DiverIMPACTS, full name Diversification through Rotation, Intercropping, Multiple Cropping, Promoted with Actors and value-Chains towards Sustainability, brought together 34 partners from 11 countries, including farmers and farmer organisations, advisory services, cooperatives, logistics providers, scientists, industry professionals and representatives of civil society and rural areas.

Part of the project’s tasks were to identify success and failure factors of crop diversification through a variety of experiences across Europe and to assess its benefits and drivers through a literature review. The data and the results of these analyses are now available through two web-based applications.

DiverIMPACTS reports: “In order to identify success and failure factors of crop diversification, a quantitative survey of crop diversification experiences (CDEs) in Europe was conducted in 2018. 128 crop diversification experiences were collected and analysed. The results are now publicly available in a Shiny app.

“The answers to each public survey question can be displayed in plots, in contingency tables and even on a European map. Answers to questions can be compared in pairs using a colouring feature, and answers from countries can be compared using a filtering feature. This information can support further research or debates about what has been achieved regarding crop diversification in Europe.”

The large-scale literature review conducted by DiverIMPACTS included the compilation of the results of 95 meta-analyses, including 5,156 studies and 54,554 experiments spanning 85 years, representing more than 120 crop species in 85 countries.

DiverIMPACTS reports: “The results showed that these diversification practices led to a median increase of 24% in associated biodiversity - the non-cultivated biodiversity that prevails within an agroecosystem. The increase also concerned crop production (+14%), as well as the provision of several ecosystem services, such as water regulation (+51%) and soil quality (+11%) or pest and disease control (+63%).

“The results of these analyses can be explored through another web-based application: ‘meta-analyses on crop diversification at the global scale’. This Shiny app enables users to specify the results.

“Users can explore which diversification strategy works best and in which context or explore the effects of diversification on the different outcomes studied. Finally, this Shiny app also presents the quality of the papers published on the subject. Project data can therefore be more easily accessed or downloaded and re-used.”

For more information:

• Read the full story and get the links to the apps on the DiverIMPACTS website here