After the summer is before the heat - at least in the MIXED project. The period from September 2022 to January 2023 will be a hot one!
In the middle of September, the next project meeting took place (online). In addition to administrative tasks, discussions focused in particular on the previous activities. For example, FiBL investigated the question of how to represent mixed land use systems at the landscape level. With "knowledge and training", "support and funding" and "regulation", the IfLS identified three aspects of mixed land use systems that are relevant to agricultural policy and which are to be further explored in the project.
In the same week, data collection started. By the end of November, in 10 countries and a total of 14 networks, data on land use and management systems, animal husbandry, nutrient cycles, fertilisation and much more is to be collected on as many farms as possible. A particular challenge in this respect relates to the system boundaries. What to consider - only the "mixed" part or the entire farm? An important question, which may well differ between the networks. With the support of the IfLS, the ArGe Donaumoos and the agroforestry monitoring team collect the data for the two German networks.
In addition to data collection, the next round of field workshops is envisaged before end of the year. In close cooperation with the agroforestry monitoring team and the project partners from Denmark and Poland, the IfLS is currently striving to organise a transnational workshop on the topic of agroforestry. Which tree species fit into the management system? Can a subsidy be applied for or do regulatory ordinances stand in the way of the establishment of agroforestry systems? Some of these questions are topic of discussion in the participatory workshop and will be worked on in more detail during the project.
The next physical project meeting will take place in Portugal from 23-27 January 2023, with visits to the traditional Montado systems on the agenda. Until then, all project participants are now doing their best to gather and analyse as much information as possible. After all, we are all looking forward to the next results.
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Contact persons at IfLS: Simone Sterly (sterly[at]ifls.de) and Holger Pabst (pabst[at]ifls.de)
