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Discover more about the project through commonly asked questions, as well as our website terms and privacy policies. Project Knowledge Base: FAQs About FRAMEwork Website Terms and Policies What is the H2020 FRAMEwork Project? 'Farmer Clusters for Realising Agrobiodiversity Management across Ecosystems' (H2020 FRAMEwork) was a research-in-action project promoting the transition to biodiversity sensitive farming. The project was designed to explore pathways to a transition that benefits ecosystem services and supports biodiversity while safeguarding against agronomic and economic risks. FRAMEwork was made up of a consortium of 18 research institutions, NGOs and SMEs. We established 11 Farmer Clusters across 10 European countries in varying landscapes and agricultural systems. This pilot network was based on best-practice approaches from a successful network of over 100 UK Clusters. In our project, Clusters functioned as 'living labs' for new research spanning different academic disciplines, from ecology to economics. This new network was supported through our community of practice, including the development of an open access online platform Recodo.(www.recodo.io) The platform empowers the sharing of activity, information, data and resources between farmers, scientists, community groups, NGOs and policy makers. It can be accessed at www.Recodo.io (www.Recodo.io)until 2030, and afterwards archived at https://recodo.nodes.iiasa.ac.at/.(https://recodo.nodes.iiasa.ac.at/) Why is this work important? The scale of damaging biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation in the EU and UK is becoming more widely appreciated. This situation is bad for conserving species but also for the functional biodiversity and ecosystem services agricultural producers rely on. Land sparing, rewilding and nature reserves alone are not enough. Combatting biodiversity loss, ecosystem degradation and global heating impacts requires engaging farmers of all types. This is because farming practices connect into wider landscape ecologies and natural resource systems. A good example can be found in German nature reserves. These are protected conservation areas but studies show that their insect biomass has declined by 75% since the 1990s (1)(https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0185809). Likewise, agricultural land management directly impacts our environmental resilience to flooding, wildfires and drought at a time of ever-increasing natural disaster risk. (2,(https://adas.co.uk/projects/investigating-how-uk-agriculture-can-adapt-to-drought-extreme-heat-and-wildfires/)3)(https://www.nature.com/articles/s41597-025-04484-0) Land-based food production will also continue to play a significant role in food security. This makes creating more sustainable farming systems, tailored to regional environmental conditions, imperative for sustainable transition goals. FRAMEwork is exploring how biodiversity is valued at every level. The EU's most recent Common Agricultural Policy (CAP 2022) has increased green farming requirements to combat many of these issues. Sustainable transition approaches are being explored around the world, raising a demand for experiential, technological and academic information to inform how stakeholders adapt to and thrive in new circumstances. We aim to positively inform EU farming systems’ ‘green transition’ towards promoting ecosystem services and conservation while balancing agronomic and economic risk-benefits. Through our Clusters, Farmers and their businesses are at the centre of our work. Some FRAMEwork Cluster farmers are conventional, others are leaders in sustainable practices. To us, it doesn't matter. FRAMEwork is not about criticising farmers or pushing a rigid top-down approach to managing farmland biodiversity. Instead, we try and place Farmers' local priorities and interests at the centre of our work - to explore solutions together which benefit their businesses as well as regional conservation and sustainability goals. What are some key facts about the situation? Here's the situation in 10 facts: • Land-based food production represents ~40% of land use in the EU, 70% in the UK (1,(https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=Land_use_statistics)2)(https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/united-kingdom-food-security-report-2021/united-kingdom-food-security-report-2021-theme-2-uk-food-supply-sources). • 50% of all species in the EU rely on agricultural habitats for survival (3)(https://agriculture.ec.europa.eu/sustainability/environmental-sustainability/biodiversity_en). • 76% of agricultural habitats and 70% of their species have unfavorable conservation statuses (4)(https://environmentalevidencejournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13750-022-00280-0) • Since 1990, populations of farmland birds and pollinators have declined by more than 30% (5)(https://op.europa.eu/webpub/eca/special-reports/biodiversity-13-2020/en/). • 27% of the EU's agroecosystems show degradation in at least three indicators (6)(https://biodiversity.europa.eu/europes-biodiversity/ecosystems/agroecosystems). • A staggering 61% of EU soils are in an unhealthy state, according to the EU Soil Observatory soil health dashboard (7)(https://joint-research-centre.ec.europa.eu/jrc-news-and-updates/new-tool-maps-state-soil-health-across-europe-2023-03-13_en). • Soil degradation affecting up to 73% of agricultural soils in the EU would mean erosion and drought causing increased crop losses and water management issues (8)(https://ieep.eu/publications/environmental-degradation-impacts-on-agricultural-production/). • Biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation makes agriculture more vulnerable to the impacts of global heating (9)(https://openknowledge.fao.org/server/api/core/bitstreams/8081962a-4ebe-4930-8a1f-63aab7cb449e/content). • Continuing pollinator decline could lead to a 25-32% reduction in the production of crops that depend on insect pollination (10)(https://ieep.eu/publications/environmental-degradation-impacts-on-agricultural-production/).

Assistant Professor in Entomology at the BioLabs of the Life Science Institute < Back Dr Ruggero Petacchi Assistant Professor in Entomology at the BioLabs of the Life Science Institute Dr Petacchi's research interests focus on applied insect ecology in olive-grove agroecosystems, biological and integrated control of pests in olive crops and vegetables, and information and communication technology in integrated pest management. His main research projects are focused on development in plant protection, aiming at validation of simulation models, as well as the bio-ecology, damage assessment, and natural enemies of insect pests. Since 2001, he has been studying insect population dynamics and focused on the use of spatial data analysis in entomology and functional biodiversity of different agroecosystems. He has published more than 100 national and international papers (h-index: 9).

Dr.scient. University of Copenhagen and Senior Ecologist at NORDECO < Back Dr Finn Danielsen Dr.scient. University of Copenhagen and Senior Ecologist at NORDECO Dr Danielsen is interested in innovative approaches for monitoring natural resources. Monitoring of natural resources by professional scientists is often costly and hard to sustain. Moreover, such monitoring can be logistically and technically difficult and is sometimes perceived to be irrelevant to resource managers and the local communities. With many partners, Dr Danielsen has co-developed and tested alternative monitoring approaches, where community members are directly involved in data collection and interpretation. When properly designed and carefully tailored to local issues, such participatory monitoring systems can provide valuable data, cost-effectively and sustainably, while simultaneously building capacity among local constituents and prompting practical and effective management interventions. He is associate editor of the two journals Conservation Letters and Citizen Science Theory and Practice.

Farmer Cluster Facilitator < Back Clare Buckerfield Farmer Cluster Facilitator Clare has been a FWAG Adviser in Dorset for 20 years. She has a lot of experience preparing agri-environment scheme applications and helping farmers implement agreements. With a keen interest in chalk downland, she can advise on the management, restoration and creation of chalk grassland and other grassland habitats. Clare currently facilitates the Cranborne Chase Farmer Cluster, co-ordinates the Long Bredy Farmer Group, and provides land management advice to farmers for the Devils Brook Multi-Benefits Project, Piddle Valley NFM project, and the South Dorset Grasslands Facilitation Fund Cluster.

Ecologist for 20 years with expertise in landscape ecology, trophic ecology and population genetics < Back Dr Pierre Franck Ecologist for 20 years with expertise in landscape ecology, trophic ecology and population genetics Dr Franck currently works in the ‘Conservation Biological Control’ team at INRA-PSH dealing with researches about arthropod population dynamics and evolution in farmland ecosystems according to Integrated Pest Management. He has been involved for 10 years in a long-term survey of biodiversity in farmland landscapes, coordinating one of the five sites of the French network SEBIOPAG (http://sebiopag.inra.fr/). Over the past 5 years, he coordinated the national research project ‘Predictive Ecological Engineering for Landscape Ecosystem Services and Sustainability’ (ANR PEERLESS) and an applied research project on the role of spider in the control of apple pests (FRB PREPARE). He also advised five PhD students over the last decade.

Artemisan Researcher. Game species management, ecology and biodiversity conservation management. < Back Gonzalo Varas Romero Artemisan Researcher. Game species management, ecology and biodiversity conservation management. Mr Gonzalo Varas is a forest engineer and has extense experience in environmental consulting and wildlife management. He has a broad knowledge on wildlife monitoring, GIS and managing projects involving different stake-holders. He has been in charge of hunting management plans all over Spain during the last 15 years, and he has also worked in farmed habitats where wildlife and farmers coexist. Gonzalo is the facilitator of the Farm Cluster in Spain, located in Cordoba (sourthern Spain).

Agronomist at INRA-Ecodev. < Back Dr Servane Penvern Agronomist at INRA-Ecodev. Dr Penvern works on plant protection and environment. She has national mission in the coordination of INRA researches for organic cropping systems. She is currently involved in a project of development in the PACA region ‘integrating farm animals in orchard’ (PEI- DEPASSE).

Head of the Institute of Zoology < Back Prof. Thomas Frank Head of the Institute of Zoology Prof Frank is a zoologist with habilitation in ecology and has about 80 peer-reviewed SCI ranked research publications. He has expertise in biodiversity of arthropods, animal-plant interactions, predator-prey interactions, and land-use change effects on organisms. Currently, TF works on the effects of the re-establishment of grasslands on the promotion of farmland biodiversity and key ecosystem services, the impact of abandonment of alpine grasslands on biodiversity, regulating ecosystem services, human health and well-being, biodiversity monitoring in agroecosystems, and the implementation of linear semi-natural habitats adjoining intensively used grassland to support insect diversity. TF has led and leads/co-leads many national and international research projects, e.g. funded by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF), Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW), Austrian Ministries, and the EU. He worked for eleven years at the University of Bern, Switzerland. He currently supervises three PhD students and co-supervises two PhD students, and has been reviewer for about 35 scientific journals. TF is member of the managing board of the Ecological Society of Germany, Austria and Switzerland (GfÖ), advisor in the National Biodiversity Commission of Austria, and full member of the Österreichische Entomologische Gesellschaft (ÖEG). FRAMEwork contribution: WP2, WP4

Agronomist at Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Pisa, Italy. < Back Virginia Bagnoni Agronomist at Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Pisa, Italy. Virginia Bagnoni is Agronomist and territorial facilitator at Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna's Institute of Plant Sciences in Pisa, Italy. She manages the Val Graziosa farmer cluster of 15 olive farming companies in Monte Pisano's terraced landscapes. Framework-biodiversity (https://www.framework-biodiversity.eu/post/2023-farmer-clusters)Her work integrates biodiversity monitoring, ecosystem services valorization, and sustainable Mediterranean agriculture, coordinating collaborative conservation efforts between farmers and researchers.

The trust has spent over 60 years conducting extension work and researching sympathetic ways of managing the countryside for the benefit of Britain’s game and wildlife. < Back Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust The trust has spent over 60 years conducting extension work and researching sympathetic ways of managing the countryside for the benefit of Britain’s game and wildlife. The Trust has expertise in agroecology, biological control, biometrics, botany, entomology, farming systems, GIS, landscape management for biodiversity, mammal ecology and ornithology. This expertise has been used to provide practical management advice for biodiversity conservation in agricultural areas in the UK and, for over 70 years, provide inputs into policy. GWCT promotes its findings to scientists, conservationists and land managers through scientific publication (with 1400 scientific publications since 1970), conferences, the media, advice and education. The Trust operates two demonstration farms, one arable of 333 ha in England and the other arable/livestock of 417 ha in Scotland. Seven in-house advisors provide on-farm advice and organise on-farm knowledge exchange events. GCT has expertise in citizen science operating two monitoring schemes that involve farmers: the partridge count scheme, on approximately 500 farms per annum, and the Big Farmland Bird count on over 1400 farms. The 14 strong communications department reach farmers, the wider agricultural community and policy makers through a variety of media including information leaflets, a scientific annual review, in-house magazine, website, facebook, blogs and twitter. Advisors and scientists frequently present at farming conferences, workshops and farm-based events. GWCT also runs several long-term monitoring schemes on farmland insects, plants, birds and game species. Relevant to the call are the two unique databases in which there is annual data on densities of farmland invertebrates, arable plants and crop management inputs: the 50-year old Sussex Study from across 62 km2 and 25-year old study from the English GCT demonstration farm. GCT also holds national data on the autumn and spring densities of grey partridge since 1933. GCT has taken a leading role in developing and facilitating the Farmer Cluster movement in the UK which is helping farmers to help themselves, and their neighbours, to deliver greater biodiversity and environmental benefits. Previous Next

A digital content company offering communications, knowledge and project management consultancy. < Back Taskscape Associates A digital content company offering communications, knowledge and project management consultancy. Taskscape adds value to values-led projects by enhancing their communication and dissemination workflows. In H2020 FRAMEwork Taskscape (TAL) will consult on and help facilitate project coordination and communication. TAL will assist coordinating partner The James Hutton Institute by aligning the project's communication and dissemination strategy with project activities and aims for enhanced impact and legacy. This includes providing reports, training and digital platforms as well as a range of custom digital content and workflows to support internal and external communication. More about Taskscape Taskscape Associates is a boutique consultancy and digital content company based out of the north of England, UK. Founded in 2006, Taskscape has spent 20 years delivering bespoke services and content strands for predominantly international projects funded by backers including the Gates Foundation, UN and European Union. Previous Next

Head of Farmland Ecology and has been an agro-ecologist for 30 years with a broad expertise of farmland ecosystems, Integrated Crop Management, farmland wildlife and development of remedial measures including exploitation of ecosystem services. < Back Prof. John Holland Head of Farmland Ecology and has been an agro-ecologist for 30 years with a broad expertise of farmland ecosystems, Integrated Crop Management, farmland wildlife and development of remedial measures including exploitation of ecosystem services. Professor Holland is also an associate professor at the University of Sussex (from Sept 2016) and has co-ordinated the EU FP7 QuESSA project and been the lead scientist of many nationally funded projects. He has over 80 publications in peer-reviewed journals and conducted outreach activities involving policy makers, government statutory bodies, Non-Government Organisations, land managers and technical advisors. He is a Council member of the International Organisation for Biological Control/WPRS and an international authority of farmland invertebrates.