The Project

Project Summary:

Europe faces huge and urgent challenges of increasing crop productivity whilst reducing use of synthetic fertilisers and nutrient losses. This project is to establish a self-sustaining, multi-actor, Thematic Network called “NUTRI-CHECK NET” that builds farm-level adoption of best field-specific nutrient management practices across Europe. In nine countries farmers’ Crop Nutrition Clubs (CNC) will identify and share the nature of their uncertainties about crop nutrition, their challenges and barriers to change. Decision-systems and nutrition tools (including commercial products, services, and recent research outputs) will be assembled by national experts from across Europe, including leading farmers, into a common online NUTRI-CHECK NET platform. CNCs will then evaluate the effectiveness of new protocols and tools selected from the toolbox to meet their main challenges. Thence they will co-create and adopt farm- and field- specific ‘measure-to-manage’ approaches that address their crop nutrition challenge(s). Evaluations of protocols and tools by farmers and experts will address their ease of use, trustworthiness, costs, and benefits. Initial and final evaluations will be shared across the Network to define ‘best practices’, which will be demonstrated and disseminated widely, including through liaison with other relevant Thematic Networks and EIP-AGRI. The toolbox and best practices will be held accessible and improvable in perpetua on EU-FarmBook. Widespread adoption of ‘measure-to-manage’ or ‘check-to-change’ approaches to crop nutrition will enhance nutrient recycling and crop productivity, whilst reducing synthetic fertiliser use and nutrient losses across Europe.

Project aim:

To establish a self-sustaining, multi-actor, thematic network which will improve the precision of crop nutrition across Europe by compiling nutrition decision tools, promoting farm-by-farm nutrient checking, and facilitating knowledge exchange amongst all relevant stakeholders.

Specific objectives:

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Establish the
NUTRI-CHECK NETwork (NCN) to transform crop nutrition in Europe

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Create an inventory of crop nutritional decision tools
to summarise current knowledge & best practices

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Evaluate crop nutritional decision tools

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Develop the NCN Platform to act as a central point to share tools widely

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Disseminate project outcomes widely, including liaison with other relevant EIP- AGRI Operational Groups and Thematic Networks throughout the duration of the project

Impacts:

  • Scientific: Better informed research around crop nutrition decision making;
  • Economic: Increased farm income and productivity introduced by improved crop
    nutrition decision making, improving agricultural resilience;
  • Environmental: Reduction in nutrient losses associated with fertiliser use and nutrient recycling;
  • Societal: Increased adoption of nutrition decision tools; increase in food security; decrease in food waste through improved crop quality; Improved awareness of benefits of optimised crop nutrition, resulting in better informed, healthy and sustainable food choices amongst consumers.

Stakeholder Engagement

Work packages

WP1 – Stakeholder engagement

WP1 will establish a Europe-wide NCN to engage participants through a series of transnational workshops and maximise impacts across Europe and establish National Expert Groups (NEGs) to maximise stakeholder engagement and collaboration. WP1 will also capture the urgent needs of farmers in relation to nutritional decision tools, identify the gaps and barriers for uptake of nutritional decision tools across all European stakeholders and promote best practices through the NCN.

WP2 has a mission of develop a framework for knowledge capture & categorisation to ensure robust methods are used throughout, summarise current nutritional recommendation systems across Europe and create an inventory of nutritional decision tools building on research findings, commercial services and products.

WP3 will Form Crop Nutrition Clubs (CNCs) to provide a mechanism to showcase co-creation and peer-peer learning through demonstration activities to promote uptake of new nutritional decision tools. It is going to use on-farm demonstration activities to ensure tools meet farmer needs and evaluate identified tools for ease of use, trustworthiness and cost- benefit

WP4 will analyse, design, develop and validate the NCN Platform to share nutritional decision tools, provide a forum facility to promote exchange between farms demonstrating nutrient management tools and with the wider community and going to ensure longevity by creating a dedicated API to transfer information to public and third-party platforms.

WP5 will provide multi-level communication and dissemination of the outcomes of NUTRI-CHECK NET, demonstrate the Best Practices to reach a high level of innovation uptake, developing awareness and activating the multi-actor community of all stakeholders with interests in nutrient management and build and maintain relationships with relevant EIP-AGRI Thematic Networks to develop synergies with NUTRI-CHECK NET.

The WP6 is going to ensure effective communication within the project consortium, ensure strategic, legal, contractual, financial and administrative management of the project and also ensure appropriate data management and compliance of the project with the H2020 Open Access policy.