The TRANSITION project

The goal of TRANSITION is to pave the way for a shift towards resilient agriculture in the Mediterranean basin, maximizing the net positive impact on the environment, while increasing resilience of agroecosystems and rural societies. This is done by analysing the most relevant innovative solutions in resilient agroforestry and mixed farming systems using a participatory approach. TRANSITION is working to identify appropriate strategies to improve resilience of the agriculture sector, to establish what are the environmental and socio-economic barriers to resilient agriculture implementation and to quantify the system productivity and delivery of ecosystem services.

Project activities are structured around in-depth studies of the resilience and productivity of agroforestry and mixed farming systems in 5 Mediterranean regions in Spain, Italy, Algeria, Egypt, and France. Agroforestry, the integration of woody vegetation with crop or animal systems, can offer higher net primary productivities due to increased efficiency of use of sunlight and other resources, while helping to protect soil from erosion, improving soil health, and improving landscape biodiversity. Mixed farming systems, on the other hand, are inherently circular in their approach since manure is directly reincorporated into crop production, and they make the best use of farm residues. Mixed farming systems also maintain soil fertility, biodiversity, and have many other benefits.