Today, producing fruit without plant protection is a global challenge, a consequence of the development of intensive monoculture and the massive use of synthetic pesticides, which is reinforced by the effects of climate change. Therefore, the need for experimentation on innovative agroforestry orchard models is high. At the other end of the fruit chain, consumers, mostly city dwellers, are looking for short circuits, intelligent leisure activities and nature, and some are ready to take part in field activities. PAUZAFRUITS stands at the intersection of these needs, proposing a new model of urban agroecological experiment that promotes the development of urban commons. We focus on collective gardens as a form of urban agriculture to which we propose to add a new function, that of knowledge creation, right from their conception, through the paradigm of participatory action research. Briefly, agroforestry orchards are designed with the help of researchers, carried out from start to end by local residents, and scientifically monitored by both researchers and residents. To achieve this, we have assembled an interdisciplinary team led by an Information and Communication Sciences laboratory expert in science-society interactions (IMSIC), an association based in Marseille that manages a collective orchard (VVOUM), three laboratories with expertise in agronomy and ecology (GRAB, IMBE, INRAE-Ecodév), and the association at the head of the network of urban agricultures around Marseille (La Cité de l'Agriculture). The aim of PAUZAFRUITS is therefore to provide a proof of concept of the relevance of this proposal by implementing it on the pilot orchard managed by VVOUM, and to build a broader initiative in the form of a Living Lab dedicated to urban agroecology, which would be unique in France.

DREAM will provide Mediterranean growers with a new cultivation approach for fruit production, with the aim to improve small farms’ resilience to climate change (CC), promote biodiversity, reduce waste and pollution as well as economic stability. The DREAM agroecosystem will be characterized by the following basic principles which go beyond conventional agricultural systems: i) a multi-variety orchard, with different, scalar fruit varieties, blooming and ripening at different times during the season and exploiting a range of genetic resistances to biotic and abiotic stressors; ii) consociation with a cover crop mixture, able to prolong blooming, increase soil nutritional and water status, attract natural enemies and repel phytophagous insects; iii) adoption of Regulated Deficit Irrigation (RDI) protocols aimed at increasing the system water use efficiency (WUE) as well as improving fruit quality. The agroecosystem will be managed using the “Integrated Pest and Pollinator Management paradigm” (IPPM), a new approach that aims to enhance Integrated Pest Management (IPM) compatibility with crop pollination management, thus integrating resistant varieties to biocontrol agents (natural antagonists) and bioactive natural compounds, while leaving chemical application as the last option. The new agroecosystem will be co-designed with the help of local living labs so to adapt it to local environmental economic and social conditions in three fruit producing areas: Italy and Morocco, where apple will be tested and Spain, where pear will be tested, thus reflecting the local fruit economy. (WP1). In each site, the performance of the new agroecosystem will be tested in terms of: i) physiological efficiency; ii) yield and quality of the production; iii) above and belowground biodiversity level; iv) soil fertility (WP2). Its sustainability will be assessed in terms of farm economic stability and environmental sustainability (WP3). Furthermore, specific marketing strategies for the diversified products derived will be proposed while farmers acceptance as well as consumer perception of the derived products will be assessed (WP4). Dissemination and communication as well as end-user training through specific technology transfer solutions will be carried out in collaboration with the living labs and the end-user associations from both Mediterranean shores (WP5). DREAM responds to the challenges and scope of the topic 2.2.1 as it will develop a novel cultivation approach, to adapt the small farming systems to climate change, increase farmers incomes as well as their ecosystem services and biodiversity. This new approach, particularly suited to small farm holdings, will enhance functional biodiversity and the beneficial synergies among the different species (i.e. trees, herbaceous crops, pollinating insects, soil microbiome). It will promote the use of a low level of inputs such as water, fertilizers and chemicals, reducing environmental pollution. Thanks to the natural resistances of the fruit genotypes and their scalar vegetative cycle, it will allow a diversified production as well as a higher resilience to extreme weather events such as frost, hailstorms and heat waves as well as to biotic stressors. The project will follow a multi-actor approach as growers, fruit cooperatives and consultants as well as consumers with special attention to women and youth will be involved in living labs to actively contribute to the design, adaptation and possible adoption of the DREAM agroecosystem in the different sites, based on their needs and experience. Studies on consumer acceptance and on alternative marketing strategies for the derived niche products will be conducted to guarantee higher revenues for the growers and an improved economic stability at farm level.

This project aims at developing organic food and farming (OF&F), following the national and European goals. The French long-term development plan (PPDAB) «Agriculture et alimentation biologiques - Horizon 2012» aims in particular to triple the mean area devoted to organic agriculture within 5 years (up to 20% in 2020). The extension of Organic agriculture is required both to increase the supply in certified product on French market, but also to participate to the ecologisation of agriculture. And yet, one key problem of organic agriculture is its low productivity and the great variability in yields, leading to incertainty for farmers, but also supply chain managers and public organisation in charge of preservation of environmental resources. Intensifying organic agriculture may be therefore a way of development. But the concrete modalities and consequences of such intensification have to be analysed. The global goal of the DynRurABio project is to develop and perpetuate an intensive but ecological organic agriculture to live up to market and politicians’s expectations, but also to increase ecological services and participate in ecologising territories. It is a multidisciplinary consortium of scientists (agricultural science, ecology, economy, sociology) and professional organisations with expertise on OF&F. The aim is to adapt and produce knowledge, tools and also organisations capable to increase organic farming on French territories. There is a huge stake to increase productivity of such an agriculture traditionally based on using and recycling its own resources and on autonomy, without reducing its ecological performances. The project non only aims at improving the scientific knowledge, but also at identifying how to encourage the emergence and development of these new intensive production patterns. This raises several questions on the transitions from conventional or extensive organic systems to intensive new ones, and how all these various systems may combine within local the territories and at supply chain levels. The project consists in comparing several studies combining various production systems and geographical areas, both in animal and crop production. It enables to analyse scientific issues on systems where the scientists involved in the project already have a lot of information, but also to compare systems with various levels of intensification (from livestock grazing on rangeland to intensive market-gardening and fruit orchard). This organised comparison between several studies will enable to produce more generic knowledge. The expected results will contribute to: - Improving productivity in OF&F by increasing our knowledge on intensification processes, - Ensuring a good quality in organic products by analysing the relationships between quality and intensive management, - Insuring ecological services in OF&F by determining how these services are altered when practices are more intensive. - Enabling an increase in areas devoted to OF&F by studying the possible transitions between various systems, identifying the key determinants and how they can co-exist with conventional systems, - Proposing territorial patterns for OF&F by analysing how present local systems may move to intensive ones, but also what are the consequences of the development of such intensive systems on territories and supply chains.