Report and EIP-Style Factsheets on Characteristics of Successful VCN
Creators: name: Dumper-Pollard, Rowan
name: Villa, Abel
name: Tuoni, Chiara
name: Vergamini, Daniele
name: Schoen, Victoria
name: Bartolini, Fabio
name: Borek, Robert
name: Thiesmeier, Alma
name: Ambu, Zaira
name: Follebout, Arthur
name: Miskulnig, Kira
name: Reinhardkolempas, Marilena
name: Bondesan, Valerio
Publisher: name: https://agromixproject.eu/
Year: 2022

description: This document represents deliverable D5.2 “Report and EIP-style factsheets on the characteristics of successful VCN” within work package 5 (WP5) “Socio-economic, value chain and network assessment” of the EU Horizon 2020 project AGROMIX.Agroforestry and mixed farm systems have increasingly been shown to offer a more resilient and efficient use of land while providing multifunctional landscape benefits relating to the aesthetic and recreational value, social interactions, cultural value and environmental public services. As part of the socioeconomic analysis carried out in the AGROMIX project, this report adopts a qualitative approach, drawing from the personal experiences of agroforestry and mixed farm value chain stakeholders, to identify key bottlenecks and challenges in agroforestry and mixed farm VCN as well as opportunities that could unlock the wider adoption of agroforestry and mixed farm systems to counter existing trends of farm specialisation.

Task T5.2 deals with the data collection and qualitative analysis of a broad number of agroforestry and mixed farm case study farms and related VCNs in Europe. Data analysis was divided into two levels of diagnosis, which have been defined in the DoA as “first-level analysis” and “second-level analysis”.The first-level analysis aimed at providing a broad catalogue of successful agroforestry and mixed farm business models and related VCNs throughout Europe in the form of EIP-style factsheets. The aim, process and results of the first-level analysis have been reported in the current Deliverable and will be further disseminated through the project website and through planned and targeted activities within WP7. Included in this document are 13 EIP-Style factsheets, that clearly present agroforestry and mixed farm VCN case studies across Europe, the challenges they face, key success factors, and wider system benefits.

The second-level analysis is devoted to the in-depth assessment of the case study farms and related VCNs selected for this task, which specifically aims at illustrating key VCN characteristics and their potential innovation and market opportunities. Also, the results of the second-level analysis are reported in this document.

From the factsheets and the in-depth analysis, it is possible to conclude that even though most farmers who participated in this task found an enjoyment of their work as agroforestry and mixed farming practitioners and saw a value in what they are doing, there remain numerous challenges in terms of workload, required expertise, labour shortages, and the divergence from more commonplace agricultural production lines, that could present significant barriers to the wider adoption of agroforestry and mixed farming. Concern over a lack of consumer awareness and supermarkets setting the bottom line for food prices were the most prominent concerns felt by practitioners. The deliverable also considers a number of opportunities for agroforestry and mixed farming. Some are context specific innovations on-site that could alleviate challenges faced by practitioners and are captured in the EIP-style factsheets. The systems can reduce dependence on external inputs, allow the development of new lines of vegetable seed production, allow for diversifying feed production for livestock and an increased production of firewood from the agroforestry enterprise makes a farm more resilient in times of energy crisis. While other opportunities, identified in the in-depth analysis, relate more to the agroforestry and mixed farming sector as a whole. Those opportunities were considered from a range of perspectives, and it was found that the strongest consensus across VCN stakeholders was for opportunities for agroforestry and mixed farming practitioners to be supported in the delivery of the different public goods by both public and private financing to improve the profitability of those systems.