FABulous Farmers

This project is made possible thanks to the financial support of Interreg Noord-West Europa and Flanders.

FABulous Farmers is a European project designed to support farmers in the transition to more agro-ecological practices on their farms. The project aims to reduce reliance on external inputs like chemical fertilisers and plant protection products, by encouraging the use of measures and interventions that increase the farm’s Functional AgroBiodiversity (FAB). The project is active in 14 pilot regions in 6 countries (BE, NL, LUX, FR, UK and DE).

Collect & share knowledge

The project has developed an online knowledge base on the online platform WOCAT (World Overview of Conservation Approaches and Technologies) which gathers together ‘best practice’ findings from FAB measures, based on the needs and interests of the farmers within the pilot areas. Available all around Europe, WOCAT will be evaluated and extended according to the results of further implementation of FAB measures across the pilot regions.

Collaboration & exchange between farmers

In each of the 14 pilot regions, farmers have been implementing FAB measures, and sharing their experience with other farmers in regional FAB learning  networks. These networks, along with the results from FAB monitor fields, FAB field visits and online events, will help build confidence to enable more and more farmers across Europe to adopt FABulous farming methods. This will lead to a more resilient and environmentally friendly European agriculture.

What is FAB?

Functional AgroBiodiversity (FAB) are those elements of biodiversity that provide ecosystem services, which support sustainable agricultural productivity, while also delivering benefits to the environment and society as a whole. To promote FAB a variety of FAB measures can be implemented. These measures are targeted to increase specific elements of biodiversity in and around the field to improve pollination, pest management, soil and water quality on the farmland.

The 10 FAB measures are:

• Non-inversion tillage
• Crop rotation
• Mixed crops
• Cover crops
• Organic matter input
• Modifying manure quality
• Agroforestry
• Hedgerow management
• Field margin management
• FAB-supporting action: physical and biological crop protection

More info: https://www.fabulousfarmers.eu/en

Project partners

To achieve this, they work together with 15 project partners, each with their own expertise.

Biobest (BE), Boerennatuur (promotor), Hooibeekhoeve (BE), HoGent (BE), ILVO (BE), Innovatiesteunpunt (BE), Provincie Antwerpen (BE), VLM (BE), Rurant (BE) AC3A (FR), LTA (LUX), IBED (NL), ZLTO (NL), CEH (UK), National Trust (UK), Soil Association (UK)