Project Summary

ACCLAIMED runs a transformative Research and Innovation Action (RIA) designed to upscale alkaline soil-suited agroecological practices in Mediterranean farming systems, addressing climate change, land degradation, and food security challenges. Soil pH is an important factor for nutrient bioavailability, plant health, water retention and microbiome and vegetation distinction. Around the Mediterranean Basin, soil pH is elevated, causing a critical challenge to crop plant cultivation, stressing conventional crop performance and leading to excessive fertilization intervention, thereby threatening environmental stability. Through a multi-actor approach involving researchers, farmers, and policymakers, ACCLAIMED aims to generate evidence for the working of a climate-resilient cropping system based on drought-tolerant durum wheat and cowpea that is to be mechanistically inspected in laboratory settings and to be co-developed and validated in a transnational Living Labs approach. This open approach facilitates knowledge exchange, participatory innovation, and rapid adoption of sustainable practices, while developing scalable monitoring methodologies and policy recommendations for agroecological transition.