19-21 February 2018 – University of Kassel, Witzenhausen, Germany
Various national and international projects aim at exploiting the benefits of species mixtures to design productive, diversified, resilient and environmentally friendly agro-ecological cropping systems less dependent on external inputs than current systems and acceptable to farmers and actors in the agri-food chain. Inter- or intra-species diversity can enhance water and nutrient use efficiency and improve the control of pests, diseases and weeds, while increasing crop productivity and resilience to biotic and abiotic stresses, including those triggered by climate change. Species mixtures can lead to reduced use of fossil energy and chemical inputs and enhance production of ecosystem services. This symposium will discuss breeding and management strategies for diversification both in conventional and organic agriculture in arable or forage crops or agroforestry.
This symposium will be organised by EUCARPIA Section Organic & Low-input Agriculture, ECO-PB, DIVERSify, INSUSFAR, HealthyMinorCereals, LIVESEED, and ReMIX.