Mixed farming and agroforestry systems - referred to as 'MiFAS' - are the focus of the EU-project MIXED.
With the project due to end in February 2025, a policy workshop was held in Brussels in early December. After a short introduction, the workshop started with a discussion on the hot topics of MiFAS. To set the scene for the next item on the agenda, Simone Sterly from the IfLS reported on current developments in Brussels and in relation to the new EU Commission.
Based on the project results and findings, the IfLS has identified five thematic clusters for policy recommendations: Knowledge, Farmer Capacities, Landscape and Territorial Perspectives, Governance and Regulation, and Support. These clusters, the recommendations for action contained therein and specific activities to support the transition to efficient and resilient MiFAS in Europe were discussed in group work. The workshop thus provided a good opportunity to discuss the developed recommendations with EU policy makers and committed agricultural organisations.
Last national workshop
The following week, we met with our project partners, the Agroforestry Monitoring Team and ArGe Donaumoos in Riedheim. In addition to a brief discussion of the policy recommendations developed, the main focus was on how these can now be utilised in the political work of the participating associations and stakeholders.
Mixed land use systems are a very broad field, and the policy recommendations are correspondingly broad and far-reaching. The rewetting of peatlands is gaining more and more attention. We are therefore pleased that ArGe Donaumoos, as a landscape conservation organisation, is directly addressing these trends in its work. Agroforestry is an important and forward-looking topic for other IfLS projects, which is why we are in close contact with the German Association for Agroforestry (DeFAF) and the European Agroforestry Federation (EURAF).
As this was the last meeting of the MIXED project, we were able to use the days to reflect on the project and our work together. We are very grateful to have had great project partners on board with ArGe Donaumoos and Agroforst-Monitoring. We would like to deepen this cooperation in further projects.
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Contact persons at the IfLS: Simone Sterly (sterly[at]ifls.de) and Holger Pabst (pabst[at]ifls.de)
