Experience of pilot farms

Experience of pilot farms in Europe

The LIFE Food & Biodiversity project supports food standards and food companies to develop efficient biodiversity measures and to implement them in their pool of criteria or sourcing guidelines.

Implementing biodiversity measures on 79 pilot farms in Germany, France, Portugal and Spain, the project partners documented the experiences gained and lessons learned. All pilots within the project were subject to a specific biodiversity consultation and measures were put in place that are based on the two pillars for biodiversity-friendly agriculture: Biodiversity Management and Very Good Agricultural Practices.

In Germany, the pilot project focused on cereal farms

In Spain, the focus was on olive and tomato farming

The Portuguese pilots dealt with grassland systems

The French pilot farms shed a light on dairy farming and crops

The publications target product managers, who assess the implementation of requirements regarding cultivation methods (standard advisors, cooperatives, suppliers). We wish to communicate the challenges we experienced in our pilot projects and point out the observed benefits of the measures, as well as the pitfalls and related cost. You may take this as a guide to avoid similar pitfalls and to enhance the benefit for biodiversity.

More on this topic can be found here