Intercropping is a powerful innovation that boosts resource efficiency and biodiversity while reducing dependence on synthetic inputs. Projects like LEGUMINOSE and IntercropVALUES show its environmental, economic, and social advantages: it improves yield stability, soil health, and farm income, especially in low-input and organic systems.
However, broader adoption in the EU requires public policies that tackle barriers and support knowledge-sharing and access to innovation.
Leguminose and IntercropVALUES have jointly developed a policy brief that focuses on recommendations for the Post-2027 Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) to support intercropping, based on good practices identified in CAP National Strategic Plans (NSP) in 12 Member States.
These recommendations are:
1️⃣ A holistic regulatory environment
2️⃣ Direct payments: extra support for intercropping
3️⃣ Eco-schemes and climate-environmental commitments
4️⃣ Rural development: investing in value chains for intercropped products
5️⃣ Knowledge and innovation: support advisory services and research
6️⃣ Demand side: develop a protein strategy
You can read the complete policy brief below, or download it HERE.