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The aim of this study was to quantify direct and indirect relationships between soil microbial community properties (potential basal respiration, microbial biomass) and abiotic factors (soil, climate) in three major land-cover types. Location: Europe Time period: 2018 Major taxa studied: Microbial community (fungi and bacteria) We collected 881 soil samples from across Europe in the framework of the Land Use/Land Cover Area Frame Survey (LUCAS). We measured potential soil basal respiration at 20ºC and microbial biomass (substrate-induced respiration) using an O2-microcompensation apparatus. Climate and soil data were obtained from previous LUCAS surveys and online databases. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to quantify relationships between variables, and equations extracted from SEMs were used to create predictive maps. Fatty acid methyl esters were measured in a subset of samples to distinguish fungal from bacterial biomass. Soil microbial properties in croplands were more heavily affected by climate variables than those in forests. Potential soil basal respiration and microbial biomass were correlated in forests but decoupled in grasslands and croplands, where microbial biomass depended on soil carbon. Forests had a higher ratio of fungi to bacteria than grasslands or croplands. Soil microbial communities in grasslands and croplands are likely carbon-limited in comparison with those in forests, and forests have a higher dominance of fungi indicating differences in microbial community composition. Notably, the often already-degraded soils of croplands could be more vulnerable to climate change than more natural soils. The provided maps show potentially vulnerable areas that should be explicitly accounted for in coming management plans to protect soil carbon and slow the increasing vulnerability of European soils to climate change. [Methods] Soil samples were collected during the 2018 LUCAS soil sampling campaign. Soil chemical and physical properties were measured at the Joint Research Centre in Ispra, Italy (Orgiazzi et al., 2018). Soil microbial respiration and biomass, as well as water content and water holding capacity, were measured in the Eisenhauer lab of the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research. Fungi/Bacteria was measured by fatty acid analysis by Felipe Bastida at CEBAS CSIC. Climate and geographical data were harvested from various databases, which are listed in Appendix 1 (data sources) of the associated paper. For more details on the soil sampling and physical and chemical properties, see: Orgiazzi, A., Ballabio, C., Panagos, P., Jones, A., & Fernández-Ugalde, O. (2018). LUCAS Soil, the largest expandable soil dataset for Europe: a review. European Journal of Soil Science, 69(1), 140-153. https://doi.org/10.1111/ejss.12499 For more details on the measurements of soil microbial respiration and biomass, fatty acids, and water holding capacity, see the supplementary methods of the associated paper (Appendix 2). [Usage Notes] Fatty acid analysis was performed for a subset of 267 samples. Water holding capacity and associated measurements of basal respiration was analyzed in a subset of 100 samples. The samples that were not in these subsets have NA values for the columns associated with these measurements. In order to protect the precise locations of the LUCAS sampling sites, latitude and longitude values could not be given. The approximate location of each sampling site is instead described by the NUTS3 region. If you wish to replicate the structural equation modeling described in the paper, for which latitude is required, please get in touch. A description of each column is available in the associated metadata file. Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, Award: FZT 118-202548816. European Research Council, Award: 694368. European Commission. Directorate-General for the Environment. Direction Générale Opérationnelle Agriculture, Ressources Naturelles et Environnement du Service Public de Wallonie. Eurostat. Peer reviewed

In this paper, expectations along the Finnish dairy supply chain for innovation to achieve more sustainable farming systems are identified. Four focus group discussions and three interviews for low input and organic dairy supply chain members were performed. The Q Methodology was used to highlight common ground and divergence in the expectations that organic and low input dairying can deliver. The common view is that innovation in housing aimed at improving animal welfare should be fostered. Animal welfare innovations were highlighted especially by the consumer group. Other supply chain members encouraged in accordance with consumer group animal welfare, but also innovations linking with the efficiency of production and feed quality. Common understanding between actors is that innovations linking to genetic modification are not acceptable. Many respondents also considered unnaturally those innovations that were linking with acceleration of genetic selection, speeding up calf development, and supporting in 100 % indoor dairy systems.

The MAGIC-CROPS database is an easy-to-use tool including 37 promising non-food species suited to marginal land as defined in the JRC’s report (EUR 23412 EN - 2008 and later modifications). Additionally, to biophysical constraints referred in the above-mentioned report, the MAGIC-CROPS database includes also information about the suitability of some species to soil contaminated by heavy metals. The present deliverable is the final version of the MAGIC-CROPS database and all the 37 crops are included. Twenty out of the 37 species included in the database are under-study in WP4 of the MAGIC project, so in the event that important new insights will come out after the publication of the present deliverable, the MAGIC-CROPS database will be updated accordingly by the end of the project (31.12.2021).

The diversification of rural economy activities and the farms’ vertical integration must be flexible and based on market dynamics. To improve the vertical and horizontal integration across agri-food value chains, policies should be designed in a way that addresses vertical and horizontal coordination in a synergic manner. In this position paper, the Multi-Actor Platform Transylvania sets out the main challenges with respect to the creation of resilient and sustainable value chains in the region. It also proposes solutions to these problems starting from the current situation in the field.

During the last decade, the concept of marginal land have received high attention both in research and policy formation. The Magic project aims to improve scientific evidence and create new knowledge based on the extensive experience of the project partners with the cultivation of industrial crops in land facing a range of biophysical marginality constraints across Europe. Within this research framework, the work presented in this report, analyses success stories of selected industrial crops in European regions addressing biophysical/ environmental, economic, and social issues. The methodological approach provides a conceptual link of Value Chain Analysis (VCA), and a two- dimensional perspective (value chain’s key attributes in the form of competitive priorities (CP) and their performance in the different development stages) to analyse a set of Good Practice cases that cultivate industrial crops in marginal land. The work presented here, uses a set of indicators, and evaluates the performance of the understudy Good Practice cases in the land use and biomass production stages. Following it discusses the relevance (in terms of creating competitive advantages once applied properly) of the under study competitive priorities across the development stages. Results from this analysis illustrate how the cultivation of industrial crops in land with low soil fertility, high salinity, sandy soils, unfavourable texture and stoniness, contamination, etc. can help overcome both the biophysical challenges but also the socio-economic ones with providing outlets to rural communities for supporting the provision of raw materials to the biobased sectors. The findings aim to inform on performance of industrial crops in land with biophysical marginality and facilitate the development of policy recommendations and Good Practice guidelines to promote the appropriate sourcing of renewable materials from marginal land at local/regional level.

It is recognised that several constraints such as the lack of knowledge and expertise of farmers, land users and policy makers concerning agroforestry systems establishment and management hamper the adoption of agroforestry systems (Camilli et al. 2017). AFINET project acts at EU level in order to direct research results into practice and promote innovative ideas to face challenges and solve practitioners' problems. AFINET proposes an innovative methodology based on the creation of a European Interregional Network, linking different Regional Agroforestry Innovation Networks (RAINs). RAINs represent different climatic, geographical, social and cultural conditions and enclose a balanced representation of the key actors with complementary types of expertise (farmers, policy makers, advisory services, extension services, etc.). The Italian RAIN is focused on the Extra-Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO) value chain, with the main aim to promote agroforestry management of local olive orchards. Olive trees are still managed traditionally, often in marginal sites, with minimal mechanization and relatively low external inputs such as chemical treatments in comparison to other crops. The presence of permanent crops (olive trees) guarantees a partially tree cover reducing hydrogeological risk. Soil management usually keeps natural grassing reducing soil carbon emission and increasing soil fertility (Bateni et al. 2017). Intercropping with cereals and/or fodder legumes and livestock can also be practiced in olive orchards, increasing the complexity of the olive tree multifunctional system. Moreover, olive orchards can be managed as agroforestry systems since they can be intercropped with arable crops (cereals, legumes) and/or combined with livestock (sheep, poultry). The RAIN process, involving local stakeholders, highlighted the main bottlenecks of the EVOO value chain related to communication and dissemination of knowledge, technical and management aspects, market and policy. In order to contrast bottlenecks and exploit opportunities of the olive oil supply chain, the identified innovations are: i) adoption of best practices: testing and experimenting innovative agroforestry systems introducing different crop/animals species and varieties; ii) improve the management of the olive orchards: encouraging and increasing the organic production; iii) valorisation of olive processing residues: identifying and testing innovative products (bio-materials, olive paste as example); iv) arise the awareness among consumers: educating people about the benefits of olive oil consumption, creating networks among stakeholders, improving marketing and commercialization. Creating a Bio-district, defined as a geographical area where farmers, citizens, tourist operators, associations and public authorities enter into an agreement for the sustainable management of local resources, emerged a powerful tool to implement the innovation in the local EVOO value chain.

The 3th Continental Legume Innovation Network (C-LIN) workshop was held on the 16th - 17th of September 2019 in Ljubljana, Slovenia, hosted by the Jozef Stefan Institute and co-hosted by the University of Hohenheim. The meeting brought together actors and professionals involved in all parts of the regional legume agri-food chain (LAFC), to interact with members of the TRUE project. The project TRUE (TRansition paths to sUstainable legume-based systems in Europe) is involved in the development of European strategies for the sustainable production and use of plant proteins obtained from legumes. An increase in production of legumes is expected to lower the usage of non-renewable resources used in the production of mineral fertilisers. It will also improve crop diversity and increase human and animal consumption of legumes. An important objective of the project TRUE is to assess environmental, social and economic benefits of incorporating legumes into agri-food chains, as well as to investigate in what way such incorporation is meeting the key goals of sustainable development. The task of the TRUE project is also to engage with different stakeholders in the LAFC. Therefore, the workshops participants were representatives of growers, food industry, transport, trade and consumers, whose activities already incorporate legumes or who are planning to do so. On the first day of the workshop, we focused on assessing the key sustainability aspects of individual links within the LAFC as well as the chain as a whole. The knowledge gained will help the workshop participants to reach sustainable development targets in their own area of work. Researchers as well as stakeholders taking part in the TRUE project, through the workshop discussions, obtained useful information that will be used for future development of the evaluation model for the assessment of sustainability of the LAFC. Day two focused on knowledge exchange, showcasing examples of good practice during a field trip. The participants first visited the company Žito d.o.o, a food company that, while modern, maintains its roots in a rich and prosperous tradition. They are constantly following the trends and successfully introducing them into modern production technology with a revolutionary market approach, which includes legumes. The next stop was Semenarna Ljubljana – a seed and packing company. Semenarna Ljubljana is one of the region’s top providers of quality seeds. Their development is based on their own crops, products and services. They maintain over 70 different seed varieties from 26 plant species (including common beans, soybeans, peas, chickpeas and lentils), of which 37 are indigenous Slovenian varieties. The last stop was at the Etri community, a leading group in the field of social entrepreneurship, whose aims are to build an inclusive society and change social norms. They are changing their practice in the fields of ecology, ergonomics and ethical economics. The story of the Etri community is about creating green jobs for individuals, often excluded from society, in collaboration with socially responsible companies. They intend to include more legumes in their meals and at the end of the visit they prepared a delicious legumes showcase lunch for the delegates. The whole event focused on the five links of the LAFC. 43 participants (21 females and 22 males) attended the workshop, of which six were TRUE members that acted as facilitators and four were invited government guest that discussed different aspects of LAFC related topics: regulatory organizations, education and knowledge transfer, financial and business mechanisms and public participation.

Water protection has long been a cornerstone of EU environmental policy. It is the sector with the most comprehensive coverage in EU environmental regulations (Kallis & Butler 2001). In some European countries such as the Netherlands, France, Sweden and Italy, national and local governments have implemented substantial programmes aimed at combating excessive nutrient loss to watercourses from agricultural, silvicultural and waste treatment activities. It is generally accepted that agricultural operations contribute, in a significant manner, to increased nitrogen and phosphorous loss to water catchments and result in environmentally unacceptable occurrences such as eutrophication and algal blooms. The increase in N and P loading may be dealt with in a number of ways, including a reduction of input or better fertiliser management. However there remains two problems. One is the perseverance of high fertility in the catchment long after regulation or cessation of input and the other is the potential for lower yields as a result of policy change. Water catchment nutrient management is poorly developed in Ireland and runoff nutrient entering watercourses is increasing (Tunney et al 2001). This has a serious and detrimental effect on water quality as well as ecological processes. It has been demonstrated that many trees have the ability to intercept and absorb large volumes of nutrients (Hefting & de Klein 1998). Buffer plantations of, often, willow (Salix spp.) and other species may be established in order to effectively and efficiently intercept surface runoff of nitrate (N) and phosphate (P). In addition, such buffer plantations could themselves produce an annual crop requiring little management and low-priced technology to harvest. Yet, the science behind the application has not been established in Ireland. Hefting, M.M. & de Klein, J.J.M, (1998) Nitrogen removal in buffer strips along a lowland stream in the Netherlands: a pilot study. Environmental Pollution, 102, 521 – 26. Kallis, G. & Butler, D. (2001) The EU water framework directive: measures and implications. Water Policy, 3, 125 – 42. Tunney, H., Coulter, B., Daly, K., Kurz, I., Coxon, C., Jeffery, D., Mills, Kiely, G. & Morgan, G. (2000) Quantification of Phosphorus (P) Loss from Soil P to Water: Synthesis Report. EPA, Johnstown Castle Estate, Wexford. If you have any difficulty accessing this document, or you would like to know more about the Connecting Nature project, please email marcus.collier@tcd.ie. Suggested citation: Collier, Marcus J.. (2004) The PNtrap Project: Using trees and woody shrubs to intercept excess nutrient in farm and forestry runoff. Poster presented at: The 7th International Conference on Diffuse Pollution and Basin Management, Johnstown Castle, Wexford, 17th - 22nd August. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3923778.