SSSA Living Lab - ITALY
Name / Location | Tuscany Region, Italy |
Lead Partner | Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna (SSSA)  |
Agroecological Zone | Mediterranean |
Climate Type | Mediterranean, temperate with dry summers |
Legumes Tested |
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Cropping System Type | Diversified cereal–legume rotations |
Agroecological Practices Applied |
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Living Lab Board Composition | 2 Farmers, 2 advisors, 2 researchers, 3 agri-food actors and 1 regional stakeholder (10 members) |
Duration of Field Trials | 3 growing seasons |
Key Ecosystem Services Targeted |
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Overview
The Italian Living Lab, coordinated by Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, operates in a Mediterranean cereal-dominated farming landscape where crop rotations have progressively simplified over time.
The Living Lab focuses on the strategic reintegration of chickpea into cereal systems, addressing soil fertility, nitrogen fixation and biodiversity loss. Through participatory on-station trials, the Lab evaluates innovative diversification strategies combining cropping system diversification approaches at genetic and species level to maximize ecosystem service delivery.
By generating robust field-based evidence, the Italian LL contributes directly to CAP objectives promoting longer rotations, crop diversification and environmentally beneficial crops.
Main Challenges
Italian cereal-based systems face structural and environmental constraints, including:
- Reduced crop diversification and short rotations
- Increasing weed pressure in simplified systems
- Dependency on mineral nitrogen fertilizers
- Yield variability under Mediterranean climate conditions
- Limited economic incentives for grain legume cultivation
These pressures undermine long-term soil fertility and reduce the resilience of farming systems to climate variability.
Legume-Based Response
Agroecological Strategy
The Italian Living Lab implements a 3D diversification framework:
- Genetic diversity: evaluation of chickpea genotypes adapted to Mediterranean conditions
- Species diversity: diversifying crop rotations by inclusion of legume crops
- Spatial diversity: testing chickpea variety mixtures
This approach enhances biological nitrogen fixation while improving crop complementarity and ecological regulation.
Cropping Systems Demonstrated
Indicative rotation scheme:
- Vetch → Wheat → Chickpea
The system is tested under multiple management configurations to assess:
- Nitrogen fixation efficiency
- Yield quantity and stability
- Weed suppression capacity
- Soil health indicators
- Economic performance
Field measurements are supported by biodiversity and soil monitoring to quantify the level of ecosystem service provisioning.
Demonstration & Co-Creation
The Italian LL operates as a structured multi-actor innovation space, bringing together:
- Cereal and legume farmers
- Agronomic advisors
- Researchers
- Value-chain representatives
Technical meetings and demonstration events allow stakeholders to evaluate system performance in real conditions and provide feedback on practical feasibility.
The co-creation process ensures that diversification strategies are adapted to local production realities and aligned with farmers’ economic priorities.
The data feed directly into:
- Cost–benefit analyses
- Life Cycle Assessments
The Decision Support System (DSS)
Expected Impact
The Italian Living Lab delivers measurable contributions towards:
- Reduced nitrogen fertilizer requirements through biological fixation
- Improved weed regulation via diversified cropping
- Increased rotation resilience under Mediterranean climate stress
- Enhanced soil biodiversity and fertility
- Strengthened economic viability of chickpea-based systems
By demonstrating technically feasible and economically assessed legume integration pathways, the Italian LL provides replicable solutions for cereal-dominated regions across Southern Europe.
