Developing SUstainable PERmanent Grassland systems and policies

SUPER-G is a transdisciplinary European project with the aim of co-developing sustainable "permanent grassland" (PG) systems that are cost-effective and easily managed by farmers and land managers; and policy options that deliver ecosystem services (ES) for policymakers.

Its detailed objectives are:

1. Improve understanding of the distribution and state of PG in Europe, the impact of maintaining or increasing the PG area, and the challenges associated with doing so.
2. Develop a grassland typology that covers the range of grassland systems in Europe and allows comparison of ecosystem services (ES) delivery between contrasting regions and PG systems.
3. Analyse the main farming systems managing PG to improve farm organisation and promote ES delivery.
4. Develop robust and meaningful agri-environment indicators for ES delivery by grassland-based systems.
5. Benchmark and model the ability of PG to deliver farm productivity, profitability and key ES
6. Improve understanding of trade-offs and synergies associated with the management of PG for ES delivery.
7. Clarify the benefits PG provides for society and generate policy options that are either tailored to or robust across multiple PG contexts.
8. Develop farm-level and policy decision support tools for the management of PG.
9. Provide clear guidance to farmers/advisers and policymakers for optimal PG management, considering contrasting priorities for ES delivery in different regions/farming systems.

• European Commission
• State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation SERI

• European Commission, Horizon 2020

• RSK ADAS Limited, United Kingdom
• University of Aberdeen, United Kingdom
• Mendelova Univerzita v Brne, Czech Republic
• Hun-Ren Ökológiai Kutatóközpont, Hungary
• Javna Ustanova Univerzitet Crne Gore Podgorica, Montenegro
• Sveriges Lantbruksuniversitet, Sweden
• Universita degli Studi di Torino, Italy
• Stichting Wageningen Research, Netherlands
• Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich (ETH), Switzerland
• Szkoła Główna Gospodarstwa Wiejskiego, Poland
• Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Germany
• Agrifood and Biosciences Institute, United Kingdom
• Consulai, Consultoria Agroindustrial Lda, Portugal
• Universidad de Córdoba, Spain
• Univerza v Ljubljani, Slovenia
• Chambre Regionale d'Agriculture de Normandie, France
• Association Normande de la Ferme Expérimentale de La Blanche Maison, France
• The Northern Ireland Agricultural Research and Development Council, United Kingdom
• Chambre Régionale d’Agriculture Grand Est, France
• Chambre d'Agriculture Meurthe et Moselle, France
• Chambre d'Agriculture des Vosges, France
• Chambre d'Agriculture de la Moselle, France
• Chambre d'Agriculture de la Meuse, France
• Wageningen University, Netherlands
• Forschungsinstitut für Biologischen Landbau (FiBL), Switzerland

• Tonn Bettina (Department of Livestock Sciences)

Project partner

• cordis.europa.eu: Project on the CORDIS website

• Animal Nutrition (Department of Livestock Sciences, FiBL Switzerland)