CHANGE-UP addresses the specific challenges of the PRIMA Section 2 – Farming systems topic 2.2.1 “Redesign agro-livelihood systems to ensure resilience”. The overall objective of the CHANGE-UP project is to re-design innovative farming systems for the Mediterranean area more resilient to climate change and able to face and overcome adverse and unpredictable events while ensuring food security and sustainable farmers’ income.

The capacity of crops to counteract climatic perturbations and to adapt to the changing conditions in the Mediterranean area is needed to ensure production stability over time, as well as the nutritional quality of the agricultural products. At the same time crops and farming systems should allow a more sustainable and efficient use of natural resources thus preserving the agro-ecosystems integrity. This is especially urgent considering the socioeconomic implications of the current and predicted climate change such as poverty, food insecurity and migrations.

The project specific objectives are: 1) to comparatively assess the benefits of integrating such innovative cropping systems through: i) the assessment of their agronomic performance in relevant Mediterranean vulnerable environments; ii) the assessment of safety and quality of the agricultural commodities produced; iii) the assessment of economic and social benefits for farmers and consumers; iv) the assessment of the environmental impacts; 2) to share knowledge among stakeholders and facilitate collective decisions through participatory processes: i) improving the knowledge on the technical and organizational dynamics of Mediterranean production systems; ii) developing knowledge-based guidelines useful for policy decisions in terms of local governance and to overcome potential technical barriers to the adoption of the proposed innovations by farmers.