Crop-livestock and feed systems have huge importance for Mediterranean regions to satisfy the increasing population demand for animal products (milk, eggs, meat), to increase the economic stability of smallholders and to produce typical animal products with high added-value, while contributing in all cases to sustainable farming, environment protection and efficient nutrient cycling. These systems are threatened, however, by the marked insufficiency of high-protein feedstuff, the overexploitation of forage resources, the increasing costs and/or the decreasing availability of irrigation water and mineral fertilizers, and the increasing drought and heat stress arising from climate change. The development of resilient, water- and energy-efficient forage and feed legume crops could definitely alleviate all of these constraints. This is the objective of the present project, which joins nine research institutions from Italy, France, Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia and USA in a closely integrated manner to develop: 1) lucerne varieties with greater tolerance to severe drought, salinity, heat and grazing than the available varieties; 2) pea varieties with greater drought tolerance than the available varieties, targeted to grain and forage production; 3) cost-efficient marker-assisted selection procedures for pea drought tolerance and for lucerne tolerance to severe drought, salinity and grazing, forage quality and compatibility with grass companions (whose implementation by each partner will be favored by a molecular breeding training workshop); 4) ecological breeding strategies for lucerne and pea; 5) optimal lucerne-based and pea-based forage crops in relation to legume plant types, associated grass or cereal species, extent of drought stress, acceptability by farmers in a participatory assessment, and target forage quality and utilization. Optimal diets including innovative forage crops or pea grain will be defined for different animal species and production levels in a final workshop and promoted, along with optimal cultivation methods, in a freely-available electronic handbook. This and other dissemination actions will spread the project results among farmers and other stakeholders.

Resource reduction, extreme climatic events and loss of biodiversity in cultivated fields, are having a strong impact on farmers' incomes, subjecting farms to the risk of shutdown and fields abandonment. BIOMEnext proposal aims to optimize, with a multi-actor approach, all resources available along the entire supply chain, in terms of plant genetic potential, effective microbial consortia for plant growth and health, new agro-systems based on the use of controlled grassing and cover cropping. Among the various Mediterranean cultivation systems, tree fruit growing has undergone the greatest technological transformation towards a deep intensification, complete mechanization and a genetic revolution, allowing, on one hand, an increase in production and cost reduction but, on the other one, leading to a very strong increase in resource demand, soil consumption and air-water-soil pollution. A threatening diversity loss of varieties and organisms composing the agro-ecosystems and causing irreversible loss of soil, reduction of organic matter and unacceptable levels of pollution of the air and surrounding environment. As a consequence of these changes, it has become mandatory to re-design the production models, using or enhancing low resource-demanding cultivars and developing new cultivation systems ready to reduce energy and water inputs, favoring cenoses able to increase adaptation, resilience and ability to exploit the environmental resources, including microbiomes, cover crops, agro-pastoral systems, neglected and underutilized species to produce food, to preserve soil fertility, to protect the agro-environment and to enable sustainable and resilient agro-systems to produce under a circular bioeconomy perspective. Olive, the most typical fruit crop of the Mediterranean basin, should represent the model system for studying new cultivation strategies and testing their environmental and economical sustainability to protect against climate constraints and recover from excessive pollution, resource consumption and genetic erosion. The model built within the project, could then be adapted and extended to many other fruit crop species (grape, almond, citrus, etc.). BIOMEnext will put in place the following actions: •Harnessing traditional varieties, wild olives and new bred genotypes to redesign environmentally friendly groves; •Developing new bacterial consortia and mycorrhizal inoculants to promote climate resilient and stress-tolerant plants; •Building new composite eco-friendly crop systems; •Assessing the environmental and socio-economic impact of the proposed innovations and newly developed crop systems; •Involving different stakeholders of the supply chain in order to share the problems to be faced and the technologies to be applied, with an integrated participatory approach. The expected outputs include: •Selection of traditional and newly bred plant genotypes adapted to extreme conditions, stress tolerant and low-resource demanding, with high agronomical value in terms of productivity and product quality; •Development of microbial consortia and biostimulants to assist plant trees to grow under severe environmental conditions, to valorize low-fertile soils and the environmental constraints; •Recovery of traditional farming systems able to reduce resource inputs and endorse the natural resources; •Application of new farming technologies, including remote sensing technologies to reduce water, fertilizers and pesticides; •Increasing crop yield under different soil and climate stress conditions; •Integrating different value chain components into new farming systems; •Application of inclusive approaches and to increase the public acceptance of the new technologies.

TERRASAFE is a pioneering initiative envisaging to empower local communities in southern Europe and northern Africa to successfully face the escalating challenges of desertification through the adoption of nature-based, social and technological innovations. TERRASAFE’s vision will be operationalized in 5 pilot areas that share a high vulnerability to desertification but, simultaneously, represent the 4 main types of desertification (vegetation decline, soil degradation, water scarcity, and depopulation) and strongly contrast in socio–cultural-ecological circumstances. This vision is supported by a transdisciplinary consortium, ranging from universities to SMEs commercially exploiting innovations. TERRASAFE’s vision is implemented through a multi-actor approach covering all WPs, in particular by setting up 5 partnerships in the 5 pilot areas. In a co-creation process, these partnerships will then (i) define their visions on building desertification resilience and plan their ensuing TERRASAFE work; (ii) map and analyze past and ongoing desertification, identifying hotspots; (iii) evaluate and demonstrate innovations at these hotspots, comparing them with current and traditional/organic practices; (iv) elaborate policy recommendation for the wider uptake of the TERRASAFE-certified innovations, both within and beyond the pilot areas, taking into account lessons learnt from past and ongoing policies against desertification; (v) share their TERRASAFE’s experience with the other areas, other desertification-prone communities and the general public. The consortium will support the partnerships by providing not only harmonized frameworks for each activity but also advice on adapting these frameworks to their specific needs. Finally, the SMEs will provide a wide offer of innovations that they will tailor towards the respective desertification hotspots, in close collaboration with the partnerships.

The aim of Soils4Africa is to provide an open-access soil information system with a set of key indicators and underpinning data, accompanied with a methodology for repeated soil monitoring across the African continent. The soil information system will become part of the knowledge and information system of FNSSA and will be hosted by an African institute. Activities are: (i) define use cases and indicators in consultation with stakeholders; (ii) make a functional design of the soil information system; (iii) develop detailed procedures and tools for the field activities based on the LUCAS methodology and collect 20000 soil samples; (iv) develop detailed procedures for laboratory work and analyse the collected soil samples at one reference laboratory located in Africa; and (v) develop the technical infrastructure for the soil information system and serve the results as open data linked with open EO data. The project addresses the work programme of SC 2 in the following ways. First, it contributes to priority 2 (Fostering functional ecosystems) because the soil information system is a tool to target interventions that improve soil quality and provides insight in the impact of these interventions. Secondly, it contributes to priority 1 (Addressing climate change and resilience on land and sea), as the soil information system will contribute to the assessment of carbon losses from soil and the identification of areas with high potential for soil carbon sequestration. Finally, the soil information system provides a platform for the development of sustainable business models by service companies aiming at the development of sustainable food systems, contributing to priority 3 (Boosting major innovations on land and sea). Soils4Africa is linking with relevant H2020 projects and Copernicus on EO data use. It actively connects organizations across Africa and Europe for synergies and promotes an open science approach.