Overcoming the barriers for scaling up circular water management in agriculture

Food systems are to be understood as covering, ‘from the farm to the fork’, all the sectors, actors, stakeholders, organisations and disciplines relevant to and connecting natural resources, primary production from land, fresh water and sea, food processing, food distribution and retailing, food services, food consumption, healthy diets, food safety, nutrition and public health, and the prevention of food waste streams i.e. actors operating in the food supply circuit, working directly ‘with’ food. It also comprises actors that operate ‘around’ food at the broader food system level: governance, finance, education, media and culture, research, marketing and advertising, operational services and those representing business and professional interests. The Vision on agriculture and food and the Competitiveness compass will address challenges ensuring the long-term competitiveness and sustainability of the Agri-food sector within planetary boundaries. The EU Green Deal and more specifically its competitive, resilient and sustainable food system goals, the biodiversity strategy, the zero pollution and climate action ambitions, and their follow-up initiatives set ambitious targets and objectives for food systems will continue to guide research and innovation programming under this destination. Food system related policies cover an array of diverse areas. While those policy areas are interconnected, they cover specific sectors and actors along the food system that have distinct research and innovation needs to be addressed through this destination.

Sustainable farming systems provide economic, social (including health), environmental and climate benefits, and are the main prerequisite for food and nutrition security. For farmers, who are the backbone of food systems and principal managers of natural resources, the common agricultural policy (CAP) set ambitious targets and objectives concerning the sustainability and safety of feed, food and non-food production. R&I in line with the strategic approach to EU agricultural research and innovation^[1] will be key enablers for achieving these ambitious targets and objectives. More specifically, they will contribute to the following policy priorities: nine specific objectives of the CAP; EU action plan for the development of organic production; food safety regulations; sustainable use of pesticides requirements under the plant protection products framework; animal health and welfare legislations; regulation on feed additives; legislative and non-legislative initiatives to enhance cooperation of primary producers and support their position in the food chain; protein strategy; contingency plan for ensuring food supply and food security and communications on food security and fertilisers.

The partnerships on ‘Accelerating farming systems transition: agroecology living labs and research infrastructures’ will continue to unlock the potential of agroecology to make agri-food systems environmentally friendly and regenerative, climate-neutral, inclusive, competitive and resilient.

Through the partnership on ‘Animal health and welfare’, farmers and other actors will continue to be better equipped to protect animals against infectious diseases, including zoonoses, and to improve animal welfare, while reducing the dependency on antimicrobials, maintaining productivity, improving food safety and quality, and protecting the environment and public health.

Sustainable fisheries and aquaculture, as mentioned in the 2023 common fisheries policy (CFP) communication, contribute to securing a wide variety of food and provide employment in many coastal communities. On top, the goal of the European Green Deal is ensuring a neutral or positive environmental impact of all sectors involved in the food system. The European Oceans Pact will focus on boosting the blue economy and ensuring the good governance and sustainability of our ocean in all of its dimensions. The CFP of the future is a policy that enables and supports: (i) fisheries and aquaculture activities within ecological boundaries, including organic aquaculture; (ii) fishing vessels and aquaculture farms that operate with less impact and fewer resources; (iii) the contribution of seafood to safeguarding food security and reinforcing the resilience and sustainability of food systems in the EU; as well as (iv) fishers and aquaculture farmers who can find fulfilment, recognition and economic well-being in their profession. Additionally, the Control Regulation clearly mentions that traceability is important not only for food safety purposes but also to allow control, ensure the protection of consumers’ interests, combat illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, and contribute to ensuring fair competition. R&I will also support the “strategic guidelines for a more sustainable and competitive EU aquaculture for the period 2021 to 2030”, that propose specific actions including access to space and water, human and animal health, environmental performance, climate change, animal welfare, regulatory and administrative framework, and communicating on EU aquaculture. Moreover, R&I in fisheries and aquaculture will contribute to the relevant Food 2030 pathway for action ‘food from oceans and freshwater resources’.

Sustainable, healthy and inclusive food systems rely on systemic, cross-sectoral and participatory, multi-actor approaches and on integration between policy areas at all levels of governance. An important driver for transforming food systems should be the integration of sectors, actors and policies^[2]. This should occur in order to better understand the multiple interactions between the actors and components of current food systems, the lock-ins and potential leverage points for synergistic changes and the interdependencies of outcomes (linkages between nutritional climate and sustainability outcomes). This can provide solutions that maximise co-benefits with respect to the four priorities of the Food 2030 R&I initiative: i) nutrition and health, including food safety; ii) climate and environmental sustainability; iii) circularity and resource efficiency; iv) innovation and empowering communities.

This destination will deploy solutions to the 11 Food 2030 pathways for action^[3] and will help build innovation ecosystems to bring together relevant public and private sector actors, researchers and society. R&I I activities (including at organisational, social or technological levels) will provide food-related businesses, including those involved in food processing and packaging, retail, distribution, and food services, with opportunities and incentives to stimulate environmentally friendly, healthy, circular and diversified practices, products and processes that are biodiversity-friendly, climate-neutral and less reliant on fossil fuels. It will also help devise tools and approaches that enable the shift to healthy, sustainable diets and responsible consumption for everyone, boosted also by social innovation, technology, behavioural change and marketing standards, and by inclusively engaging with different consumers, citizens and communities. This will support the announced future EU vision for agriculture and food and the multi-disciplinary strategy for European life sciences that should further unlock high-value technologies in support of the green transition, and also contribute to the communication “Building the future with nature: Boosting Biotechnology and Biomanufacturing in the EU” and the forthcoming new EU biotech act.

The partnership on ‘Sustainable food systems for people, planet and climate’ will continue to accelerate the transition towards healthy and sustainable diets that are safe and sustainably produced in resilient EU and global food systems.

The EU also aims to promote a global transition to sustainable food systems. Its relationship with Africa is a key priority. Targeted R&I activities, in particular under the EU-Africa Partnership on Food and Nutrition Security and Sustainable Agriculture (FNSSA) and global initiatives involving international research consortia, will help achieve this ambition and contribute to the AU-EU High Level Policy Dialogue (HLPD) on Science, Technology and Innovation.

A comprehensive and integrated response to current and future challenges benefiting people, nature and economic growth in Europe and in Africa will be provided. Advances will be made particularly in the following key areas: agroecology, agriculture knowledge and innovation systems and nutrition.

Topic proposals under this destination should set out credible paths to “ensuring healthy food and nutrition security by making agriculture, fisheries, aquaculture and food systems sustainable, resilient, inclusive and within planetary boundaries”. More specifically, proposed topics should contribute to one or more of the following impacts:

• Agri-food systems contribute to the EU strategic autonomy by fostering food and nutrition security practices and safeguarding long-term sustainability with multi-disciplinary approaches including One Health.
• Farmers and relevant actors in agricultural primary sector are enabled to manage sustainable, efficient, profitable, circular, low greenhouse gas-emitting farming systems contributing to climate-neutrality and climate-resilience. This will be achieved by new knowledge, innovation and the upscaling and replication of existing and new sustainable farming approaches, including organic farming, while making farming a professionally attractive and remunerative life choice.
• Sustainable and resource efficient farming practices contribute to ecosystems´ health, and their related ecosystem services, while minimising pollution, including in surface and groundwaters and the marine environment, and restoring and protecting biodiversity.
• Sustainable fisheries and aquaculture (including organic aquaculture) contribute to fair, healthy, resilient and environment-friendly food systems, promote low-impact and diverse aquatic food production. Healthy aquatic ecosystems with thriving diversity of species and habitats provide ecosystem and climate services for safe and sustainable fisheries and aquaculture and use of coastal zones for leisure activities, thus triggering growth and jobs’ creation in coastal, and rural areas. Technological knowledge on the elimination of negative impacts of fishing and aquaculture is improved, in particular through the creation of innovative, more selective, energy and resource efficient and environmentally sustainable techniques.
• The just transition to overall sustainable, healthy and inclusive food systems^[4] is consistently developed. Analysis of existing barriers and enablers to change allows to design effective leverages to steer the sustainability transition. Co-benefits for climate change mitigation and adaptation, environmental sustainability and circularity, sustainable healthy diets, malnutrition and hunger reduction are delivered.
• Food environments are transformed so that citizens and communities are empowered to move towards healthy, affordable and sustainable diets; food businesses can flourish; food processing industries’ competitiveness is improved, while ensuring sustainability; food safety and food sovereignty as well as human health is preserved and food waste is reduced.

To unlock the full potential of R&I and maximise impacts of the expected outcomes, multi-actor and socially innovative approaches (involving the engagement of researchers, policy makers, technology providers, primary producers, the food, drink and hospitality industry, retailers and social economy actors, SMEs along the value chain, local authorities and communities, NGO and civil society, while considering gender and other socio demographic groups and their intersections etc.), open innovation ecosystems, such as living labs and regional innovation ecosystems such as Regional Innovation Valleys for Bioeconomy and Food Systems^[5], will be promoted with a view to co-creating innovative systemic place-based solutions in support of food system sustainability. Activities will benefit from the implementation of unifying approaches through R&I, including the One Health approach where relevant.

To effectively transition innovations into the market, SMEs participation is particularly promoted under this destination. Topics under this destination should be balanced in terms of high as well as low Technological Readiness Levels (TRLs).

R&I actions under this destination are encouraged to seek complementarities with the EU Missions ‘A Soil Deal for Europe’ and ‘Restore our Ocean and Waters by 2030’ as well as with the European partnerships on Agroecology, Animal Health and Welfare, Sustainable Blue Economy, Sustainable Food Systems for people, planet and climate, and Agriculture of Data (forthcoming), the Partnership for Research and Innovation in the Mediterranean areas (PRIMA) and importantly the European innovation Partnership for Agriculture productivity and sustainability (EIP-AGRI).

The EU will seek to increase the efforts on innovation actions for food systems sustainability in widening countries, reaching out to EU outermost regions and to countries in Central and Eastern Europe, also in preparation for the next EU enlargement.

To maximise the impacts of R&I under this destination, the topics encourage international cooperation as appropriate. The EU will promote a global transition to sustainable agri-food systems. Hence, targeted R&I activities in 2025, in particular under the EU-Africa Partnership on Food and Nutrition Security and Sustainable Agriculture (FNSSA) as well as other initiatives involving international research consortia and already running international activities, will contribute to this ambition.

Coordination will be ensured with the JRC activities under the EC Knowledge Centre for Bioeconomy, the EU Soil Observatory, the European Platform on Life Cycle Assessment, the EC Knowledge Centre for Earth Observation, the Knowledge Centre for Food Fraud and Quality, and the JRC secretariat for the Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries.

To be more effective in achieving impact, this Destination encourages synergies with relevant EU financial programmes and initiatives including the Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs) of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), in particular EIT Food, and international cooperation programmes (e.g., DeSIRA).

The multi-actor approach is used in several topics. Relevant topics under this destination also require the integration of Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) to apply a human-centred approach to R&I, and support social innovation at regional and local level to meet needs and co-create solutions for specific challenges.

[1] https://ec.europa.eu/programmes/horizon2020/en/news/final-paper-strategic-approach-eu-agricultural research-and-innovation

[2] Scientific Advice Mechanism, Towards a sustainable food system - Publications Office of the EU (europa.eu)

[3] New Report: Food 2030 Research and Innovation – Pathways for action 2.0 - European Commission (europa.eu)

[4] Sustainable food systems: Concept and framework (fao.org)

[5] Concept of Regional Innovation Valleys for Bioeconomy and Food Systems

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