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The aim of this project was to provide summaries of future predictions of water scarcity in Scotland and the impacts this may have, tailored to three groups of abstractors: crop producers, livestock producers and distilleries. The key questions addressed included: 1. How will water scarcity in Scotland impact the availability of surface waters and groundwaters for abstraction? 2. Considering question 1, how will this impact crop producers, livestock producers and distilleries in Scotland in the short (<5 years) and long term (>5 years)?

• A five-month research project was undertaken to see what was known about water scarcity in Scotland and how it would affect the livestock, crop and distillery sectors. • There is a clear direction of travel understandable to focus group participants in terms of more frequent water scarcity, with knock-on effects in terms of costs for those who are in water stressed areas. • There is less consensus on how to respond to scarcity, with cost of efficiency and substitution measures being cited as major barriers to uptake.

Intercropping is an agroecological practice for crop diversification which involves growing mixtures of arable crop species in both space and time. It has long been recognized as a way to improve the sustainability of crop production. Although intercropping has been a traditional practice for centuries in many parts of the world, intercropping is not widely used in European agriculture. While intercropping may increase the complexity of operations on farm it can bring benefits of reduced requirements for fertilisers and crop protection chemicals and increased yields in low input and organic farming. On the other hand, sowing, harvesting and separation of grains is perceived as a bottleneck by producers and stakeholders. When it comes to utilising the products of intercrops for feed and food there are many factors to consider around quality, use and price. In terms of policy contributions, cereal/grain legume intercrops, for example, can easily contribute to home grow protein production but also to the EU Climate Action and Biodiversity Targets and the Farm to Fork Strategy at the heart of the European Green Deal. Here we bring together the findings of two EU H2020 projects (ReMIX and DIVERSify) to examine the scientific, technical, and socioeconomic and policy issues around the increased use of intercrops in Europe and we identified 12 “hot topics” scanning the horizon for needs and opportunities to boost intercropping for feed and food in Europe.

Compared to sole crops, intercropping—especially of legumes and cereals—has great potential to improve crop yield and resource use efficiency, and can provide many other ecosystem services. However, the beneficial effects of intercrops are often greatly dependent on the end use as well as the specific species and genotypes being co-cultivated. In addition, intercropping imposes added complexity at different levels of the supply chain. While the need for developing crop genotypes for intercropping has long been recognized, most cultivars on the market are optimized for sole cropping and may not necessarily perform well in intercrops. This paper aims to place breeding targets for intercrop-adapted genotypes in a supply chain perspective. Three case studies of legumes and cereals intercropped for human consumption are used to identify desirable intercrop traits for actors across the supply chains, many of which are not targeted by traditional breeding for sole crops, including certain seed attributes, and some of which do not fit traditional breeding schemes, such as breeding for synchronized maturity and species synergies. Incorporating these traits into intercrop breeding could significantly reduce complexity along the supply chain. It is concluded that the widespread adoption and integration of intercrops will only be successful through the inclusion and collaboration of all supply chain actors, the application of breeding approaches that take into account the complexity of intercrop supply chains, and the implementation of diversification strategies in every process from field to fork.

Compared to sole crops, intercropping-especially of legumes and cereals-has great potential to improve crop yield and resource use efficiency, and can provide many other ecosystem services. However, the beneficial effects of intercrops are often greatly dependent on the end use as well as the specific species and genotypes being co-cultivated. In addition, intercropping imposes added complexity at different levels of the supply chain. While the need for developing crop genotypes for intercropping has long been recognized, most cultivars on the market are optimized for sole cropping and may not necessarily perform well in intercrops. This paper aims to place breeding targets for intercrop-adapted genotypes in a supply chain perspective. Three case studies of legumes and cereals intercropped for human consumption are used to identify desirable intercrop traits for actors across the supply chains, many of which are not targeted by traditional breeding for sole crops, including certain seed attributes, and some of which do not fit traditional breeding schemes, such as breeding for synchronized maturity and species synergies. Incorporating these traits into intercrop breeding could significantly reduce complexity along the supply chain. It is concluded that the widespread adoption and integration of intercrops will only be successful through the inclusion and collaboration of all supply chain actors, the application of breeding approaches that take into account the complexity of intercrop supply chains, and the implementation of diversification strategies in every process from field to fork.

European cropping systems are often characterized by short rotations or even monocropping, leading to environmental issues such as soil degradation, water eutrophication, and air pollution including greenhouse gas emissions, that contribute to climate change and biodiversity loss. The use of diversification practices (i.e., intercropping, multiple cropping including cover cropping and rotation extension), may help enhance agrobiodiversity and deliver ecosystem services while developing new value chains. Despite its benefits, crop diversification is hindered by various technical, organizational, and institutional barriers along value chains (input industries, farms, trading and processing industries, retailers, and consumers) and within sociotechnical systems (policy, research, education, regulation and advisory). Six EU-funded research projects have joined forces to boost crop diversification by creating the European Crop Diversification Cluster (CDC). This Cluster aggregates research, innovation, commercial and citizen-focused partnerships to identify and remove barriers across the agrifood system and thus enables the uptake of diversification measures by all European value-chain stakeholders. The CDC will produce a typology of barriers, develop tools to accompany actors in their transition, harmonize the use of multicriteria assessment indicators, prepare policy recommendations and pave the way for a long-term network on crop diversification.

• Crop diversification is a dynamic pathway towards sustainable agrifood systems. • Technological and institutional barriers restrict uptake of crop diversification. • More coordination and cooperation among agrifood system stakeholders is required. • The European Crop Diversification Cluster calls for multiactor networks. European cropping systems are often characterized by short rotations or even monocropping, leading to environmental issues such as soil degradation, water eutrophication, and air pollution including greenhouse gas emissions, that contribute to climate change and biodiversity loss. The use of diversification practices (i.e., intercropping, multiple cropping including cover cropping and rotation extension), may help enhance agrobiodiversity and deliver ecosystem services while developing new value chains. Despite its benefits, crop diversification is hindered by various technical, organizational, and institutional barriers along value chains (input industries, farms, trading and processing industries, retailers, and consumers) and within sociotechnical systems (policy, research, education, regulation and advisory). Six EU-funded research projects have joined forces to boost crop diversification by creating the European Crop Diversification Cluster (CDC). This Cluster aggregates research, innovation, commercial and citizen-focused partnerships to identify and remove barriers across the agrifood system and thus enables the uptake of diversification measures by all European value-chain stakeholders. The CDC will produce a typology of barriers, develop tools to accompany actors in their transition, harmonize the use of multicriteria assessment indicators, prepare policy recommendations and pave the way for a long-term network on crop diversification.