PNRR per la Missione 4, Componente 2, Investimento 1.1 - Avviso 104/2022 - Prot. 202227EXNM - CUP J53D23009550008 - Finanziato dall'Unione europea Next Generation EU

Agriculture – through conventional and intensively managed farming systems – is increasingly regarded among the main actors contributing to environmental pollution and climate change, which in turn negatively impact on soil quality and ecosystem services. Nevertheless, revising conventional and low-efficient farming systems to smart, sustainable, and resilient ones has a large potential to enhance soil quality and food production, increase use-efficiency of natural resources and agricultural inputs, ensure long-term incomes for farmers, and reduce negative effects on environmental and human health.

The broad objective of ReFarmS is translating concepts from ecology to managed agro-ecosystems, for sustainably increasing use efficiency of water and fertilizer, enhancing crop yield, boosting soil fertility and C sequestration, and steering efficient nutrient cycling. To do that, a range of agricultural practices (i.e., cover crops, grassland leys, manure) and technological tools (i.e., soil mapping sensors, modelling) are available today. Yet, responses at the field level are often contradictory due to practices variability and a harmonized calibration of practices/tools within a range of real farming systems is still missing.

ReFarmS will provide a comprehensive ecological understanding of processes and functions for shedding light on key issues related to the ecological transition of farming systems under the threat of a changing climate. Therefore, the main scientific and operational framework of the project implies a dynamic and integrative perception of the biotic and abiotic components of the system and their ecological relationships. Then, results will feed actions aimed to calibrate context-appropriate combinations of ecosystem approaches under “human monitoring and control”. Soil mapping sensor technology and process-based modelling in “what-if” scenarios will allow maximizing the impact of results for enhancing the climate regulation role of farming systems and monitoring soil responses, based on the recognition of the crucial need to take a “system as a whole” perspective. ReFarmS is structured in four work packages, which include manipulating cover crop community composition to steer efficient C and nutrient cycling (WP1), boosting legacy rotation effects in maize-grassland ley forage systems to increase resilience and sustainability of dairy farming (WP2), soil mapping sensor technology and process-based cropping system modelling to extend results over time and space (WP3), dissemination of results (WP4) to share the acquired knowledge and guide future policy-making processes.

ReFarmS aims to finally produce exploitable strategies and innovations ranging from climate-smart and resilient farming system prototypes to specific equipment for precision soil mapping technology and process-based cropping system model, thus closing gaps between knowledge and practice.

Working group:

• Andrea Fiorini - Responsabile scientifico UCSC
• Vincenzo Tabaglio
• Federica Falcetta

Partners:

• Università degli Studi di Torino
• Università degli Studi di Milano