This research will: l Identify & validate ‘low cost’ mitigation options l Clarify barriers preventing low-cost mitigation adoption l Deliver new findings to support farmer decision making l Develop & test novel communication/extension strategies l Communicate research findings through various media The reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from dairying and other types of pastoral farming is a significant challenge, requiring engaged, collaborative, and participatory action research to identify the barriers to practise change and adoption at the farm-level. There is currently little evidence to explain the limited adoption of ‘low cost’ options by farmers. This research seeks to identify the barriers to the implementation of low-cost GHG mitigations and explain why apparent win-win mitigation options are not being adopted. Using multiple methods including workshops, literature reviews and desktop analysis, expert consultation, and verification through modelling, evidence-based low-cost GHG mitigation strategies and available management practices will be reviewed, with particular emphasis on the cost-effective measures identified in existing marginal abatement cost curve (MACC) studies. In order to empirically evaluate and further explore the claims of ‘low cost’, a subset of mitigation options able to applied in the varied national contexts of the study will be selected using agreed criteria to further examine their claims of ‘low cost’ within the socio-cultural, economic and environmental contexts of each country. The team will utilise a mix of qualitative and quantitative methods including: micro-econometric analysis, farmer psychometric testing, and farm system and bio-physical modelling. A diagnostic framework to identify barriers & enablers to farmer adoption of selected options will be developed in each country. Using a participatory and collaborative ‘bottom-up’ approach, a deliberation matrix will also be developed for use in stakeholder discussion groups to examine their understanding, assumptions, expectations, & perceptions related to each option. A typology of barriers will be developed via these processes. The typology will inform farmer interview schedules to further identify how & to what extent these barriers influence farmer decision-making and to identify barrier solutions. Selected dairy farmers in each country will then be surveyed to quantify current adoption levels of mitigation options and identified adoption barriers. Action research via farmer video diaries will provide additional real time insights into farmer decision making processes. Finally, farmer and stakeholder feedback will be used to inform farm systems modelling and on-farm GHG trials, mitigation options will test possible barrier solutions to inform possible knowledge transfer (KT) mechanisms. Findings will also enable other scientists to critique the construction/accuracy of MACCs. As a whole, this project will develop a range of novel knowledge transfer methods to inform policy & improve on-farm adoption through a whole systems approach as well as publish new insights into mitigation options, science communication & farm level extension methods.

Farms and farming systems in North and Western Europe are generally highly specialised, with little integration between crop and livestock production within farms and between farms within a region. Yet, improved integration, be it at farm or landscape level, offers substantial potential for enhanced circularity of utilization of biomass, especially for co-products (e.g. residues, manure, waste). The main objective of this research project is to co-design locally improved, innovative circular crop and livestock systems in North and Western Europe. To reach this objective, we will assess alternative utility options of biomass and co-products in integrated crop-livestock systems at field, farm and landscape level. Alternatives will be assessed in terms of nutrient cycling, greenhouse gas emissions, carbon sequestration and agricultural productivity. It is hypothesized that co-product utilisation options can be identified that are beneficial in terms of climate change mitigation and lead to more resilient and adapted systems. We will apply our systems approach and participatory and quantitative methods in four European case study regions situated in the Netherlands, Denmark, Scotland and France. All four case regions are characterised by highly specialized crop and livestock farming systems, with innovation and transition pathways towards integration of crop and livestock production being initiated. We expect these pathways to benefit from a systematic, science-based and participatory assessment of current and alternative utilisation options of co-products across crop and livestock activities and farms, in a landscape context. The project takes a systems perspective, distinguishing activity (field and livestock units), on- and inter-farm integration and landscape levels. Using focus group discussions, current and alternative co-product utilisation options will be gathered for each of the case studies. These will be quantitatively assessed in terms of nutrient cycling, greenhouse gas emissions, carbon sequestration and productivity. Using literature and participatory inputs we will add semi-quantitative assessments of social and economic performance of utilisation options. The environmental, economic and social indicators will be brought together in a management guide for on- and inter farm integration. Finally, a serious game will be developed to explore opportunities for enhanced circularity of crop-livestock integration and co-product utilisation at landscape level. Farming, agricultural and circular economy stakeholders (e.g. renewable energy, green fertilisers, etc.) will be employing the game to understand promises, lock-ins and ways forward. The serious game will also be adapted for use in BSc and MSc level courses in the four countries to enhance learning on circularity of future generations of scientists and stakeholders.

Given increasing attention on the importance of agrobiodiversity in agricultural landscapes, we identify integrative landscape-level planning as a promising approach to incentivize more widespread adoption of agro-ecological measures. Our project aims to develop an interdisciplinary methodology to facilitate data-based collaborative landscape planning, with the goal of characterizing agrobiodiversity and enhancing resilience and multifunctionality across farms, at a landscape level. This approach prioritizes the integration of agrienvironmental and socio-economic perspectives, and will be grounded in site-specific data representing five regional case-studies in France, Germany, Italy, Poland and Scotland. For the first step, we propose to carry out an evaluation of promising diversification practices across different EU contexts, with specific focus on enhancement of agrobiodiversity at farm / landscape scales. Practices will be selected to represent the range and distribution of agricultural management approaches applicable in each case study region, e.g. agroforestry establishment, hedgerow planting & management, crop rotation, crop-livestock integration, or the establishment of flower strips along field margins. We will then blend participatory methods and ground-truthed data to identify and validate relevant and measurable agrobiodiversity indicators, selected to facilitate performance assessments of evaluated farming practices on agrobiodiversity and related ecosystem functions/services (e.g., carbon sequestration, economic profitability, nutrition). The multifunctionality of different practices will be evaluated through identification of trade-offs and synergies between different indicators. Finally, the project will assess opportunities for enhanced valorisation and incentivization of market- or policy-based collaborative approaches at the landscape scale. Expected outcomes will include scientific publications, technical support material (e.g., for farm extension networks), and stakeholderrelevant policy recommendations. Ultimately the proposed research will lead to concrete policy recommendations which will support collaborative planning of resilient agricultural landscapes that reconcile biodiversity conservation and food security under global change.