FABulous Farmers employ Functional AgroBiodiversity as a nature-based solution to reduce use of natural and material resources, delivering benefits for farmers, society and the environment in NWE

The agricultural sector, the basis for the agro-food sector in NWE, is today heavily dependent on external inputs (fertilizers, pesticides, etc.) and creates a number of negative effects on the quality of natural resources (soil, water, biodiversity). Functional Agrobiodiversity (FAB) (targeted stimulation of biodiversity to deliver ecosystem services such as pest and disease control, pollination, soil and water quality) offers opportunities to drastically reduce the dependence on inputs, but the knowledge in this area is still highly fragmented and insufficiently embedded in agricultural practice, policy and society.FABulous Farmers aims to accelerate the implementation of FAB by farmers and other land managers in NWE, by collecting, deepening and sharing knowledge and practical experiences about FAB between farmers, scientists, citizens and policy makers in 12 pilot regions in NWE over 5 countries (FR, NL, UK, BE and LUX). 10 FAB solutions are developed in a region-oriented manner, tested and demonstrated across 315 farms and evaluated for ecological performance and economic profitability, with the aim of reducing the dependence on external inputs by an average of 30%. In each pilot region, a FAB learning network is set up in which farmers exchange knowledge and experiences and draw up a FAB action plan. In addition, we collaborate with local actors, citizens, policy makers and value chain partners to embed FAB more widely in society, policy and market, through the design and implementation of FAB landscape integration plans and the rollout of citizen science tools; development of policy papers (at EU and national / regional level), and 12 business cases for valorisation of FAB via the market. Finally, a long-term development plan is drawn up for the continuation and expansion of the FAB learning networks after the end of the project. Current farming methods make no systematic use of FAB. Knowledge on FAB is dispersed. Wide uptake by farmers and appropriate policy making is lacking.