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Stacking of ecosystem services: mechanisms and interactions for optimal crop protection, pollination enhancement, and productivity

EcoStack

EcoStack will provide European farmers with knowledge and tools to maximise ecosystem services for the production of crops, while minimising environmental impacts of agriculture and ensuring the profitability of farming. The objective will be achieved by stacking ecosystem services to enhance synergistically the effective interplay of the service providers. We will make full use of increased knowledge of interactions between trophic levels (microbe-plant-herbivore-natural enemy / pollinator), and will manage and assess functional biodiversity benefits at different levels (within and between species, fields, landscapes), and stack them for maximizing farmer benefits and system resilience.

The project has four main objectives: 1. Assess sustainable crop production needs, 2. Evaluate and optimise the role of main off-crop sources supplying ecosystem services for crop production, 3. Design and test in-crop interventions, which support the generation of ecosystem services within the crop and may carry over to the next crop in the rotation and 4. Develop, design and implement integrated systems for optimised provision of ecosystem services and use of plant protection tools.