make several kinds of decisions (e.g., management, design, mobilization of references, diagnosis, assessment) and can mobilize different levers of diversification (e.g., rotation, multiple cropping, intercropping) or a combination of different levers. Most of the tools can be implemented at the field or cropping system scale (46/50). Only eight could be used at the territory or value chain level.

Different kinds of information about how to mobilize these tools/methods has been registered such as format, language, when to use the tool, training requirements, cost of the tool and contact person or organization.

Next steps

After the identification of tools and methods across Europe, the next step will be to identify needs and conduct a gap analysis. The final step will be to build a decision tree to support farmers, advisors and other actors along the value chain to identify the most suitable tool for their situation and needs.

Eight tools under development (mainly from other H2020 projects) were also identified during the inventory process. They will be added to the database when they become available for end-users.