This team aims to meet contextualized value chain goals to ensure sustainable agroecological transitions while analyzing and monitoring coupled innovation processes through iterative actions and learnings within and between 13 Co-Innovation Case Studies (CICS). 

This work package will assess yield performance and yield stability of intercrops vs. sole crops and identify determining pedo-climatic conditions as key factors, which explain results and performance variation under local conditions. They also evaluate the efficiency of abiotic resource use and determining factors of grain nutrient composition. Finally, they will also evaluate the Ecosystem Services delivered by intercropping in terms of weed, pest and disease control, and associated reduction of yield gaps or reduction of pesticide use. 

This team will use models to estimate the performance of intercrops for specific field designs and conditions. With such information, trade-offs between performance optimization and farm management can be analysed. They will perform in silico explorations with different species, genotypes, designs, and environments to quantify interactions between crops, ecosystem services, and disservices, and to find optimal field designs and ideotype combinations.  

WP5 will characterize the quality of grains harvested from cereal-legume intercrops in comparison with those obtained from sole crops, in various pedoclimatic conditions, with or without N fertilization and pesticide use, and analyze the impact of modalities on some processing operations and possible product innovations. Different quality characteristics will be considered: sanitary quality, macro and micronutrient composition, and functional qualities for food processing.

Responsible of the dissemination about intercropping among the general population; it transfers the knowledge acquired during the project to the various value chain groups and to consumers, through digital tools adapted to each group according to their knowledge, interest, language, and usual media source. It also strengths the communication between value chain actors involved in the project and jointly identify the most appropriate exploitation routes and strategies for the results.  

Ensures the proper management of data, taking into account the large amount of data, centralize management of data coming from the project and shared by the partners. This team also ensures proper management of all the gender and ethics aspects; and the implementation of the project according to work plan, Grant Agreement (G.A.), and Consortium Agreement (C.A.), and all financial aspects.