Work Packages

In WP1, LIVING LAB will be established in each participating country with the collaboration of all the partners. WP1 will be led by AIAB who will train also the SCOOP partners in how to successfully establish and keep lively the national LL (T1.1).

LL will engage a range of practitioners along the value chain (including farmers, researchers, advisors, machinery suppliers, processors, sellers, etc.) with the scope at first to identify locally the best companion crop for camelina, in relation to specific local needs, traditional genotype availability, existing farm equipment and possible end-uses.

Then, LL will represent the focal point of the SCOOP project where the main outcomes deriving from the other WPs will be presented, discussed and recommendation/requests produced for researchers (T1.2), and then LL will facilitate the implementation of project outcomes through capacity building activity at local level (T1.3).

In WP2 (lead by UNIBO) the SCOOP research partners, will set up field trials with common experimental protocol in order to obtain results easy comparable. WP2 consists of four tasks in the first one (T2.1) the genetic variability of camelina varieties available locally will be thoroughly studied, in order to possibly identify the reason behind specific environmental suitability.

Then in T2.2. ad hoc field trials in small plots (up to 20 m2) will be established for at least 2 consecutive growing seasons in all participating countries in organic farms (own by partners or contracted) in order to test the optimal combination of camelina with local underutilized crops, selected in WP1. Then, after the identification of the most promising intercropping system for each country by the LL, scale up will be carried out (in large fields > 0.5 ha) under real operational conditions in T2.3 engaging locally long-term organic farmers (identified by the LL) skilled and willing to test intercroppings.

The new SCOOP intercrops will be compared with traditional sole cropping systems with the same species as well as with local reference system in order to measure the benefit in terms of (functional) biodiversity promotion (above and below ground, i.e. arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi), reduction of pest and disease pressure, water use, nutrient recycling, and yield (T2.4).

WP3 (lead by CRIFIC) has 2 goals at post-harvest stage: 1) to set up cleaning procedures for seed mixes, 2) to analyze and characterize seed quality in terms of nutritional and healthy compounds. In T3.1 (lead by BIO), seed separation and cleaning will be carried out, since in the SCOOP intercrops camelina and companion crop will be mainly harvested together.

Seed separation will play a key role in the future scale up of intercropping as it has a direct effect on final quality and potential end- uses, with direct effect on potentials of value chains to be established, which is topic included in the LL discussion.

Both physical and optical separation methods will be tested at lab/small scale at UNIBO and at production scale at BIO. Then cleaned seeds from all locations/trials will be analyzed by CRIFIC (T3.2), with the collaboration of AUP, UNIBO, and UWM, to determine their quality (i.e. oil, protein, fatty acid, amino acid, etc.).

In WP4 (lead by UWM) the integrated sustainability assessment will be carried out using the data collected within WP2. A robust, consistent and science-based analytical framework will be developed to analyze alternative scenarios. Relevant environmental impact parameters and environmental associated services will be gathered, as well as economic impact parameters in the intercropping variants tested in comparison with usual farming system.

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WP5 (lead by UWM) aims to disseminate, transfer and exploit the SCOOP outcomes at both EU and non-EU level, and it will also focus on the coordination of the project. T5.1 (lead by AIAB) will raise awareness on project activities, in order to bring to the scientific, societal, and political arena the relevance of new organic intercropping systems based on camelina and locally selected underutilized crops.

WP5 will work in direct synergy with LL in WP1 in order to convey the project outputs to LL actors and support their critical uptake and exploitation by end-users to reach the expected impacts.

WP5 will also liaise and cluster with other relevant CORE- Organic projects and with Operational Groups active on the intercropping topic (cropdiversification.eu) in order to maximize SCOOP’s impact and an optimal use of resources. Finally, T5.2 (lead by UWM) will ensure the implementation of the project according to the work plan and the consortium agreement (CA), undertaking scientific coordination, quality monitoring, and risk analysis.

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