Brussels, 06/03/2012 (Agence Europe) - Cantogether (Crops and animals together), a European project piloted by INRA (France) and bringing together 27 academic and private partners, was launched on 29 February with the aim of designing innovative mixed farming systems. Against the current background of climate change, biodiversity loss, fossil energy depletion and water shortage, agricultural production “faces numerous challenges” with regard to competitiveness, conserving natural and non-renewable resources (water, soil, air, phosphorus, fossil fuels) and ecosystem services (pollination, natural pest control, soil fertility), an INRA press release says.
The aim of the project is to design new agricultural systems that can meet these challenges, reconciling productivity and control of energy, carbon and nutrient use. Cantogether will bring together a European network of 24 existing experimental and commercial farms covering a wide diversity of natural and socio-economic conditions.
“In these situations, innovative agricultural systems, mixing crops and animal production, are already being implemented, all seeking maximum efficiency through full recycling of effluents produced by stockrearing, the quest for food independence through the development of pulse crops, the generation of renewable energy through methanation of growing biomass specifically for that purpose, and also exchange between farms in the same locality”, says INRA. These case studies will, then, provide information for the design of innovative systems and also test and feasibility monitoring sites.
Cantogether began on 1 January 2012 and has a budget of €4.1 million. It is subsidised by the European Commission's 7th framework programme for research to the tune of €3 million. The project's SME (small and medium-sized enterprises) partners will receive 25% of the budget. (LC/transl.rt)