Diversification increases the resilience of European grassland-based systems but is not a one-size-fits-all strategy

Diversification of grassland-based systems is highly valued in agroecology, organic farming and other forms of regenerative agriculture. For Mediterranean, mountain and lowland areas, we illustrate that diversification of grassland types, livestock, products and farm labour allows coping with market, climatic and workforce-related risks. However, diversification is not a one- size- fits-all strategy. Farmers' technical skills and ability to re-organize and monitor the system must be considered to avoid ineffectiveness of the diversified system. Moreover, it is essential to account for site-specific conditions so that the ecological processes to be optimized can provide the expected benefits. Diversification occurs on different levels, from grassland and feed resources to the entire farm activity. There may be trade-offs among these different levels impairing grassland ecosystem services. For instance, if diversification of farm activities dilutes workforce, simplified grassland management can lead to the loss of vegetation communities of high ecological value. In contrast, case-adapted diversification benefits from local opportunities, available resources and external supports to secure the system and favour sustainable resource management. Thereby, diversification preserves grassland ecosystem services and enhances farm socio-economic resilience to withstand perturbations.