ExpectedOutcome:
This topic should contribute to mitigation of and adaptation to climate change and help achieve climate-neutrality by 2035 (in the land-use sector) and 2050 (across the EU economy). It will also contribute to meeting the target of the farm to fork strategy of having 25% of the EU’s agricultural land under organic farming by 2030, as well as to implementing concrete actions of the action plan for the development of organic production[1].
Project results are expected to contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:
- The capacity of organic holdings to mitigate and adapt to climate change is enhanced, with co-benefits for biodiversity, water, soil and air;
- Qualitative and quantitative data on the climate-related and other (co-)benefits and impacts of organic production are made more easily accessible, contributing to building the knowledge base for EU policy design and implementation and to increasing consumer awareness of the benefits of organic production;
- Carbon farming practices (as described in the Communication on “Sustainable Carbon Cycles” [2]) are further developed in the organic farming sector;
- Agricultural knowledge and innovation systems (AKIS) and decision-support systems in the organic sector are strengthened, in particular with regard to climate adaptation and mitigation.
Scope:
The conservation and enhancement of Earth’s natural terrestrial carbon sinks such as soils and plants, forests, farmed lands and wetlands is crucial. The European Green Deal gives research and innovation (R&I) a significant role to play in supporting the design and implementation of policies that will ensure the achievement of the EU’s climate objectives. Organic farming relies on management practices that contribute to climate change mitigation, with additional benefits for the environment and biodiversity. The organic sector also has a role to play in the implementation of the EU carbon farming initiative as developed in the 2021 Communication on “Sustainable Carbon Cycles”.
Proposals should:
- Establish a pilot network of existing and newly converted commercial certified organic farms and research stations representative of the main organic farming production systems (both plant and animal production) and regions in the EU.
- Provide for the collection at farm and landscape level of data relevant to organic farming and to climate change and other environmental objectives;
- Implement carbon farming techniques and analyse their outcomes, also in terms of better farm management; analyse costs of carbon farming management practices and revenue possibilities as well as related risk and challenges; develop and/or test monitoring, reporting and verification systems;
- Enhance sharing of knowledge and best practice on adaptation to and mitigation of climate change in the organic sector, including with regard to carbon farming, with attention also to regions where the organic sector is less developed, and support tailored training and advisory services;
- Ensure that project outcomes are made available also beyond the organic farming sector, including to other farmers who focus on low-input farming, circular agriculture and agroecology;
- Establish links with projects under the topics on a demonstration network for climate-smart farming (HORIZON-CL6-2021-CLIMATE-01-04 – project “Climate Farm Demo”, and HORIZON-CL6-2022-CLIMATE-01-03), on agroecological approaches for climate change mitigation, resilient agricultural production and enhanced biodiversity (HORIZON-CL6-2021-CLIMATE-01-05), and on improving yields in organic cropping systems (HORIZON-CL6-2023-FARM2FORK-01-3), as well as with the planned partnership on agro-ecology living labs and the Mission “A Soil Deal for Europe”.
This topic should involve the effective contribution of SSH disciplines.
[1]COM(2021) 141, 10.4.2021, https://agriculture.ec.europa.eu/farming/organic-farming/organic-action…
[2]COM(2021) 800, 15.12.2021, https://ec.europa.eu/clima/eu-action/forests-and-agriculture/sustainable-carbon-cycles_en
