LIVESEEDING contributes to the upscaling of organic production in Europe through (i) improving availability of organic plant reproductive material of organic cultivars (Organic Heterogeneous Material, Organic Varieties, landraces) of a large range of crops, bred for improved diversity and adaptation to local conditions, and (ii) strengthening and diversifying the organic seed sector informed by market demands. LIVESEEDING contributes to the transition towards environmentally-friendly, climate-neutral, healthy and fair food systems through further developing (i) cultivars suited for organic and low external input production, (ii) novel governance models linking breeders with value chain actors and citizens with local food production, and (iii) awareness around the importance of biodiversity for our food and health. LIVESEEDING focuses on the main drivers for (i) the supply and demand of organic seed and cultivars, (ii) the supply and demand of food products derived from them, and (iii) enabling frameworks and roadmaps through active policy dialogue with national and European authorities and policymakers by providing science-based evidence and best practice solutions to achieve 100% organic seed. LIVESEEDING addresses the topics in a holistic multi-actor, multi-stakeholder participatory approach involving organic and public research institutes (with proven competencies in breeding, seed multiplication and health, socio-economics, extension and outreach), variety examination offices, private breeders and seed companies, organic production and civil society associations. Additional stakeholders along the value chain are involved in the local Living Labs (LLs) and the established networks of organic breeders (ECO-PB), seed savers (ECLLD) and Milan Urban Food Policy Pact (MUFPP). 15 European countries cover the different pedoclimatic zones and socio-economic contexts, including countries with a low level of development in organic seed and breeding in East and South Europe

The potential of agroecological farming systems to master many of todays challenges to the environment, economy, health, and society can be significantly promoted by coupling with digital tools and technologies. PATH2DEA is committed to unlocking digitalisations catalysing power to foster European agricultures transition towards enhanced sustainability. It will build on farmers competences and views and match them with the rich repertoire of digital solutions already available for agriculture, aimed at tailoring digital technologies to users needs and fostering wide-range adoption of digital agroecological farming in the EU and associated countries. Strategic engagement by multiple actors includes early adopters of digital agroecological farming represented by six Showcase farms located in different pedo-climatic regions, with hands-on experience for solid consensus validation of the projects conclusions. PATH2DEA is deeply rooted in the European Agroecology Innovation Ecosystem and will establish itself amidst key players and proven instruments to mediate and connect among disciplines and sectors with a clear ethical-societal perspective. Via interactive discussion rounds, specific situations regarding digital technology uptake and use will be explored and brought to consideration by actors and stakeholders for increasing awareness and understanding. PATH2DEA will deliver a robust knowledge base in the frame of an Open Source Repository of digital tools and technologies in agroecology with decision support functionalities and a well-aligned R&I Roadmap for guiding digital agroecology transition. Finally, PATH2DEA will use its results for bridging towards the upcoming European Agroecology Partnership.

The overarching objective of NEUTRAWEED is to form an international and inter-sectoral network of 16 organizations in four continents (Europe, Africa, Asia, and America) working on a joint research program in the fields of weed ecology and management, artificial intelligence (AI), and robotics. New sustainable weed management solutions are requested since the over-reliance on chemical control and intensive tillage in over-simplified cropping systems are now questioned because they have many drawbacks. As a solution, we propose the promotion of Neutral Weed Communities (NWCs), which are weed communities that can coexist with the crops without reducing crop yield or quality compared with weed-free conditions. In this 4-yer research plan, we propose to 1) identify NWCs in diverse cropping systems and study their interactions with crops and other biotic agents, 2) investigate their effect on ecosystem services provision, 3) develop weeder robot prototypes for weed-specific analysis; 4) identify AI algorithms for weed species-specific discrimination to test on robots to attain NWCs. A multidisciplinary and intersectoral approach will be used to comprehend the multiple interactions between weeds and crops under four aspects: agroecological, physiological, molecular, and microbiological. Using weed species images, AI algorithms will be developed and tested on autonomous robots to attain NWCs by selectively removing only highly competitive weed species while leaving only the beneficial ones. The staff members will develop new skills and competencies, will be exposed to new research environments, and will have their career perspectives broadened. NEUTRAWEED will advance research by fostering the interconnections among countries, providing training and education at academic and technical levels, and engaging with local, national, and international stakeholders to create shared knowledge on weed-crop interaction and new sustainable AI technological solutions to manage weed.

Electronic data generation, analytics and communication technologies potentially enable more accurate, faster and better decision-making on farms, with huge potential to improve agricultural sustainability. There is a major focus on digitisation by EU and national/regional policy-makers to ensure that digital innovation in agriculture keeps pace with other sectors and the benefits of digitisation are available to the wider farming community. However, there is a danger that digitisation and future innovations will be hampered unless the rural advisory community is mobilised to take ownership of digital tools and to advocate at the user interface. This CSA will engage, enable and empower the independent farm advisor community, through sharing of tools, expertise and motivations. FAIRshare has two main programmes. Firstly, WPs 1, 2 and 3 will gather an evidence base of the digital tools and services used internationally, leveraging the social networks of partner institutions that span EU and non-EU countries. The inventory of tools will be accessible to end-users on an intuitively navigable online interface that has been co-designed using a multi-actor approach. Accompanying the tools in the online inventory will be information, for instance short ‘good practice’ vignettes, on how the tools may be used/adapted for use. Secondly, WPs 4, 5 and 6 will generate and resource a participatory ‘living laboratory’, empowering advisor peers from across the EU to interact with the online inventory and, in a series of workshops, to exchange, co-adapt, co-design and apply digital tools. The FAIRshare 'living lab’ will enable advisors to address challenges to embedding digital tools in different advisory and farming contexts across the EU. Special focus will be on co-designing powerful communication and engagement approaches for advisors to advocate and inspire their peers and farmer clients, driving a social movement for the wider and better use of digital tools.