EU CAP Network Focus Group: Crop Associations

Introduction

In the last year, I have had the wonderful opportunity to participate in an EU CAP Network Focus Group on “Crop Associations.” When I was first alerted to the opportunity by Susann Rännari from Luomuliitto, I was not quite sure if my background as a small scale farmer and as a development project manager focusing on agroforestry would be sufficient. Yet, I applied and was accepted! Little did I know I would be whisked off to Vienna and Toulouse to cooperate with farmers and researchers from across the European Union on a topic as eclectic as “Crop Associations.” By the end of the Focus Group, I had worked on two minipapers and established valuable connections with experts from across Europe. While an intercrop of organic broad beans and heritage wheat maturing quite nicely in the French countryside at the end of May may seem far from the experience of an average Finnish farmer, working with this topic on an EU level has continued to bring me value here in Finland.

Between joining the Focus Group and its completion, I also began a new position at Novia as a Green Ecosystem Services Team Leader. I was able to participate in the Focus Group through this role, where I develop our connections with efforts to better understand how taking ecosystem services into account in various industries can provide a model for regeneration. Crop associations rely upon the fact that plants and their microbiomes can, provided the right conditions and planning, increase the resiliency of agriculture.

How does cooperating at the EU level work in agriculture when places are so different?

Given that the EU is home to a very wide range of ecosystems, soil types, and even socioeconomic conditions- which together alter the feasibility of different farming practices- you might wonder whether it is worthwhile to discuss them at an EU level, rather than regionally. I might agree with that hesitancy if the goal of the Focus Group was to discuss very specific practices and a narrow range of technical details. However, the goal is to uncover whether the topic deserves greater attention and more resources as a whole. By its nature, a Focus Group is concentrated on ideas that have merit, rather than being concentrated on fixing a very specific problem that may only manifest itself locally. By working together with experts from across the EU, we were able to highlight- from the broadest perspective possible- how much crop associations have to offer.

I am personally of the persuasion that learning can be facilitated by working with very different people and situations. I believe it can be easier to understand why a challenging concept works when the details- the exact crops, planting dates, markets, etc.- are less familiar. Observing unfamiliar situations reduces the tendency to fixate on technicalities: we are less likely to judge people from outside of our community for trying something different. This helps us to focus on the message rather than the messenger by asking questions such as, “why does a broad bean and wheat intercrop work? What roles are each plant playing in the intercrop?” Once you know how the thing works, it can be easier to find local substitutes for each role back home.

Also, although we come from many different backgrounds (I for one am not even European!) the common interest provides enough mutual understanding for quite a lot of new ideas to be generated. Whether those ideas spring to life during a working session or after hours over the dinner table, the act of being together with like-minded people you don’t see every day has its own special quality. It is very rare to have the opportunity to come together for a few days with such highly motivated people and we all made the most out of the new relationships.

It is not always easy to work with people from other countries of course. There are cultural differences to navigate and trouble can lurk in differing understandings of words. Rather than see these misunderstandings as frustrating barriers, I found discussions about “what does lodging mean?” a great exercise in the need to keep communication flowing. In the Netherlands, “lodging” does not occur because of wind. In the United States, where I come from, “wind lodging” is most definitely a thing. Going back to the issue of judgement in agricultural circles, what might be seen as a mistake by one group can be acceptable in another: this difference in understanding “the same word” might mean you lose status with the former and maintain it with the latter. How many “mistakes” does it take before you dismiss someone as ignorant? Working with the focus group makes me more understanding of “mistakes.” Knowing just how different the interpretation of the same word can be from group to group and person to person makes me want to be a better writer and communicator.

Are Focus Groups commendable to other Finnish rural developers?

I highly recommend throwing your proverbial hat into the ring of the next EU CAP Network Focus Group that sparks your interest. Hardly a day goes by without me thinking about how I can use what I learned into practice.

Working on this specific topic opened my eyes to the huge efforts being made in farmer’s workshops and fields, to university research departments, and even the EU’s inner workings to understand how we can better grow plants together. We did not just learn about theory but were presented with actual successful cases of farmers putting the ideas into practice in varying contexts- from a “small” arable farm in the Netherlands to research from China informing us on the inner workings of nitrogen fixation in cereal-legume intercrops. I also was able to learn that the work we are doing in Finland for rural development can also be quite cutting edge: many of the participants were quite excited to hear about our agroforestry projects’ piloting of innovative plant combinations and challenging soil health approach.

Bringing together experts- be they farmers or scientists- on an even footing to discuss these ideas is an excellent way to build professional networks.

My only word of caution is this: if you are not someone who wants to work together with a team of international folks to discuss, write, attend digital meetings, and reciprocate the investment by the EU into your focus group, then this format may not be for you.

At times, Finland can seem a long way from the center of gravity in the EU. Take the opportunity to bring your perspective and knowledge to the table as an equal and the rest of the EU will benefit from it!

Results

Our Focus Group’s mission was to address the question:

“How to integrate crop associations into existing cropping systems and farm landscapes to increase farm resilience and efficient use of natural resources while reducing the dependency on external inputs?”

The most simple answer to this question is that we have a significant amount of information suggesting that crop associations- of all types- can achieve the outcomes proponents of them promote. However, the devil is in the details (as we say in English): while crop associations may have a lot in common (see mini paper 3), whether a crop association is going to work on a specific farm requires a fair bit of research, planning, and a willingness to confront challenges during the growing season (mini paper 4). There can also be significant technological barriers to entry; for example, although there are a range of options to separate seeds from intercrops, they are not fool-proof and currently some markets may not accept the margin of error.

The result that I am most proud of is the creation of the simple graphic below. It is a first attempt at laying out the crop associations so that the spatial scale they operate on and their perceived level of difficulty is quickly understood. The complexity of crop associations- between all the jargon and context dependent variations- can make them rather unapproachable. This graphic, presented on page 16 of the Final Report and page 3 of Mini Paper 3, reduces this complexity quite handily. As a first attempt at making sense of these ideas, it provides a solid foundation for experts to continue finding ways to make the ideas more suitable for broader discussion.

Deliverables

The team running our Focus Group produced a preliminary paper on the topic for discussion, a survey of existing trends, and used these two tools to identify the topics for minipapers. Our Focus Group produced four minipapers:

• Mini Paper 1: Cultivar testing as a key to boost uptake of crop associations in breeding and farming
• Mini Paper 2: A value chain perspective on crop associations
• Mini Paper 3: Integrating crop associations into farming systems
• Mini Paper 4: Crop association practices: Where and how to find them?

I worked on mini papers 3 and 4, coordinating the latter paper. The mini papers can the initial starting paper can be found on this page.

A final report was produced (link) which summarizes our work and the findings from discussion groups.

Future

The Focus Group published its final report at the end of September and has since wrapped up operation. I still maintain contact with members of my teams in particular and enjoy discussing the development of crop associations- in particular how the concepts work with agroforestry. We will host the other agroforestry expert in our Agroforestry in Nyland project this winter for a workshop on diversifying the understory of agroforestry systems for profit and sustainability. Bringing his knowledge to my everyday work would not have been possible without having participated in the Focus Group.

In closing, I highly recommend keeping an eye on upcoming Focus Groups and other CAP Network events in your area. They offer a tremendous amount of value and are truly a place for you to make an impact on the development of agriculture in the EU.

Writer:
Name: Joshua Finch
Organization: Novia University of Applied Sciences
Position: Agroforestry I Nyland Project Leader and Green Ecosystem Services Team Leader
Contact Details: joshua.finch@novia.fi / +358 0 504071636

Joshua Finch