BACKGROUND
Threats to pollinators and pollination services are recognised worldwide as jeopardising ecosystem functioning and the benefits that pollinators provide to people. Intensive agricultural practices are among the principal threats to pollinator biodiversity and the crop pollination services that pollinators provide by producing landscapes lacking sufficient habitat and floral diversity to support pollinators. Furthermore, while modern crop-breeding has produced substantial gains in productivity and nutritional quality of food, typically crop breeding approaches have overlooked the benefits of pollination for sustained crop yields in favour of other crop traits.
This combination of unsustainable intensive management practices and prevailing crop breeding approaches contributes to pressure on both pollinator biodiversity and the yield of many economically important crops grown in Europe that depend, partly or fully, on insect pollination services. There is therefore a need to transform agriculture in ways that support crop yields and food security while avoiding negative impacts that undermine the natural foundations upon which agriculture itself is ultimately reliant.
MISSION
AGRI4POL's goal is to promote the benefits of transforming agriculture from being a pressure on pollinators to becoming a positive force for restoring and managing pollinators and pollination services that support agriculture and provide food and other benefits to ecosystems and people. AGRI4POL takes an interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary approach to achieve this transition towards a sustainable pollinator-friendly farming.
OBJECTIVES
Work with a multi-actor community on research and solutions for promoting pollinator-friendly farming.
Evaluate crop genetics, varieties and floral traits governing pollinator attraction, to stimulate breeding of future pollinator-smart crops.
Establish the benefits of pollinator-friendly farming systems for farmers and farming.
Optimise ecological and landscape features for crop pollination, pollinator biodiversity and multiple ecosystem benefits.
Assess the social and economic opportunities and obstacles presented by pollinator friendly farming options.
Evaluate how policies and practitioner awareness influence uptake of pollinator-friendly farming from national to international scales.
Communicate and promote the benefits of pollinator-friendly farming.