ExpectedOutcome:
In support of the Green Deal, CAP and Farm to Fork objectives and targets, the successful proposal will focus on knowledge sharing in a language that is easy to understand and is targeted to farmers and foresters. Primary producers have a particular need for impartial and tailored knowledge on the management choices related to the needs, challenges or opportunities they experience. This speeds up innovation and the uptake of results, and is key to improve sustainability. It adds value to the knowledge and cost-effectiveness of innovative practices and techniques in and across primary production sectors, food systems, bioeconomy and biodiversity. This will lead to more informed and engaged stakeholders and users of project results including primary producers and consumers thanks to effective platforms such as Agriculture Knowledge and Innovation Systems (AKIS[1]).
Despite the continued funding of scientific projects, innovative ideas and methods from practice are not captured and spread, and often research findings are not integrated into agricultural and forestry practice. Proposals, acting at EU level to remedy this situation, are essential because national and sectoral AKISs are insufficiently connected and organised to fully meet the challenge of intensifying thematic cooperation between researchers, advisors and farmers/foresters. This exchange of knowledge will foster economically viable and sustainable agriculture and forestry and build trust between the main AKIS actors.
Project results are expected to contribute to the following outcomes:
- The cross-cutting objective of modernising the sector by fostering and sharing of knowledge, innovation and digitalisation in agriculture and rural areas, and encouraging their uptake[2] , as well as European Green Deal and Farm to Fork objectives;
- The collection and distribution of easily accessible practice-oriented knowledge on the thematic area chosen, in particular the existing best practices and research findings that are ready to be put into practice, but not sufficiently known or used by practitioners.
- Conserve practical knowledge for the long term - beyond the project period – in particular by using the main trusted dissemination channels that farmers/foresters consult most often.
- Increase the flow of practical information between farmers/foresters in the EU in a geographically balanced way, creating spill-overs and taking account of the differences between territories. In order to better reach and capture knowledge from the targeted farmers/foresters, the networks may organise 'cross-fertilisation' through sub-networks covering, for example, a region, a language or a production system;
- Achieve greater user acceptance of collected solutions and a more intensive dissemination of existing knowledge, by connecting actors, policies, projects and instruments to speed up innovation and promote the faster and wider co-creation and transposition of innovative solutions into practice.
Scope:
Proposals should address the following activities:
- Tackle the most urgent farmers’ or foresters' needs by summarising, sharing and presenting - in a language that is easy to understand and is targeted to farmers and foresters – the existing best practices and research findings that are ready to be put into practice, but not sufficiently known or used by practitioners. The specific themes of the networks can be chosen in a 'bottom-up' way on the condition that they.
- Compile a comprehensive description of the state of current farming practices on the chosen theme to explain the added-value of the proposal and the relevance of the theme. Proposals must focus on the cost/benefit aspects of the practices collected and summarised, and clarify how the project avoids duplication with ongoing or completed projects and networks.
- Deliver an extensive range of useful, applicable and appealing end-user material for farmers and foresters. This info should be easy to access and understand, making use of audio-visual material wherever possible, including also materials serving education and training;
- This range of material should feed into the existing dissemination channels most consulted by farmers and foresters in the countries.
- As many “practice abstracts” in the common European innovation partnership "Agricultural productivity and sustainability" (EIP-AGRI) format as possible, as well as other type of materials should be provided to the EIP-AGRI, as well as to national / regional / local AKIS channels and to the EU-wide interactive knowledge reservoir (HORIZON-CL6-2021-GOVERNANCE-01-24);
- Besides giving the details on the European innovation partnership (EIP) Operational Groups which are strongly recommended to be involved[3], wherever possible and relevant to the chosen theme, provide also details on how further synergies will be built with future EIP Operational Groups and interactive innovation groups operating in the context of the EIP-AGRI.
- Proposals must implement the 'multi-actor approach', with a consortium based on a balanced mix of actors with complementary knowledge clearly activating farmers/foresters, farmers' groups and advisors; and run for minimum 3 years.
Cross-cutting Priorities:
Digital Agenda
[1]AKIS means the organisation and knowledge flows between persons, organisations and institutions who use and produce knowledge for agriculture and interrelated fields (Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation)
[2]Art 5 of the post 2020 CAP regulation
[3]According to the requirements of the multi-actor approach
