The project, financed by the European Commission within the Horizon 2020 programme, proposes a new direction for the European agricultural sector.

On Friday 29 September, the European Diverfarming project will be presented to society in Cartagena. The event belongs to a scientific divulgation programme to take place at European level, the European Researchers’ Night, which is held simultaneously in different European Union cities.

The plan devised for said presentation will consist in an informative meeting organised by the Technical University of Cartagena entitled “Diversify to improve agriculture: celebrating the European Researchers’ Night”. Several of Diverfarming’s partners, representing different scientific disciplines, farmers and the agricultural industry will provide a brief introduction about the project and will explain their roles within the project. The friendly conversation in a bar will provide the starting point for the informal chat in which the audience attending will take part by asking questions and thus reflect ideas with the speakers.

Furthermore, practical cases that have been carried out on land in the Region of Murcia will be approached. This region has opted for the introduction of alternative crops among the rows of the zone’s typical woody crops, such as almond or citrus trees. The event will take place in “El Soldadito de Plomo” (Calle Príncipe de Vergara 5), Cartagena, on Friday 29 September at 7pm.

The evolution of the predominant farming practices based on intensive agriculture, the introduction of mono-cropping and the disregard for resource management have brought about negative effects in the sector. These effects are reflected both in the land and the biodiversity of the medium as well as in the sector’s stability.

In this context, one can understand the urgent need for a solution that combines the farmers’ economic stability, the sustainability of the sector in the long-term and which promotes biodiversity. Diverfarming presents itself as the necessary answer to ensure that the farming sector manages to take another step toward that change in mentality at a European level.

The project’s objective is to improve the competitiveness and sustainability of farming systems by means of crop diversification and the use of low-input management practices, where efficient use is made of the resources employed in agricultural production. This new paradigm will suppose an improvement in environmental quality and sustainability of agricultural systems.

The research will be undertaken in eight different countries and will count on the efforts of 25 partners, who will work under the Technical University of Cartagena’s coordination.

For this change in outlook to be real requires both farmers as well as final consumers to become aware and to be involved in the project. Therein lies the reason for this event, aimed at putting society in contact with Diverfarming.

The European Researchers’ Night is a European project for science divulgation promoted by the European Commission within the Marie Sktodowska-Curie actions of the Horizon 2020 programme. It has been held simultaneously in over 250 European cities since 2005.