Guidelines for machinery requirements enabling crop diversification at the different levels of supply chain

Within the DiverIMPACTS project, the objective of the Work Package 5 is to identify the barriers to crop diversification and the strategies for moving from locked-in situations to innovations and value chains redesign. The research presented hereby specifically targets the barriers in terms of mechanisation at the farm and downstream level.

For addressing these issues, multiple sources of information were combined including: Case Studies' Learning History; a specific survey on machinery barriers at the farm level; in-depth analysis with some case studies; and experts’ workshops.

The assessment provides an exhaustive view of the machinery-related barriers to crop diversification at the farm and downstream levels, in a variety of contexts (from niches to mainstream value chains). In total, 13 barriers are found to apply to the matter of mechanisation, of which 7 are found at the farm level and 6 at the downstream stage of the value chains.

Barriers at the farm level are: the lack of technical and economic knowledge and references regarding crop diversification practices; the lack of resources for investing in adapted machinery; the need for further innovation in machinery adapted for crop-diversified systems; the constraints in labour organization, mental or physical load that may arise when undertaking crop diversification; and/or barriers related to the CAP, environmental or sanitary regulations. The barriers at the farm level are further analysed in the context of each type of crop diversification strategy: intercropping, strip- cropping and temporal diversification.

In particular, there is a major need for more suitable mechanisation in the context of crop diversification for strip cropping, mechanical weeding and no-tillage practices. Two types of solutions regarding machinery innovation were identified and are discussed. The first type of solution relies on farmers-based innovation. Ongoing experiments show that this approach can lead to technical solutions which suit multiple farmers and multiple crops. The second type of solution is based on knowledge sharing between farmers and/or advisors. Indeed, the specific machinery needed is sometimes already developed and used elsewhere. Further knowledge-related aspects are likely to help find technically and financially suitable machinery solutions (e.g., awareness of new trends and technological developments; knowledge on financial options such as co-funding). For both solutions identified, it must be underlined that relationships between farmers plays a key role. In addition to these farmers-based solutions, the agro-machinery providers (SMEs and larger firms) could play a key role by developing and offering innovative machinery.

Barriers at the downstream stage of value chains lie in the fact that the equipment for screening, cleaning, drying, storing and for processing new crops requires further innovation and investment. The cost and the innovation risk for actors to start-up a new value chain may therefore be high and discouraging.

The solutions identified for addressing the barriers in terms of innovation and investment at the downstream stage of value chains fall into five strategic axes: Developing partnership with actors of the value chains; Securing the profitability of the innovations; Limiting the cost of the investments; Seeking economies of scale; and Securing the profitability of the equipment.

Machinery innovation and funding support are requested for accelerating the diversification of cropping systems in Europe. It must be underlined that the barriers are interrelated and generally cannot be tackled separately but rather require a systemic approach. Thus, multiple actors have to be involved in the development of solutions, such as: farmers (individually or as a group); farming advisory services, agronomic R&D, agricultural education institutes; public administration & policy; socio-economic research; banking, insurance and risk management services; downstream actors; consumers and their representatives; and civil society, environmental NGOs.