"For over 10 years now, the sector of organic agriculture has been continuously growing and its increase will reach in Europe , within 2018, over then 13,5 Milion HA, cultivated by organic systems. (IFOAM Data 2017).It is in this dynamic context that the PROJECTSTART UP BIO aims at supporting and facilitating transition and innovation processes of rural enterprises, accompanying them to coversion, from a traditional production to an organic production one, offering to the prior targets (youngsters interested in becoming biofarmer and enterpreneurs interested in adopting bioagriculture) high quality taining opportunities, promoting ICT-based learning (self-tutorial and e-learning paths) .In fact, one of the key ssumptions of the project is that new well trained farmers could be the agents for chenage managment bprocesses in the agricultural sector, actively participating as ambassadors in dissemination of a culture of organic production and sustainable development.Digital training will be integrated with consultancy services provided to the targets by the new Europen virtual Bio Incubator, that will be design and implemented by the partnership and embedded within the accompanying service provided on the field by each partner in its own local/regional context.The expected number of trained biofarmers will be 80 operators for each country (IT, HL, ES, PT), for a total of n, 320 operators. For recruitment, assessment and selection an Europen Open Call will be launched at M12. Thanks to the project's implementation, the expected number of start up bio will be almost 10 ""new enterprieses"" and almost n. 100 converted companies.IOs will be the following:1 -DIDACTIC DIGITAL RESOURCES FOR VIRAL TRAINING IN BIOAGRICULTURE;2- INNOVATIVE TRAINING PATHS FOR NEW BIOFARMERS;3- EUROPEAN VIRTUAL INCUBATOR FOR BIOAGRICULTUREThe by the partnership expected impacts wiil be strong both for prior targets, for partners themselves, for relevant stakeholders, and at local as well as regional national and European level; in details:- Reinforcement of business-education partnerships for testing of innovative training services for professional qualification of biofarmers;- Supporting the development of sustainable agriculture following a ""CSR"" approach ;- Dissemination of a Culture of Organic Agriculture in order to create a European biofarmers' community of practice;- Dissemination of knowledge for supporting correct trantion processes from convetional to bio agriculture;- Development of innovative training mehodologies and tools for innovation of education connected to agriculture;- Activation of multi-stakeholder network for deveopment of projects and inititives for sustainable and glocal development and economic growth;- Reinforcement of a Mediterranean Rural Identity through diffusion of organic agriculture."

Today, agricultural systems are facing multiple challenges, including climate change, loss of biodiversity, dwindling resources, degradation of soil and water quality. Agroecology can strengthen the sustainability and resilience of farming systems and thus contribute to addressing these challenges. Based on the premise that Open Innovation Arrangements (OIAs) and in particular Living Labs (LL) and Research Infrastructures (RIs) are instruments that have large potential to contribute to amplifying agroecology in Europe, the main aim of ALL-Ready (this project) is to prepare a framework for a future European network of LLs and RIs (to be called “AgroEcoLLNet”) that will enable the transition towards agroecology throughout Europe. It will rely on a highly participatory and inclusive approach and on experimentation in real life situations and thus itself uses a living lab approach. An underpinning principle of the project is strong stakeholder engagement, which has begun in the preparation of this proposal. The project has 3 phases: an initial preparatory phase in which the vision, scope and mission for the Network are defined and the criteria for inclusion in the Network of LLs and RIs as well as other forms of OIAs are defined. This will enable the mapping of current and emerging LLs, RIs and OIAs across Europe and their characteristics, highlighting best cases. In a second phase, different prerequisites/ activites for the future Network will be prepared ‘(sustainability, including funding, governance, capacity building, data and knowledge management). Plans for each of these will be constructed with stakeholders and then tested in a small-scale pilot network and then refined to match needs. Finally, the outcomes of the work will be communicated widely throughout Europe by a variety of mechanisms. One of the final outcomes of the project will be a pilot-tested Implementation Plan for implementing the validated framework of AgroEcoLLNet, within Horizon Europe.

With the aim to increase organic farming to 25% by 2030, the EU recognizes the potential of organic farming to contribute to a climate neutral Europe by 2050 and other environmental EU-targets. However, to achieve these targets, it is important to step-up the capability and the capacity of organic farms to reduce GHG-emissions and remove carbon through sequestration. The overall aim of OrganicClimateNET is to establish a pilot network of 250 organic farms to adapt, test, improve and implement climate and carbon farming practices. Key to this are the peer-to-peer learning and knowledge exchanges between farmers organised in 24 hubs in 12 EU countries and facilitated by trained advisors. Concrete outputs are individual carbon farming strategies of the pilot farms as role models for the entire organic sector; 120+ climate and carbon knowledge materials, improved, translated and adapted to organic farming feeding into a decision support toolbox and freely accessible via the highly frequented Organic Farm Knowledge Platform; the evaluation of carbon farming business models (including MRV and rewarding schemes); upscaling to EU level in a quantitative assessment of the emission reduction and sequestration potential of the EU organic sector based on the data set from the 250 pilot farms; engagement with other EU-Projects and organic AKIS actors outside the network; and a network sustainability plan to sustain the network and knowledge exchange activities on the long term. Project results feed steadily in policy briefs and policy dialogue workshops to support effective climate policy design. The 4-year project gathers 17 partners (extension, farming associations, research) from 14 countries allowing exchange between countries with a mature organic sector and countries where organic farming is less developed.

With the Farm-to-Fork Strategy (F2F), the EU has set targets of reaching at least 25% of the EU’s agricultural land under organic farming and significantly increasing organic aquaculture by 2030. The overall objective of OrganicTargets4EU project is to support the achievement of these targets. Based on an assessment of key drivers and lock-ins affecting the development of the organic sector, the project will set-up a multi-actor process to create possible scenarios for reaching the targets. The project is structured into two strands, which run from start to finish: •Production and Markets: the project will analyse where increases in organic farmland can be achieved, and the (socio-economic) impacts of these increases at the level of primary production, value chains and markets. The project will also provide evidence on the mechanisms that can drive demand for organic food and the impact of changing diets and food waste reduction on mitigating the reduced yields from organic production. •Knowledge and Innovation: the project will work towards an innovation ecosystem fit for achieving the F2F targets, recognising that the scale of the expansion envisaged will require a transformational approach. It will identify knowledge gaps and opportunities to strengthen advisory services. It will build capacity, and stimulate exchange of scientific and practice-oriented knowledge. Building on the CORE Organic network, it will increase and coordinate R&I investment for organic. OrganicTargets4EU will facilitate a multi-actor policy dialogue to assess the feasibility of the organic F2F targets and develop policy recommendations for the CAP, EU organic regulation, EU and national organic action plans, Horizon Europe, and horizontal legislation on inputs and public procurement. The policy recommendations will cover short-term options (up to 2027), the next policy reform from 2028 onwards, and a horizon scanning post 2030 for the whole next multi-annual financial framework to 2034.

With the European Green Deal, the Farm-to-Fork and Biodiversity Strategy, the EU aims to achieve the target of at least 25% of the EUs agricultural land under organic farming by 2030. This means tripling the current organic farm area with estimated 700.000 farmers expected to enter the organic sector. One of the obstacles hindering conversion to organic farming is the lower yields per hectare grown under organic conditions as compared with those produced under conventional farming. Therefore, improving organic yields is a key challenge of the organic sector, which however needs to be achieved on the basis of the principles of organic farming. Against this background, the overall aim of the project is to contribute to a sustainable increase in yields in organic cropping systems through a comprehensive and structured compilation and evaluation of existing knowledge, devising sustainable impact strategies relevant to stakeholders and policy. The project will set up an European-wide network of testing, experimentation and demonstration sites from 11 regions / countries, representing a wide range of pedo-climatic and structural conditions. It will connect actors from science and practice to jointly reflect on organic yield increase strategies. It will draw recommendations for the future research agenda and development of EU policies relevant for organic production. The outcomes of the project will be widely available and disseminated to actors within and beyond the organic community.