Bioinocula and CROPping systems: an integrated biotechnological approach for improving crop yield, biodiversity and REsilience of Mediterranean agro-ecosystems

ReCROP aims to redesign Mediterranean agrosystems with improved resilience capacity and higher productivity, focusing on the development of sustainable agricultural production systems through the combined use of biotechnological tools and environmentally friendly agronomic practices. This will allow farming systems to face climate change trough the improvement of below and aboveground biodiversity, fertility, and water conservation. RECROP uses the novel approach of plant-microorganism management that relies on the increase of soils functions and health by using bioinocula, amendments, cropping systems, and climate-ready crops, to increase crop yields while providing ecological services, e.g., carbon sequestration, organic matter, nutrient cycling and water infiltration.
ReCROP covers the Mediterranean Geographical Area (MGA), involving MO, EGY, TU (South MGA), IT and FR (North MGA), and PT and SP (West MGA), incorporates major crops cultivated in these countries (vineyards, cereals, aromatic/medicinal plants), and relies in a multi-actor approach by involving agricultural associations and local farmers in the design of the new resilient agrosystems.

The project is divided into 6 work packages that deal with project management (WP1), identification of barriers and opportunities for improved adoption of solutions by farmers (WP2), improvement of crop yields and soil health in Mediterranean agro-systems (WP3), improvements in soil biodiversity in Mediterranean agro-systems (WP4), socio-economic-environmental assessment (WP5), and communication, dissemination, and exploitation (WP6).
WP1 deals with coordination, management, and procedures to achieve the project's goals.
WP2 will build a Participatory Action Research (PAR) approach to identify technical and socioeconomic barriers and opportunities for the uptake of the proposed solutions and identify actions for their customized and balanced implementation to ensure territorial development and farmers' income.
WP3 will establish a transnational network of demonstration field sites. In Portugal, Italy, Spain, France, and Tunisia, ReCROP will benefit from ongoing field sites in vineyards and/or maize plots where different agronomic schemes have already been established. New fields will be established based on knowledge from existing sites and local stakeholders to benefit from the most promising practices and resilient/adapted crops.
WP4 will assess the beneficial impact of the agricultural practices applied in ReCROP on structural and functional diversity at different levels of the soil food web (macrofauna, mesofauna, microfauna).
WP5 will provide an economic evaluation of environmental services provision to farmers, to assess how farmers could receive payments from public authorities in exchange for the adoption of greener practices through PES.
WP6 will promote the project and its results through communication materials and social media. It will ensure thorough dissemination and communication of the project's goals, activities, progress, and achievements among consortium participants and to the public, academia, farmers, the service industry, policymakers, and other relevant stakeholders. WP6 will also promote the exploitation of project outcomes during and beyond the project's duration.