On Thursday 23 November, our third and already final consortium meeting of this first year took place. More than 80 of our members were present at HAS Green Academy in Den Bosch and shared their experiences of transition in agriculture.

Erik Poelman and Dirk van Apeldoorn kicked off with a brief update from the programme and handed over to field assistants Anna and Bart. They gave an insight into the results of our measurements on the participating arable farms. Although we cannot draw any conclusions yet, the raw data show that more species of birds were found in strip cropping than in full-field cropping, especially in autumn. The weighted biomass of earthworms was roughly similar between the strip and monoculture plots, but species diversity remains to be investigated.

The meeting was particularly focused on living labs. PJ Beers and Luc van Veghel presented no fewer than 25 potential ideas for living labs, which were discussed in groups. Five of them were pitched by consortium partners:

• the role of farm advisors;
• short chain retail chains;
• use of machinery;
• easier administration;
• earning potential in the long chain.

The goal: to come up with concrete activities and collaborations. And we succeeded! Several partners found each other to work together. Among others, Miriam van Bree (CIV Groen), growers Gert Noordhoff and Roy Michielsen (ERF B.V.), and Marius Monen (Avans) found each other to work on sprinkling in the strips. Students, farmers and free thinkers are challenged to find a solution to this.

By experimenting, learning and innovating together in our living labs, we are working towards sustainable agriculture with concrete solutions and "not climbing on cloud nine", as Thea van Beers (Agrifirm) summed it up nicely.