Advanced innovative solutions for improved competitiveness and sustainability in controlled environment agriculture (CEA)

Expected Outcome:

Project results are expected to contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:

• farmers are supported in their transition into innovative controlled environment farming techniques and decision support tools for sustainable growth optimisation strategies;
• the competitiveness and sustainability (including climate mitigation and adaptation) in controlled environment agriculture are improved benefiting all relevant actors.

Scope:

Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) refers to any form of agriculture that controls and optimises environmental conditions such as temperature, humidity, carbon dioxide, light or nutrient concentration. Examples of CEA include greenhouses, vertical farms, grow rooms, building-integrated agriculture, hydroponics, aquaponics, aeroponics, as well as other innovative farming practices - both off land and land based - where technological advancements enable precise regulation of growing conditions farming.

By developing innovative farming techniques that integrate the latest technological advancements including artificial intelligence (AI), this research should provide a competitive and sustainable transformation in response to global food security and sustainability challenges. Furthermore, it should also empower farmers and key stakeholders in the agricultural primary sector by enabling them to adopt sustainable, efficient, profitable, circular, and low-emission farming practices. By leveraging cutting-edge technology and AI-driven solutions, the activities should contribute to the overarching goals of climate neutrality and climate resilience, reinforcing the EU’s commitment to a sustainable agricultural future.

Proposals should:

• develop and assess advanced cost-effective innovative and sustainable solutions (including nature-based solutions) to address the key challenges (including climate change related and environmental) for crop optimisation in CEA. The assessment should address, among other, crop health and yield, energy efficiency, water use efficiency, nutrient management, environmental conditions, cost-effectiveness, automation and technology integration, sustainability and environmental impact, food safety, pest and disease management, scalability and adaptability;
• develop data-driven decision-making smart automation and precision farming techniques, as well as predictive analytics for plant growth optimisation (e.g. via AI modelling);
• explore appropriate new business and cooperation models adapted to proposed solutions, taking into account organisation and distribution concepts, and marketability of the resulting products. Consider requirements from relevant EU regulatory frameworks including where relevant needs for pre-market authorisation;
• foster knowledge sharing including by training to test and adopt the innovative solutions, and informed advice for improved competitiveness and sustainability of CEA.

Proposals should develop innovative solutions in both conventional and organic production systems. The projects under this topic are relevant to the EU policies related to the EU Vision for Agriculture and Food, the Common Agricultural Policy, the EU Action Plan for the Development of Organic Production^[1], the European Green Deal policies dealing with environment protection and climate change, and the Apply AI Strategy.

Activities should fall under the concept of the multi-actor approach and allow for adequate involvement of relevant actors including farmers, SMEs, start-ups, scientists and developers.

To effectively transition these innovations into the market, SMEs should actively be involved in this process. Activities are expected to achieve Technological Readiness Levels (TRL) 6-7 by the end of the project – see General Annex B.

Proposals may involve financial support to third parties, particularly for SMEs providing and/or developing testing, or validating the proposed innovative technologies/solutions. A maximum 30% of EU funding should be allocated to this purpose.

Proposals should capitalise on relevant research findings from past and ongoing research projects and especially seek synergy with the other project to be selected under this topic and with the project to be selected from the topic HORIZON-CL6-2025-02-FARM2FORK-08: Exploring the potential of controlled environment agriculture (CEA).

[1] https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A52021DC0141…