PRIMA · Grant No 20260212
Agroecology, upscaled across the Mediterranean.
Upscaling agroecology across the Mediterranean, farm by farm.
The project in 60 seconds
From degraded soils to living farms.
The need
Mediterranean agriculture faces converging pressures: soil degradation and desertification, water scarcity projected to put over 250 million people at risk of water poverty within two decades, steep biodiversity loss and smallholders squeezed by high input costs and low margins. Intensive monocropping and agrochemical overuse deplete organic matter and erode soils, threatening long-term food security. Farmers need agroecological alternatives that maintain productivity while rebuilding resilience, but adoption has been slow because the benefits have rarely been proven under real farm conditions.
Our approach
CropRotaM upscales agroecology at farm level through transdisciplinary Living Labs where farmers, scientists, advisors and SMEs co-create Agroecological Innovation Packages tailored to each site. Each package combines diversified rotations (cereal-legume-oilseed), intercropping and conservation tillage with nature-based inputs (compost, biochar, microbial inoculants) and smart tools (soil sensors, variable-rate fertilization, an open knowledge portal). Practices are tested side-by-side against conventional baselines over multiple seasons, monitored for carbon, biodiversity and profitability, then packaged for replication across similar Mediterranean contexts.
What we set out to do
Five objectives, one transition
CropRotaM proves that diversified rotations, living-soil inputs and smart tools can restore land and improve livelihoods at once.
- 01
Co-design in Living Labs
Establish five multi-actor Living Labs to co-create climate-resilient cropping systems with farmers.
- 02
A shared data backbone
Collect once, curate once, share widely: an open, FAIR portal feeding evidence to all.
- 03
Living-soil bio-inputs
Validate rotations, compost, biochar and microbial inoculants that cut chemical use.
- 04
Proof of climate & farm gains
Quantify carbon, biodiversity and profitability against conventional baselines.
- 05
Policy & business uptake
Turn evidence into policy briefs, new value chains and viable smallholder business models.
-
7 work packages turn these objectives into fieldwork, data and policy.
See all objectives
Five Living Labs, three biogeographic regions
Real farms, from Basilicata to the Douz oasis.
In Italy, Spain, Türkiye, Germany and Tunisia, farmers, scientists and SMEs co-design and test agroecological practices side-by-side with conventional ones, under the climate, soil and market constraints that actually matter.
Explore the Living Labs-
Italy
Basilicata: cereal-legume-oilseed rotations
-
Türkiye
Aegean: wheat-barley with quinoa & camelina
-
Spain
Murcia: citrus, covers & deficit irrigation
-
Germany
Baden-Württemberg: covers & smart nitrogen
-
Tunisia
Douz oasis: date-palm with salt-tolerant strips
- 3 biogeographic regions
Funding & acknowledgement
Part of the PRIMA Programme, supported by the European Union.
Co-funded by the European Union 
This project is part of the PRIMA Programme supported by the European Union. Grant agreement No 20260212.
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the PRIMA Foundation. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
Explore the work behind the project
Seven work packages, from Living Lab co-design to carbon accounting and policy.