Strengthening the resilience of European farmers through improved capacity in coping with risks and crises

Expected Outcome: Project results are expected to contribute to all of the following expected outcomes: the capacity of farmers and other agri-food supply chain operators to prevent, prepare for, cope with and manage diverse risks and crises, considering potential compound and amplifier effects under climate change, and their impacts, is improved in an integrated way; policymakers benefit from evidence and better understanding on how to enable more effective strategies for prevention and management of diverse risks and crises affecting farmers, considering compound and amplifier effects of climate change and biodiversity loss; knowledge and solutions to improve the resilience of farming systems are available and accessible to farmers and other agri-food supply chain operators through active and effective dissemination and engagement activities. Scope: Farmers are exposed to numerous and increasing risks and crises of diverse nature and scale, putting pressure on their wellbeing, business viability and income. So far, available risk and crisis management tools have been insufficient in addressing the growing needs for strengthening resilience capacities. There is a need for more knowledge and solutions adapted to the diversity of farming systems and contexts. This would enable more integrated management of risks and crises, leading to more effective emergency response and adequate prevention and management on the long term. Proposals should target one or more risks and crises (e.g., sanitary, environmental, economic, geopolitical, ecological, demographic, technological) that are causing, or likely to cause, significant socio-economic impacts directly or indirectly affecting EU farmers, considering among others potential compound and amplifier effects under climate change and biodiversity loss. The actions funded under this topic should support the EU policies related to the EU Vision for Agriculture and Food and the Common Agricultural Policy. Proposals should: improve understanding of farmers’ individual and collective options, strategies, incentives, behaviour and decision-making regarding uncertainties, risk and crisis management. This work should capture the context in which farmers operate, including interactions with other agri-food supply chain operators, critical dependencies, as well as market conditions and policies; assess the anticipation, robustness and adaptation capacities of farms, costs and benefits of action vs. non-action, and the interactions between risk management, crisis management and the adoption of preventive practices on farms, at landscape level and/or along agri-food supply chains. This work should also analyse the transformative capacities of farms in response to challenges that make business as usual not viable or not possible; propose inclusive solutions, improve and develop integrated risk and crisis management strategies, at farm and landscape level and/or along the agri-food supply chain, to improve the resilience of farming systems. Proposed solutions should consider different types of production and the risk perceptions of practitioners, and they should be adapted to the practitioners’ risk preferences and resilience requirements. This work should also include an assessment of the costs and benefits of the solutions; propose criteria and measures to improve fair risk sharing along the agri-food supply chain and for derisking, to mitigate economic risks for farmers; test the proposed strategies and/or measures, using an experimental approach. Proposals are encouraged to build for this purpose on existing participatory infrastructures (e.g., demonstration sites, living labs, etc); support inclusive and accessible capacity building, training, and education on risk and crisis management for farmers and other relevant agri-food supply chain operators (“risk literacy”); consider compound and amplifier effects of climate change and biodiversity loss on other types of risks and crises in all activities whenever appropriate and relevant. Proposals should assess and compare options and strategies developed by farmers implementing various farming approaches, one of which should be organic farming. The Joint Research Centre (JRC) may participate as member of the consortium selected for funding. The JRC’s participation could involve contributing to the understanding of farmer risk preferences, measurement and design of risk sharing alternatives for the agri-food supply chain and testing alternatives using experimental methods. Proposals should capitalise on existing relevant research findings and tools. They should also ensure complementarities with other relevant EU-funded projects, including from the EU Missions on Adaptation to Climate Change and on Soil. Proposals should also ensure synergies with other relevant EU-funded studies (e.g., fi-compass studies), projects, initiatives and processes. Proposals should include a dedicated task, appropriate resources and a plan on how they will collaborate with other projects selected under this topic (e.g., by participating in joint activities, workshops, as well as common communication and dissemination activities, etc.). The selected projects are also expected to collaborate with relevant projects selected under the topic HORIZON-CL6-2027-02-CLIMATE-03: Strengthening evidence-based policies for the resilience of European agriculture and forestry and related supply chains against crises and systemic risks. Proposals must implement the multi-actor approach, with a consortium based on a balanced mix of actors with complementary knowledge, including farmers, researchers, government representatives, agri-food supply chain operators (e.g., processors), and civil society organisations. This topic should involve the effective contribution of Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) disciplines. International cooperation is encouraged.

This destination will support the EU Commission priorities ‘Sustaining our quality of life: food security, water and nature’ and ‘A new plan for Europe’s sustainable prosperity and competitiveness’, which require innovative and agile governance models and tools to support transformative change within planetary boundaries. R&I supporting decision-making is a key enabler for the Vision for Agriculture and Food that aims to secure the long-term competitiveness and sustainability of the EU's farming and food systems within the boundaries of our planet, as well as to meet the objectives set out in the Common Agricultural Policy. Besides, the R&I supporting the bioeconomy, with a focus on bio-based solutions and the role of biotechnology, needs to be further strengthened, in line with the new EU Bioeconomy Strategy, the Communication on Biotechnology and Biomanufacturing and the Life Sciences Strategy. There is also a need to unlock the potential of applied digital and data technologies to support sectors covered by this cluster in becoming more competitive, sustainable, resilient and inclusive in line with the evolving EU policies on cyber, data and data technologies and digital services, notably the European Data Strategy, the Europe’s Digital Decade Policy Programme, the AI Continent Action Plan and the upcoming EU digital strategy for agriculture. This destination will contribute to the development, support and take up of digital and data-based solutions to implement the European Green Deal, while fostering innovation and supporting start-ups, thereby supporting the EU Competitiveness Compass. The destination supports the European Ocean Pact, aiming at bringing coherence across all EU policy areas linked to the ocean, supporting a resilient and healthy ocean and coastal areas and promoting the sustainable blue economy. In particular, land-sea connection areas are crucial for addressing the effects of climate change, such as sea level rise, coastal erosion, extreme events, and hydrological crises. When relevant, actions are encouraged to align with the EU Mission ‘Restore our Ocean and Waters’, leveraging its digital infrastructures (such as the Digital Twin Ocean), stakeholder networks, and knowledge systems to enhance governance, environmental observation, and policy-support tools across terrestrial and aquatic systems. This destination implements research actions to address water challenges in the EU and support the European Water Resilience Strategy by advancing the capacity for proper management of water sources. In line with the global approach on R&I, this destination will foster and support regional and international initiatives, encourage international cooperation, contribute substantially to the implementation of key international treaties and to the work of various international bodies, assessments and other initiatives, and help achieve international commitments, notably under the Paris Agreement, the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), and the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) Agreement. Knowledge and advice are key to improving competitiveness, sustainability and resilience. R&I actions under this destination will support effective Agriculture Knowledge and Innovation Systems (AKIS) that are at the heart of the 2023-2027 CAP’s cross-cutting objective as a key mean to bridge the gap between science and practice. Synergies with the EU-CAP Network, and particularly the EIP-AGRI Operational Groups supported by the CAP, will be further exploited. The European Research Area is further integrated, and the global efforts are well-coordinated for impact-oriented science on food, bioeconomy, natural resources, agriculture-forestry, aquaculture and fisheries, and environment. The Destination supports unlocking the unique assets for research and innovation of the EU outermost regions, in line with the EU strategy for outermost regions [1] . Expected Impact: Proposals for topics under this destination should set out credible pathways to "developing innovative governance models and tools enabling sustainability and resilience ", and more specifically to one or several of the following expected impacts : improved evidence-based knowledge, tools and science-society-policy interfaces support effective policy mixes and multi-level governance that are capable of anticipating a changing world, enabling a just sustainable transition for all, engaging society at large and balancing economic, social and environmental goals; competitiveness, sustainability and resilience of the economy are supported by more accessible and interoperable environmental observations and improved Earth Intelligence; productivity is boosted and transformative changes required by the European Green Deal are facilitated, leaving no one behind, thanks to enhanced digital and data technologies, flows of existing and new knowledge, solutions and skills among actors and communities, as well as maximised synergies between initiatives. [1] COM(2022) Putting people first, securing sustainable and inclusive growth, unlocking the potential of the EU’s outermost regions.

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