The aim of BELIS is (i) to increase the competitiveness of the EU and Associated Countries legume breeding industry by improving the methodologies and the governance structures of the breeding sector; (ii) to design conditions that allow an efficient delivery of the achieved genetic progress to the breeders and seed industry, and to the other actors (registration offices, extension services, feed and food industry, farmers). The project will focus on seven forage crops and seven grain crop that are currently grown to produce feed (for ruminants – cattle, sheep, goat and monogastric animals – pig, poultry), food (as is or after processing) or to deliver ecosystem services. BELIS has three main objectives: (1) To develop tools and methodologies for cost-effective breeding programmes and deliver proofs of concept, with and for breeders, (2) To facilitate the economic and regulatory environment: variety registration, variety recommendation and business models, (3) To implement an efficient, ambitious and durable transfer of innovation through the BELIS platform that includes a network of breeders and actors from scientific research, extension services and seed, food and feed industries, as well as a training portfolio. By enabling the creation of improved varieties in many species, adapted to different areas and uses in Europe, this project is relevant for the destinations towards “Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services”, mainly contributing to “Access to a wider range of crops and breeds with a broadened genetic base is improved in line with global biodiversity commitments”. It also supports the “Practices in agriculture and forestry support biodiversity and the provision of other ecosystems services”. In addition, BELIS will have a positive input on natural biodiversity, reduction of air and water pollutions and farming system sustainability.

TRAILS4SOIL will co-create 5 Living Labs (LLs) across 9 European countries, encompassing 100 experimentation sites including 11 lighthouses. This initiative aims to address the urgent need for sustainable soil management in Europe by fostering stakeholder collaboration and overcoming barriers to the widespread implementation of better soil management farming systems. The project will develop pathways for implementing economic, policy, technical, and social measures to drive the transition towards a resilient and sustainable agri-food system grounded on healthy soils. Through innovative and participatory research in diverse agroecosystems, TRAILS4SOIL will demonstrate the potential of Regenerative and Conservation Agriculture Practices (ReCAP) to achieve the objectives of the EU Soil Mission. By actively engaging local communities in a multi-actor approach process TRAILS4SOIL will provide tailored scientific knowledge and technical guidelines, that will inspire and empower farmers and other stakeholders to promote sustainable land management improving soil health. The interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary expertise of the consortium, which includes 22 partners among universities, research centres and farmer associations, will ensure the achievement of the proposed objective. TRAILS4SOIL will advance the understanding of soil health by integrating cutting-edge technologies to facilitate the widespread adoption of sustainable soil management solutions.

Climate Smart Research (CSR) is a research & innovation project involving 29 Experimental Research Stations (ERS) across Europe. It will accelerate the transition to climate neutral agriculture. CSR contributes to EU climate goals by developing new Climate Smart Farming (CSF) knowledge and innovations and boost the potential of ERS in realising these goals. More specific CSR will: 1) Co-develop a conceptual foundation for Climate Smart research on agricultural ERS and uncovering implications on system level to assess effectivity, synergies and trade-offs of CSF; 2) Develop cutting edge CSF approaches on selected ERS across 4 pedo-climatic zones with significant mitigation of GHG emissions (-55% to climate neutral) and adaptation to climate change; 3) Collect and compare climate tool-kits, services and decision support systems also for possible use on average farms across the EU and scientifically validate emerging solutions coming from practice; 4) Foster the capacity of research station actors through various knowledge exchange and networking activities amongst ERS and identify pathways for effective climate research and climate research design processes. This supports the development of practice-oriented climate smart knowledge, skills and innovations; 5) Maximise the impact of CSR by ensuring that project results are effectively embedded within EIP-AGRI and national/regional AKIS networks by developing and implementing a strategy for effective Dissemination, Exploitation and Communication. The networks of pilot demonstration farmers and climate smart advisors established in sister projects CFD and CSA will be leveraged to ensure that CSR practice-oriented solutions are widely accessible to farmers across Europe.

Current African city region food systems fail to deliver food and nutrition security (FNS), health, and environmental sustainability. INCiTiS-FOOD develops scientifically underpinned circular agri-food technologies and practices, suitable for African cities. The context specific socio-technological use cases of INCiTiS-FOOD address the prevalent deficiency of animal sourced foods, vegetables and fruits. Hydroponics, aquaponics, and insect farming hold great promise because they require limited land, water, energy, wealth and reduce waste. Hydroponics and aquaponics infer soilless, circular vegetable and fish farming enterprises. Using an interdisciplinary approach, inclusive and scalable business models are developed for these enterprises, contributing to thriving and collaborative communities. This circular food system thinking improves FNS, delivers safe, affordable, nutritious, and healthy food, reduces waste and the environmental footprint in African cities. INCiTiS-FOOD follows a multi-actor approach for co-design and co-creation of circular agri-food innovations and business models, involving 8 city Living Labs in 6 countries from 3 African regions (East: Kenya; West: Ghana, Nigeria, Sierra Leone; Central: Cameroon, Gabon). The project aims for its innovations and businesses to attain a technological, societal, and business readiness level of TRL-7, SRL-7, and BRL-5, respectively. INCiTiS-FOOD agri-food innovations and business models will be widely adopted because their research and innovation maturity are proven by a large-scale demonstration as part of the Cascade Fund (1,000,000€). International ecosystem building is promoted by the digital INCiTiS-FOOD Platform on SmartAgriHubs.eu to support African innovation actors. In strengthening resilience, inclusiveness, and FNS, INCiTiS-FOOD guides policy transformation by adhering to the EU Taxonomy Regulation and Milan Urban Food Policy Pact. The consortium is constituted with the EU-Africa dialogue in mind.

The goal of LEGVALUE is to pave the road to develop sustainable and competitive legume-based farming systems and agri-feed and food chains in the EU. To this end, the project will assess both the economic and environmental benefits for the EU agro industry to widely produce and use legumes in a sustainable manner. Using a list of 20 value chains reflecting the market diversity, and a list of 20 farm networks covering the diversity of grain legumes and fodder legumes species, LEGVALUE will demonstrate the added value of various legumes value chains and will provide a range of solutions to improve the economic interest of each actor involved in the value chains to use legumes. The feature of LEGVALUE is an approach to research that takes stakeholder-driven objectives. The gap between research and practice will be overcome with close collaboration between non-academic actors and scientists. LEGVALUE will result in the first decision tool for farmers to choose the optimal legume species with their adapted crop management and to assess the economic and environmental benefits of legumes in the cropping and grassland systems. LEGVALUE will contribute to identifying the supply chains that are the most competitive to foster legumes crops so helping the EU to identify: i) the technological topics that must be supported in priority to enhance legumes development; ii) insights into how to support actors coordination for better added value sharing iii) the new standards that will help trade and process of legumes. LEGVALUE will provide accurate recommendations for the development of legumes in the EU. By removing current market opacity and the design of transition pathways, LEGVALUE will provide scientific support for EU and national policy-makers directed at increasing legume production, support technological innovation and organisational innovation in supply chains, meeting the EU Parliament 2011 motion on increasing self-sufficiency on protein rich plant materials.