AGRIRESEARCH FACTSHEET ECOLOGICAL APPROACHES AND Why do research and innovation support ecological approaches and organic farming? and forestry have to meet the changing needs Specific types of farming systems that implement ecological of society both in terms of consumption and with regards approaches have developed in Europe and across the world, to the environmental issues related to primary production and they have their own research and innovation needs. (e.g. biodiversity, habitats, water quality and quantity, cli- These include the organic sector, which is the largest such mate change, air quality). A deeper understanding of eco- farming system with a dedicated regulatory framework and logical principles is changing perceptions on the functioning dynamic market growth. Collaboration with other parts of of primary production systems and will make it possible to the food and non-food supply chain is necessary to develop use ecosystem services to benefit sustainable and resilient effective, new and creative solutions and business models land use systems without jeopardising profitability. Integrat- especially for radical eco-innovations. Ecological approaches ed ecological approaches are a promising area of research are knowledge-intensive and depend on combining formal and innovation. This includes the interactions between plants and practical knowledge with modern technologies and prac- and/or animals and other organisms, as well as the interac- tices. Knowledge relating to agro-ecosystems is site-specific tions within the soil, and ecosystem services such as pol- and evolving. Innovations are expected to capitalise on lo- lination, biological pest control, maintenance of soil structure cal conditions and provide place and tailor-made solutions. and fertility, nutrient cycling and hydrological services, most Long-term experiments and an appropriate research infra- of which are not well known yet. structure need to be developed to meet the specific needs of ecological approaches in relation to -in particular- landscape levels and their evolution over longer periods of time. Ecological approaches and organic farming under Horizon 2020 Societal Challenge 2 (SC2) Key themes – Organic Farming – Biodiversity – Ecosystem Services – Landscape – Agriculture – Forestry 41 236 M€ 746 – – pollination – biocontrol Projects or expected EU contribution Participations in – diversification – mixed farming – grants 2014-2020 selected projects permanent grassland Agriculture and Rural JUNE 2019 UPDATE Development AGRIRESEARCH

European Innovation Partnership (EIP-AGRI)

The EIP-AGRI has been designed as a key initiative for creating and sharing knowledge. Alongside the “multi-actor” projects under Horizon 2020, Operational Groups (OGs) enable to re- spond to local initiatives and site-specific conditions ensuring a bottom-up approach to innovation in agriculture.

Ecological approaches, organic and mixed farming under EIP-AGRI activities

Focus groups: • Mixed farming systems: /cash crops bit.ly/2JiK9Z8 • Agroforestry bit.ly/2uQLumY • Ecological Focus Areas bit.ly/2q9FeRJ • Organic Farming: optimising arable yields bit.ly/2GBebdf • Protein crops bit.ly/2HbtfuW • Permanent Grassland bit.ly/2q6MJJd • Sustainable High Nature Value (HNV) farming bit.ly/2EjNinP • Non-chemical weed management in arable cropping systems bit.ly/2W0IqSv

Workshop and seminar examples: : • Organic is operational bit.ly/2uOESoX • Tools for environmental performance bit.ly/2HboMs8 • Protein crops bit.ly/2q7yJiZ • Cropping for the future: networking for crop rotation and crop diversification bit.ly/2VoAmGL • Agri-Innovation summit 2019 on agroecology bit.ly/2XgGAfR

Organic farming and agro-environmental challenges are both part of the top five themes of the first Operational Groups funded under Rural Development programmes alongside with plant protection, precision farming, and new supply chains. Among the long list of running OGs, some examples:

Operational group examples

Development of a commercial line for biodiversity and local fruit and vegetable products bit.ly/2q6VhQc

Cover crop management for improved soil biology bit.ly/2uOFKdm

Nitrogen supply and control of Rhizoctonia solani in organic potato production bit.ly/2GYd2vr

Organic egg bit.ly/2GCnDsJ

Innovative arable crop system with leguminous crop bit.ly/2qaiDEr

Organic dock control Development and implementation with fiery clearwing moths bit.ly/2Ek9sGI

Agroforestry with horticultural crops - A multifunctional farm for peri-urban areas bit.ly/2IwA9Ky FACTSHEET ECOLOGICAL APPROACHES AND ORGANIC FARMING

Horizon 2020 SC2 collaborative projects – Ecological approaches and organic farming

Organic Farming

Many projects and H2020 research topics cover both conventional and organic farming; the projects listed below are dedi- cated to organic farming.

CORE Organic Cofund CORE Organic Cofund is the continuation of a 10+ year ERA net supporting trans-European research www.coreorganiccofund.org and innovation within and agriculture. The latest programme supports 12 projects with Total cost: 20.6M€ a total of 14 M€ covering four thematic areas: EC contribution: 5M€ • Ecological support in specialised and intensive plant production systems Coordinator: Icrofs • Eco-efficient production and use of animal feed at local level Dec. 2016 – Nov. 2021 • Appropriate and robust livestock systems: , pigs , poultry • Organic food processing concepts and technologies for ensuring food quality, sustainability and consumer confidence.

OK-Net Arable MA The overall aim of ‘OK-Net Arable’ was to increase productivity and quality in organic arable cropping www.ok-net-arable.eu by improving the knowledge exchange among farmers, farm advisers and scientists. To achieve this, Total cost: 2.2M€ the project synthesized existing knowledge. Based on this, advisory material that is easy to use was EC contribution: 2M€ collected. An online platform (farmknowledge.org) was made to make the advisory material available Coordinator: IFOAM - EU for a wide audience of farmers and advisers and facilitate farmer-to-farmer learning across Europe. Mar. 2015 – Feb. 2018

OK-Net EcoFeed MA OK-Net EcoFeed aims at helping organic pig and poultry farmers in achieving the goal of 100% use www.ok-net-ecofeed.eu of organic and regional feed. The project will create a European network of innovation groups that Total cost: 2M€ will facilitate the exchange of knowledge among the different sectors. These groups will identify EC contribution: 2M€ innovations from the ground up and ensure that solutions disseminated by the project “work in Coordinator: IFOAM - EU the real world”. All knowledge generated by the project will be made available on the organic Jan. 2018 – Dec. 2020 farmknowledge platform.

LIVESEED MA The objective of LIVESEED is to improve transparency and competitiveness of the organic seed and www.liveseed.eu breeding sector, encouraging greater use of organic seed. Cultivars adapted to organic systems are Total cost: 9M€ key for realising the full potential of organic agriculture in Europe. It will investigate socio-economic EC contribution: 7.5M€ aspects relating to the use and production of organic seed and their interaction with EU regulations. Coordinator: IFOAM - EU Jun. 2017 – May 2021

Organic-PLUS MA ‘Organic-PLUS’ combines its focus on organic principles and bio-economy to improve resilience and organic-plus.net ensure quality assurance within organic production, but also reduced environmental impact and Total cost: 4 M€ fairer, more reliable rules and regulations that organic consumers (current and new) can trust to EC contribution: 4 M€ “buy-into” the growth of the sector. Coordinator: Coventry University May 2018 – April 2022

BRESOV MA BRESOV deals with the urgent need to provide climate-resilient cultivars for organic vegetable bresov.eu production systems. It will explore the genetic diversity of three of the economically most significant Total cost: 7 M€ vegetable crops (broccoli, snap bean and tomato) and will improve the competitiveness of these EC contribution: 6 M€ three crops in an organic and sustainable environment. The consortium’s overall aim is to increase Coordinator: Universita degli the plants’ tolerance to biotic and abiotic stresses, to adapt the varieties to the specific requirements studi di Catania of organic and low-input production processes, and to increase quality of organic seed. May 2018 – April 2022 AGRIRESEARCH

ECOBREED MA ECOBREED will improve the availability of seed and varieties suitable for organic and low input ecobreed.eu production. Activities will focus on four crop species, i.e. common wheat, potato, soybean and Total cost: 6.2€ common buckwheat. The project will develop (a) methods, strategies and infrastructures for organic EC contribution: 5.7 M€ breeding, (b) varieties with improved stress resistance, resource use efficiency and qualityMA = andMulti-actor (c) Coordinator: Kmetijski Institut improved methods for the production of high quality organic seed. Slovenije May 2018 – April 2023

RELACS MA The overall objective of RELACS is to foster development and facilitate adoption of cost-efficient and relacs-project.eu environmentally safe tools and technologies, to phase out the dependency on and use of contentious Total cost: 4 M€ inputs in organic farming systems. RELACS will reduce the use of copper and mineral oil, manure EC contribution: 4 M€ from conventional , provide alternatives to excessive use of anthelmintics in small ruminants, Coordinator: reduce antibiotic use in dairy cattle and moderate reliance on synthetic vitamins in cattleand poultry Forschungsinstitut für production. Biologischen Landbau Stiftung Schweiz May 2018 – April 2022 FACTSHEET ECOLOGICAL APPROACHES AND ORGANIC FARMING

Nitrogen fixing crops

LEGVALUE MA LEGVALUE objectives are to define platforms for change that can help deliver greater EU self- www.legvalue.eu sufficiency in crop protein production, to identify opportunities for innovation, adding value to markets Total cost: 6M€ and all participants in the value chains and to recognise opportunities to influence change, be they EC contribution: 5M€ at commercial, research or policy level. The ultimate benefits are the fostering of more profitable Coordinator: Terres Inovia legume production in the EU to satisfy a larger more valuable and diverse market to the financial Jun. 2017 – May 2021 benefit along value chains and to deliver social and environmental benefits to all.

TRUE MA TRUE aims to identify the best “transition paths” to increase sustainable legume cultivation and www.true-project.eu consumption across Europe. Analysis and modelling approaches combined with data generated from Total cost: 5M€ Case Studies and transdisciplinary knowledge-exchange will lead to concrete innovations and to a EC contribution: 5M€ Decision Support Tool for primary producers, agronomists, processors, associated businesses and Coordinator: James Hutton decision makers to help determine a range of options for successful transitions with a variety of Institute legume species and processing approaches to match the pedo-climatic zones and farm types. Apr. 2017 – Mar. 2021

EUCLEG EUCLEG aims to improve diversification, crop productivity, yield stability and protein quality of both www.eucleg.eu forage (alfalfa and red clover) and grain (pea, faba bean and soybean) legumes. Using diverse and Total cost: 7.8M€ extensive genetic resources and taking advantage of advanced molecular tools, EUCLEG aims to EC contribution: 5M€ identify and develop the best genetic resources, phenotyping methods and molecular tools to breed Coordinator: INRA legume varieties with improved performance under biotic and abiotic stresses in the representative Sept. 2017 – Aug. 2021 European and Chinese agro-ecological areas. AGRIRESEARCH

Crop diversification and climate smart farming

DIVERSify MA DIVERSify is a multidisciplinary and multi-actor partnership which will co-construct a new applied www.plant-teams.eu/ approach to optimise the performance of plant species mixtures (or ‘plant teams’) and develop tools Total cost: 5M€ to support implementation. It will unravel the mechanisms underpinning the benefits associated EC contribution: 5M€ with cropping of plant teams and identify the plant traits and agronomic practices promoting Coordinator: James Hutton these benefits, developing tools and guidelines for farming practitioners in diverse environmental Institute conditions. Apr. 2017 – Mar. 2021

ReMIX MA ReMIX will allow designing cropping systems based on agro- for the benefit of farmers and www.remix-intercrops.eu the whole EU agricultural community. It will exploit the benefits of species mixtures to design more Total cost: 6M€ diversified and resilient agro-ecological cropping systems. Based on a multi-actor approach, ReMIX EC contribution: 5M€ will produce new knowledge that is both scientifically credible and socially valuable in conventional Coordinator: INRA and organic agriculture. The project will tackle practical questions and co-design ready-to-use May 2017 – Apr. 2021 practical solutions.

DiverIMPACTS MA DiverIMPACTS seeks to achieve the full potential of diversification of cropping systems for improved www.diverimpacts.net productivity, delivery of ecosystem services and resource-efficient and sustainable value chains. Total cost: 11.2M€ It will assess the performance of crop diversification through rotation, intercropping and multiple EC contribution: 10M€ cropping. It will also provide rural actors with key enablers and innovations that will help removing Coordinator: INRA existing barriers and ensure the uptake of crop diversification benefits at farm, value chain and Jun. 2017 – May 2022 territorial levels.

DIVERFARMING MA With the long-term objective to increase diversification and biodiversity in Europe and to foster www.diverfarming.eu sustainable development of the bioeconomy, Diverfarming will develop and deploy innovative Total cost: 10.5M€ farming and strategies. Diverfarming will increase the long-term resilience, EC contribution: 10M€ sustainability and economic revenues of agriculture across the EU by assessing the real benefits and Coordinator: U. Politecnica de minimising the limitations, barriers and drawbacks of diversified cropping systems under low-input Cartagena agronomic practices, and by adapting and optimising the organisation of downstream value chains. May 2017 – Apr. 2022

SUPER-G MA SUPER-G aims to co-develop sustainable permanent grasslands systems and policies with farmers super-g.eu/ and policy makers that will be effective in optimising productivity, whilst supporting biodiversity Total cost: 10 M€ and delivering a number of other ecosystem services. The benchmarking and testing involves a EC contribution: 10 M€ network of farms and experimental platforms in 14 countries covering the Mediterranean, Atlantic, Coordinator: University of Continental, Alpine, Pannonian and Boreal regions. Newcastle Upon Tyne June 2018 – May 2023 FACTSHEET ECOLOGICAL APPROACHES AND ORGANIC FARMING

PoshBee MA PoshBee is addressing the issue of stressors – agrochemicals, pathogens, and nutrition – to ensure poshbee.eu the sustainable health of bees and their pollination services in Europe. Integrating the knowledge and Total cost: 10 M€ experience of local beekeeping and farming organisations and academic researchers (including the EU contribution: 9 M€ EU RefLab for bee health), it will provide a comprehensive pan-European assessment of the exposure Coordinator: Royal Holloway & hazard of chemicals, pathogens and nutritional stress for solitary, bumble, and honey bees across Bedford New College two major cropping systems. June 2018 – May 2023

EcoStack MA EcoStack focuses on the management of beneficial organisms in the field to maximise ecosystem ecostack-h2020.eu services for the production of crops. The interactions between trophic levels (microbe-plant- Total cost: 10 M€ herbivore-natural enemy / pollinator), and functional biodiversity at different levels (within and EC contribution: 10 M€ between species, fields, landscapes), will be stacked for maximising farmer benefits and system Coordinator: Università degli resilience. Studi di Napoli Sept. 2018 – Sept. 2023

EXCALIBUR MA Excalibur plans to deepen the knowledge on soil biodiversity dynamics and its synergistic effects bit.ly/2JUrZ3r with prebiotic and probiotic approaches in horticulture. New multifunctional soil microbial inoculants Total cost: 7 M€ and bio-effectors will be tested on three model crops (e.g. tomato, apple, strawberry) to enhance EC contribution: 7 M€ the positive roles of native biodiversity across Europe. Moreover, the project will develop a Coordinator: CREA comprehensive strategy of soil management including models and technical tools improving the June 2019 – May 2024 effectiveness of biocontrol and biofertilization practices in agriculture.

SoildiverAgro MA SoildiverAgro aims to enhance the adoption of new management practices and cropping systems bit.ly/311MAIt that enhance soil genetic and functional biodiversity to reduce the use of external inputs while Total cost: 7 M€ increasing crop production and quality, the delivery of ecosystem services and the EU agricultural EC contribution: 7 M€ stability and resilience. The project will analyse farming systems and test innovative methods and Coordinator: University of Vigo practices in various pedoclimatic regions. June 2019 – May 2024

STARGATE MA STARGATE will focus on Climate Smart Agriculture and will study the benefits of applying agri- Web environment-climate technical solutions to achieve sustainable agricultural development at Total cost: 7 M€ landscape level. It means to support farm management modernisation and at the same time get to EC contribution: 7 M€ know the underlying ecological factors that shape the farming landscape. Coordinator: Center for Research and Technology Hellas Oct. 2019 - Sept. 2023 AGRIRESEARCH

Socio-economics

LIFT LIFT explores the potential benefits of the adoption of ecological farming in the EU and seeks lift-h2020.eu/ to increase the understanding of how socio-economic and policy factors impact the adoption, Total cost: 5 M€ performance and sustainability of ecological farming at various scales, from the level of the single EC contribution: 5 M€ farm to that of a territory. LIFT will also develop new private arrangements and policy instruments Coordinator: INRA that could improve the adoption and subsequent performance and sustainability of the rural nexus. May 2018 – April 2022

UNISECO UNISECO seeks to enhance the understanding of socio-economic and policy drivers and barriers for uniseco-project.eu/ further development and implementation of agro-ecological practices in EU farming systems. Using Total cost: 5 M€ multi-actor platforms UNISECO will co-construct improved and practice-validated strategies and EC contribution: 5 M€ incentives for the implementation of agro-ecological practices and provide a methodological toolkit Coordinator: Johann Heinrich to assess the environmental, economic and social impacts of innovative strategies and incentives at Thuenen Institut farm and territorial levels. May 2018 – April 2021

Integrated pest management including weed management SC2 projects dealing with biological control and integrated pest management, are clustered in a specific factsheet on plant health, including IWMPRAISE on integrated weed management:

IWMPRAISE MA IWMPRAISE aims to support the implementation of Integrated Weed Management (IWM). It will iwmpraise.eu demonstrate that adoption of IWM supports more sustainable cropping systems both agronomically Total cost: 7 M€ and environmentally, which are resilient to external impacts without jeopardising profitability or EC contribution: 6,6 M€ the steady supply of food, feed and biomaterials. IWMPRAISE aims to develop, test and assess Coordinator: Aarhus University management strategies delivered across whole cropping systems for four contrasting scenarios Jun. 2017 to May 2022 representing typical crops in Europe. FACTSHEET ECOLOGICAL APPROACHES AND ORGANIC FARMING

Compiling knowledge ready for practice – thematic networks

AFINET MA AFINET aims at improving knowledge exchange between scientists and practitioners on agroforestry www.eurafagroforestry.eu/ practices through the creation a knowledge cloud reservoir and a network of farmers to foster afinet agroforestry implementation at EU level, with a special focus on silvoarable (woody perennials and Total cost: 2 M€ arable crops combinations) and silvopastoral systems (woody perennials and livestock faming) EC contribution: 2 M€ design, management, production, profitability and policy. Coordinator: U. de Santiago de Compostela Jan. 2017 – Dec. 2019

CERERE MA CERERE aims at sustaining and promoting innovative approaches emerging in Europe from a www.cerere2020.eu/ multitude of practices adopted to introduce and manage agrobiodiversity in cereal production. These Total cost: 2 M€ innovations are rooted in local traditions, knowledge and food culture. EC contribution: 2 M€ Coordinator: U. of Reading Nov. 2016 – Oct. 2019

Inno4Grass MA The overall objective of Inno4Grass is to bridge the gap between practice and science communities www.inno4grass.eu to ensure the implementation of innovative systems on productive grasslands. The long term goal is Total cost: 2 M€ to increase profitability of European grassland farms and to preserve environmental values. EC contribution: 2 M€ Coordinator: Grünlandzentrum Jan. 2017 – Dec. 2019

HNV-Link MA Conceived as a “support service” for knowledge and innovation exchanges, the HNV-Link network www.hnvlink.eu/ will give a decisive new impetus to this sector, and will provide tools to organisations, actors and Total cost: 2.23M€ networks supporting High Nature Value (HNV) farmlands. EC contribution: 2.23M€ Coordinator: CIHEAM Apr. 2016 – Mar. 2019

Legumes Translated MA The Legumes Translated thematic network supports innovation in grain legume-supported cropping legumestranslated.eu/ systems and value-chains by linking sources and users of quality-assured knowledge using rigorous Total cost: 2 M€ knowledge synthesis and compilation. In addition to direct interaction between partners, an extensive EC contribution: 2 M€ range of communications using an internet-based knowledge platform (The Legume Hub) will secure Coordinator: Johann Heinrich long lasting document availability. Thuenen-Institut Nov. 2018 – Oct. 2021

Strengthening the European Research Area (ERA)

SusCrop ERA-NET Cofund on Sustainable Crop Production www.suscrop.eu The aim of the SusCrop is to strengthen the ERA in the field of crop research, in particular in relation Total cost: 15M€ to crop production. The SusCrop joint call for proposals will include systemic research on agricultural EC contribution: 5M€ crops as part of an ecosystem (“plant as a meta-organism”) additionally to breeding, IPM and Coordinator: FZ Juelich resource-use efficiency activities. Jan. 2018 – Dec. 2022 AGRIRESEARCH

Interesting activities under other Horizon 2020 sections

Funded through Horizon 2020 support to Infrastructures, supported through FP7-Infrastructure (bit.ly/2v6YNQg) and ENVRIplus (www.envriplus.eu) brings together Environmen- is part of the European Strategy Forum on Research Infra- tal and Earth System Research Infrastructures, projects and structures (ESFRI) roadmap (bit.ly/2GUvcem p41). ANAEE will networks to create a more coherent, interdisciplinary and provide a distributed and coordinated set of experimental, interoperable cluster of Environmental Research Infrastruc- analytical and modelling facilities in ecosystem science, ag- tures across Europe. AnaEE, the research infrastructure riculture and forestry, including highly equipped in natural for Analysis and Experimentation on Ecosystems has been experimental platforms.

In the pipeline – 8 projects to start under H2020 SC2 calls 2019 (60 M€)

Biodiversity in action: across farmland and the value chain - Capitalising on native biodiversity (2 projects, 16 M€) in farmland landscape MA Climate-smart and resilient farming - Efficiency and resilience of mixed farming and (2 projects, 14 M€) agroforestry systems MA Sustainable Intensification in Africa- African Farming Systems, sustainable intensification (4 projects, 30 M€) pathways MA

Funding opportunities - Open H2020 SC2 calls for 2020 (20 M€)

SFS-01-2018-2019-2020- Biodiversity in action: across farmland and the value chain (3 projects, 18 M€) C. (2020) From agrobiodiversity to dynamic value chains MA FNR-01-2020 - Strengthening the European agroecological research and (1 projects, 2 M€) innovation ecosystem FACTSHEET ECOLOGICAL APPROACHES AND ORGANIC FARMING

How does research on ecological approaches and organic farming support EU Policies?

Ensuring the environmental sustainability of agriculture is at the core of EU policies and measures, both inside the EU and in Commission’s external research and innovation and development cooperation policy. Ecological practices can make a decisive contribution to it, as explicitly recognised in the New European Consensus for Development. From the policy side, both the Organic Farming Regulation and the Common Agricultural Policy can be considered as tools with potential to foster ecological approaches in agriculture. Some of the measures provided for in the Rural Development regulation aim to make European agriculture more environmentally sustainable in particular by promoting agri-environmental measures and investments to tackle and adapt to climate change and to support areas with natural constraints. Within the first pillar of the CAP, three major greening practices (permanent grassland conservation, ecological focus areas and crop diversification) are being promoted to reduce the negative environmental impact of agricultural activities in the EU.

In its proposals tabled in June 2018 for the future Common agricultural policy (CAP), the European Commission sets higher ambitions on environmental and climate change. The policy will step up the incentives to reduce the pressure of agriculture on the environment while increasing the supply of public goods to the EU society. Mandatory requirements have been proposed to preserve carbon-rich soils, improve nutrient management and rotate crops. Farmers will have the possibility to contribute further and be rewarded for going beyond mandatory requirements through eco-schemes.

The Future CAP will play an important role in the contribution of the EU to the COP21 Paris Agreement and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This context will be particularly favourable for supporting agroecological practices, which are largely depending on local conditions. The future CAP provides also more emphasis on agricultural knowledge and innovation systems, including advisory systems and knowledge transfer and innovation, which are key for the development of agroecology.

Research and innovation activities were developed in close alignment with the current Common agricultural policy and the proposals tabled in 2018 as well as the EU action plan on Organic Farming.

More info:

• The Future of Food and Farming: bit.ly/2j2n9lF • Action Plan for the future of Organic Production in the European Union: bit.ly/2AxJAZT • The new European consensus on development “our world, our dignity, our future”: bit.ly/2w2YEbQ Designed & Printed by OIB Designed & Printed by

AGRIRESEARCH FACTSHEET ECOLOGICAL APPROACHES AND ORGANIC FARMING