AGRI-DRY

Dryland Agriculture and Land Use
Past, Present and Future Resilience

Dryland Agriculture and Land Use:
Past, Present and Future Resilience

The interest in traditional agriculture is a worldwide trend: as people reclaim their heritage, they increasingly turn to lessons learned by their ancestors about how to sustainability interact with their environment.

The Horizon Europe-Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Doctoral Network AGRI-DRY aims to develop an interdisciplinary approach to traditional crop cultivation through the recognition of the complementary value of cultural heritage and sustainable living.

AGRI-DRY is a four-year Horizon Europe Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Doctoral Network, funded by the European Commission and UKRI. The network is composed of 6 academic institutions from Spain, the United Kingdom, Italy, Denmark, Botswana and South Africa. AGRI-DRY will integrate leading researchers within this research field to recruit 10 doctoral candidates and offer them the unique opportunity to perform top-level and high impact research, whilst working to obtain a PhD.

This project is coordinated by Universitat Pompeu Fabra and University of Glasgow.

Our research

AGRI-DRY will train 10 doctoral candidates in new interdisciplinary approaches to examine three interlinked research questions:

How and why have agricultural systems emerged and developed in the light of evolving needs and changing environmental conditions?
What were the impacts of these systems on modern and ancient land use and ecosystems, and on our climate systems historically, and how do they continue to impact these today?
What can be learnt from these ancient and traditional agricultural systems for policy and practical applications around current food production, social and ecological resilience, and climate mitigation?

Our emphasis is on drylands, using the Mediterranean Basin, North Africa and the Sahara, and Southern Africa as our main geographic focus.

Agricultural landscapes are a testimony to humanity’s long interaction with the land, often unique examples of the whole people-nature system. They demonstrate a rich cultural and landscape diversity, sustainable land-use systems and, in some cases, people’s daily struggle for survival under extreme climatic and environmental conditions. The key role of the traditional knowledge of indigenous people and local communities for ecosystem management and sustainable use of resources is now recognized, in light of climate change.

AGRI-DRY aims to bring about a significant reorientation of European and African doctoral training in traditional agriculture. The change will involve both substance and approach. The substance is the strong focus on rigorous techniques for interdisciplinary research. The approach is the emphasis on both research and applicative work, through the participation of both academic and advocacy and policy-making institutions. AGRI-DRY represents a unique opportunity for European young researchers to enjoy a wide array of training opportunities that will be competitive with the best programmes offered outside Europe.