Deadline: 06-Oct-21
The European Commission (EC) has announced Agroecological approaches for climate change mitigation, resilient agricultural production and enhanced biodiversity.
Achieving sustainable agricultural production that fosters both climate change mitigation and adaptation of agriculture to climate change is a policy objective that implies finding a balance with productivity and wider sustainability goals, such as preserving and enhancing biodiversity.
Agroecology can provide an important contribution to achieving these objectives, while at the same time enhancing food and nutrition security, thus contributing to achieving the objectives of the farm to fork and biodiversity strategies and the Sustainable Development Goals.
Agroecology is a holistic approach that relies on and maximises the use of ecological processes to support agricultural production.
By working more with nature and ecosystem services, agroecology has the potential to increase the circularity, diversification and autonomy of farms, and drive a full transformation of farming systems, from input substitution and beyond.
The effectiveness of agroecology is context-specific and practices need to be implemented on a significant proportion of farms to deliver tangible impacts on sustainability.
Specific methods and indicators are needed to monitor and quantify the positive effects of these practices on climate change mitigation and adaptation at the farm and landscape levels, along with its impacts on yield stability, farm viability and biodiversity, for different farming systems and pedo-climatic conditions.
Moreover, improving farmers’ uptake of agroecological practices calls for specific support measures and for the design of specific business cases at the farm and landscape levels.
Activities should improve knowledge of the contribution of agroecological practices to climate change mitigation, increased adaptation of farming to climate change, and preservation and enhancement of biodiversity, while ensuring farm profitability, thus providing an important contribution to policy design.
Proposals should cover the wide range of crops and farming systems present in the EU and Associated Countries agricultural sector, from conventional to organic.
Proposals must implement the ‘multi-actor approach’, and ensure adequate involvement of the farming sector.
Funding Information
The check will normally be done for the coordinator if the requested grant amount is equal to or greater than EUR 500 000, except for:
- public bodies (entities established as a public body under national law, including local, regional or national authorities) or international organisations; and
- cases where the individual requested grant amount is not more than EUR 60 000 (lowvalue grant).
Expected Outcomes
Project results are expected to contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:
- Increased and robust evidence of the potential of agroecology for climate change (mitigation and adaptation), its climate neutrality potential, impact on biodiversity, and the potential for improving farm socio-economic resilience.
- This should be achieved through quantitative and qualitative assessments allowing to identify and monitor the implementation and performance of optimal combinations of agroecological practices and strategies, as well as trade-offs or gains, barriers and drivers, for different crops and systems representative of the diversity of EU and Associated Countries farming, and at the farm and landscape level;
- Qualitative and quantitative data availability of the social, economic and environmental sustainability and performance of agroecological strategies, contributing to a dependable and transparent knowledge base for EU policy design and implementation (common agricultural policy (CAP), European Green Deal, objectives of the farm to fork and biodiversity strategies, etc.);
- Increased understanding, adoption and implementation of agroecological practices by farmers;
- Improved understanding of the definition of agroecology and of its application to EU and Associated Countries farming.
Eligibility Criteria
To be eligible for funding, applicants must be established in one of the eligible countries, i.e.:
- the Member States of the European Union, including their outermost regions;
- the Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs) linked to the Member States;
- eligible non-EU countries:
- countries associated to Horizon Europe;
- low- and middle-income countries.
For more information, visit https://bit.ly/3xk1726