The aim of the project DOMINO is to reduce external inputs in intensive organic fruit orchards for pest control and fertilization and to improve the overall productivity and sustainability of this agroecosystem. This will be tackled by increasing orchard biodiversity, adaption of plant protection strategies to new demands and more adapted fertilisation strategies using efficient recycling of organic residues and microbial consortia. In addition, these new management practices are expected to stabilize the cash flow of the farmers by the introduction of secondary cash crops, leading to the design of mixed orchard systems more resilient to climatic and socio-economic challenges.
Materials produced by the project are here available and can be downloaded freely.
Some references that are at the conceptual basis of the project can be found here.
Project leaflet – It contains information about the “philosophy” of the project, activities planned and contacts.
Stakeholders’ questionnaire – It can be used by any advisor or stakeholder interested to be involved in the project activities to provide some basic information about the cropping system used in the farm or by farmers. Once filled it can be sent to Michael Friedli (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.). You will be contacted and informed constantly about project activities and results.
Seminar on weed management in organic farming by agroecological service crops.
An article Published by de Fruticultura "Analizada la relación entre árbol y suelo en la X Jornada de fruticultura ecológica de Alfarràs". It reports data on the Italian trends on organic fruit production and focuses on some of the pivotal issues on orchard management. In particular targets and guidelines of the DOMINO project on soil management are reported: the deep knowledge on soil/root interaction, and the valorisation of ecosystem biodiversity are indicated as key points for a sustainable orchard management.