Food, bio-economy, natural resources, agriculture and environment

The three calls for proposals closed last month with applicants competing for EUR 325 million in funding. Evaluations are ongoing and successful projects will be informed in July. Funded projects should start their research as of December this year and are expected to help the EU deliver on its climate action goals set on the EU Green Deal.

The Mission Soil 2023 calls for proposals will close in September. We are now looking for specialists in soil-related areas to help us evaluate and select the best project proposals for EU funding. If you would like to work with us as an evaluator, learn more about what you should do to get ready!

EuroGEO supports the co-design of Earth Observation-based tools, knowledge and policies. The EuroGEO workshop invites scientists, policy makers and users to discuss how to link national, European and global perspectives on pollution and biodiversity crises together. The workshop will take place in Bolzano, Italy, on 2-4 October. Register now!

This year is about empowering people with the necessary skills to build a greener and a healthier Europe. Projects like CENTRINNO, DESIRA, HEREWEAR and RURALIZATION are empowering communities with key skills needed for the circular economy, sustainable agriculture, forestry, and fashion. The aim is to help Digital and Green Transitions materialise in EU cities and rural areas.

EU-funded research and innovation is accelerating Europe’s transition towards sustainable, resilient, circular and competitive farming systems. EU research projects are looking at how to produce fertilisers from alternative sources, such as digestate (the NOMAD project), and wastewater from slaughterhouses (Water2REturn) and farms (PSust-MOF). In addition, the need to understand and manage nutrient cycles and soil health is addressed by Circular Agronomics, Nutri2Cycle and NitroFixSal, while SolACE investigates new crop varieties.

On 20 May we celebrated World Bee Day by highlighting the importance of pollinators across Europe. A number of EU-funded and REA managed projects contribute to their survival by fighting bee diseases (NO PROBLeMS), actively supporting healthy and sustainable beekeeping (PoshBee, B-GOOD) and improving pollination and honey production through AI technologies (Beewise).

Ponds have been largely overlooked but they are vital for biodiversity and could even help us adapt to climate change. EU-funded project PONDERFUL has produced a video to explain why ponds are important, what threats they face, and how the team behind this research project plans to protect them.

The REA managed projects MISSION ATLANTIC, REALM, AquaVitae and ASTRAL will be at the conference presenting innovative results and touch on topics such as ecosystem assessments, algae cultivation and sustainable value chains for integrated aquaculture. Discover what these and other EU-funded projects are doing for the blue economy, and the protection of our seas.

This year’s conference will focus on the future of the EU agricultural research and innovation agenda. The participants will engage with scientists, farmers, rural communities, industry, advisors, policymakers, citizens and NGO representatives – ready to provide an overview on their achievements.

In the frame of the EU Green Week (3-11 June) the EU-funded project VitiGEOSS will organise a webinar: ‘Vineyard monitoring with remote sensing data for sustainable practices in agriculture’. The project will present how data on phenology, evapotranspiration and biomass production can help prioritise decisions, discover invisible issues and support greener agriculture. Register online.

On 8 June the EU-funded project NetworkNature will be hosting its annual event: Enabling transformation through and for nature-based solutions, at the Flagey building in Brussels, Belgium. Through interviews, presentations, panel debates and interactive sessions, discover how nature-based solutions can help different sectors and communities with their transformative potential. Registration is still open.