<< Objectives >>TransFarmers aims to improve social cohesion and equal opportunities for rural communities through cross-border and transnational collaboration. In this project, the exchange of good practices towards landscape and biodiversity restoration will empower communities on decision making and leadership towards local problems. Communities will be more confident to respond to the environmental challenges of the 21st century and boost competencies to support the local economy and social valorization.<< Implementation >>TransFarmers will focus on the development of case studies to identify challenges & solutions faced by almond farmers. Identifying synergies and network building among stakeholders will be facilitated with workshops. Herein, a portfolio of good practices will be developed and disseminated considering the practices, challenges, and solutions. Then, a final event (the Day of Rural Pride) will be organized to engage the community in its culture and share findings and strategies.<< Results >>TransFarmers expects more social inclusion of rural communities by creating a strong farming network. This will enable debate on problems and solutions by putting together a portfolio of good practices. Stronger rural communities allow social enrichment, by attracting the youth, economic development by retaining businesses in rural areas, and environmental protection by preserving traditions such as agriculture heritage. As we restore territories, we are celebrating its people and traditions.

InovFarmer.MED aims to improve Mediterranean supply chain by promoting the adoption of innovative and sustainable Business models and partnership on the agro-food systems, providing strategies and digital technologies to cope with any crisis. InovFarmer.MED is expected to improve the two study case agri-food value chain products, valorizing Fig and Prickly Pear, by enabling the adoption of adapted Digital technologies that pave the way for a smart agri-food supply chain linking farmers/producers to food processing and retail in three piloting sites - Portugal, Algeria and Egypt. Specific objectives and the approach to achieve them are: i) To analyze current and traditional production methods applied by small scale-farmers and needs to be addressed in co-creative and multi-actor processes to increase food production and avoid food loss. ii) To monitor fruit ripening, productivity, sales prices, stocks management and improve end-product quality in the production of fig and prickly pear, using smart technologies, and adoption of best practices to increase fruit profitability in fresh marketing channels. iii) To establish scientific eco-friendly methodologies for processing fresh fruits or edible parts of the plant with direct flow to dedicated transformers, preserving the nutritional and bioactive properties in the new products obtained. iv) To develop and implement training with and for small-scale farmers by the preparation of a toolkit for sustainable production, transformation and commercialization, based on the knowledge gathered from the farmers and relevant actors of the supply chain, scientific community and strategies to build resilient business models encompassing user-centric digital services that support smallholders access to market. v) To design innovative business models that will improve the interconnection between farmers, smallholder’s organizations, transformers, retailers and consumers, using different digital technologies and platforms, such as mobile apps and e-commerce, to serve the various stages of the value chain of the targeted agro-products, increasing the income of small-scale farmers from the Mediterranean basin communities. The innovative business model ecosystem will strengthen the position of smallholders and rural business, potentiating jobs creation and the withholding of as much added value as possible in rural regions. This project will facilitate the diversification of quality products, including processed ones, guaranteeing a more stable income, and therefore increasing resilience, leveraged by a better access to the marketing and labor channels available through smart agri-food supply chains that stimulate economic growth and a more balanced territorial development.

The Solanaceae family, encompassing economically significant genera like Solanum, plays a vital role in global agriculture, particularly through crops. The Solanaceae family, encompassing economically significant genera like Solanum, plays a vital role in global agriculture, particularly through crops like potatoes and tomatoes. These crops, crucial for human consumption and nutrition, face significant threats from pest diseases, with annual losses amounting to billions of euros. Notably, the bacteria Clavibacter sepedonicus – Cs (ring rot in potato) and Ralstonia solanacearum - Rs (bacterial wilt in potato and tomato) pose severe economic and environmental risks, warranting stringent regulatory measures in EU and globally being included in Part B Annex of the Regulation 2019/2072 and are classified as EPPO A2 quarantine pests. In response, the POMATO project aims to safeguard potato and tomato health by focusing on four key pillars: isolation and molecular characterization of resistance genes of potato and tomato native and wild varieties against Cs and Rs, early detection using advanced technologies like AI and digital predictive platforms, development of natural bio-control solutions, and field validation at TRL 5 of the Integrated Pest Management (IPM) strategies. This collaborative 48-month initiative involves a multi-actor approach of the potato/tomato value chain, including academic research institutions, agrochemical companies, farmers, and international partners from affected regions like Latin America. By leveraging expertise and resources, POMATO seeks to mitigate the spread of these quarantine pests and enhance food security sustainably by aiming to decrease between 40-60% the incidence of Cs/Rs. Sharing IPM POMATO’s strategies among relevant stakeholders in the policy and decision-making cycle will ensure economic sustainability of EU potato/tomato production, increase farm competitiveness as well as replicate the outcomes of the project to other crops.

In order to stimulate the rural bioeconomy and industrial competitiveness, achieve climate mitigation and biodiversity targets, and increase the resilience of production systems, the European Union needs forerunners, both in primary production and industry. Despite the widely recognised and urgent need to substitute fossil raw materials with renewables, under-developed biomass processing methods and business models, and poor understanding of the multiple benefits of well-planned, novel applications currently restrict the implementation of sustainable value chains with balanced environmental, economic and social outcomes. Every step in the novel bio-based fibre value chains targeted by FIBSUN need to be optimised, from cultivation practices, industrial processes, and business models, through to understanding the needs of consumers. The use of novel industrial feedstocks must not lead to undesirable land-use changes, such as the conversion of forest or land currently used for food production into land used for fibre biomass production. Instead, the related land use must be designed to alleviate the harmful effects of desertification, contamination, flooding or mining, by using degraded soils and marginal land to cultivate underutilised biomass feedstocks which can restore soil productivity and enhance the provision of diverse ES. FIBSUN will address these challenges using a multidisciplinary and multi-actor approach involving research organisations, companies and a wide range of stakeholders in a co-creational process aiming at outcomes and long-term impacts promoting green transition in the EU.

AGRIFOOD4FUTURE is a world-class ERASMUS+ initiative aimed at building VET skills and educational programs addressing the needs of the “agriculture of the future”. By bringing together European leading actors from VET-academia-research-business across regions with tradition in the agri-food (yet lagging in new practices adoption), we aim at building centers of vocational excellence able to respond to existing and emerging needs in the sector, while targeting the key priorities of the sector: digitalization, decarbonization and sustainability.Scientists, policymakers, and open visioned agrifood players have noted the transformative potential of new and emerging agriculture practices, such as climate-smart agriculture, smart farming, precision agriculture, regenerative and organic practices, NEXUS based approach to agri-food, etc., but found difficulties to implement it at large scales. Barriers such as the insufficient level of awareness, soft and technical skills, and limited entrepreneurial mindset of, usually, more conservative farming professionals have been inhibitors of change.Aligned with the need of writing new narratives for the “agriculture of the future” we aim to implement and develop vocational training and educational system from low-to-higher EQF levels, including lifelong learning tools for farmer advisors, SMEs, and agro-food players. AGRIFOOD4FUTURE will provide them with exemplary best practices and advances in the sector. It will equip them with technical, soft, and entrepreneurial skills towards new ventures and innovative mindset. It will foster perception change and acceptance of agro-food sector as a “bright” vocational career option, while preparing the sector for adoption of smart, advanced, and sustainable practices.