National Crop Clusters (NCCs)

A multi-actor approach will be the backbone of the SUPPORT research process as follows:

  • 25 National Crop Clusters (NCCs) will be used for data collection. NCCs are a selection of cases covering a wide range of farm typologies, sectors and systems representative of the diversity of farming in the EU and associated countries.
  • In 9 of those NCCs, Community of Practices (CoPs) will be developed with public and private stakeholders to co-create strategies and policies.
  • The CoPs will be embedded in a Network of Practice (NoP), an overarching platform connecting all stakeholders.
  • The NoP will be used to communicate, discuss and disseminate results of SUPPORT with the entire community of stakeholders in the EU.
Stakeholder Ecosystem: Implementation of the multi-actor approach

The NCCs include wheat, maize, onion, potato, strawberry, apple, wine grape and olive. These crops were selected for their empirical diversity and suitability in studying the IPM techniques, barriers and drivers in different food sectors, with vastly different production methods and unique sustainability challenges. In identifying the NCCs, a balance has been sought between annual vs. perennial crops; specialty products vs. commodities; broad geographical spread in different climatic zones.

The 25 SUPPORT NCCs represent a high variety of crop systems both in perennial and in annual crops in Europe in the different bio-geographical regions.