Over the past years, a great amount of knowledge on managing practices, technologies, products and recommendations in the primary sector has been developed by several EU funded projects. Despite the continuous flow of information, new or improved managing choices have not been appropriated by practitioners as expected. The main objective of NUTRI-KNOW is to broaden EIP-AGRI Operational Group (OG) outcomes on the thematic of nutrient management across borders to modernise and dynamise the agricultural sector by collecting, translating and sharing easy-to-understand and practice-oriented knowledge. NUTRI-KNOW will assure the appropriate adoption of the OGs results and experience by farmers, practitioners and other relevant end-users. To reach this ambitious goal, NUTRI-KNOW is built considering 12 EIP-AGRI OGs from 4 Member States (Spain, Italy, Belgium and Ireland), ensuring that at least one partner of the consortium has been involved in each OG. The engaged projects cover the whole value chain of nutrient management (livestock farming, storage systems, processing technologies, fertiliser production, transport and application). NUTRI-KNOW methodology is divided in 5 different steps: (1) Data collection and analysis of all the outcomes of the engaged OGs, (2) Multi-approach analysis to establish a solid baseline of the current situation (policies, farming practices, needs and challenges), (3) Consolidation and translation of the knowledge in a language that can be easy to understand for farmers and practitioners, (4) Delivery and transfer of the practice-oriented material created in the communication channels most consulted by farmers and (5) Interconnection of actors and territories with the creation of a Community of Practice. Finally, with all the knowledge gained during NUTRI-KNOW execution, the project will develop a Results Amplification Methodology that will serve as a guideline to upscale and broaden project outcomes effectively in any thematic of interest.

Core of this project is the understanding that the valorisation of what is currently considered as a “waste” by farmers and relevant stakeholders, may contribute to a significant improvement of both the economic revenues of agricultural entrepreneurs and the environmental sustainability of their productions. Indeed, if adequately managed and entrained in a proper value chain, the agricultural waste, both organic and non-organic, may reveal a new resource, to be valorised in the framework of a circular economy approach. However, although the farmer is responsible for the end-of-life management, he is not able to do it alone. The farmer plays an important role in the recyclability, depending on the waste preparation at farm and his participation in the collection scheme. Hence, farmers, as well as other stakeholders involved in the relevant value chain, deserve a specific training, that is currently not existing all over Europe. Aim of this Project is the contribution to the development of regional eco-systems directly providing a valuable input to the economy by integrating work-based learning, thanks to a Quadruple-Helix approach involving Public Institutions (Regional/Local Ministries/Agencies), RTD performers/ VET providers, Private stakeholders (Farmers Associations, Collectors/Recycling Firms/Associations, etc.) and the Civil Society (NGO, No-profit Association, etc.). Core of the Project will be the modelling, implementation and validation of the Project “Rural Labs” in which, under the co-ordination of some among the most important Universities of the Mediterranean Europe, expert in agricultural waste management, the farmers and other relevant stakeholders will be trained. In these Rural Labs, new ways of training will be explored, starting from an on-site training, and implementing new ICT tools, to be produced for the sake of a larger audience of trained people, working in the Project Countries as well as in the rest of Europe.

The potential of agroecological farming systems to master many of todays challenges to the environment, economy, health, and society can be significantly promoted by coupling with digital tools and technologies. PATH2DEA is committed to unlocking digitalisations catalysing power to foster European agricultures transition towards enhanced sustainability. It will build on farmers competences and views and match them with the rich repertoire of digital solutions already available for agriculture, aimed at tailoring digital technologies to users needs and fostering wide-range adoption of digital agroecological farming in the EU and associated countries. Strategic engagement by multiple actors includes early adopters of digital agroecological farming represented by six Showcase farms located in different pedo-climatic regions, with hands-on experience for solid consensus validation of the projects conclusions. PATH2DEA is deeply rooted in the European Agroecology Innovation Ecosystem and will establish itself amidst key players and proven instruments to mediate and connect among disciplines and sectors with a clear ethical-societal perspective. Via interactive discussion rounds, specific situations regarding digital technology uptake and use will be explored and brought to consideration by actors and stakeholders for increasing awareness and understanding. PATH2DEA will deliver a robust knowledge base in the frame of an Open Source Repository of digital tools and technologies in agroecology with decision support functionalities and a well-aligned R&I Roadmap for guiding digital agroecology transition. Finally, PATH2DEA will use its results for bridging towards the upcoming European Agroecology Partnership.

The 35 partners (half academic/private) of the International AgriLoop consortium aim to extend the agricultural production value of two major players of the global bioeconomy: EU and China, by eco-efficiently upgrading underexploited residues into a portfolio of high added-value bio-products able to generate new bio-based markets or to compete with, and gain market share of, oil- and food crops- based equivalents. AgriLoop will develop safe-and-sustainable-by-design (SSbD) bioconversion processes integrated in a cascading biorefinery approach to convert a range of agri-residues (from e.g. tomato, soy, straw, potato, brewery, oil, winery and livestock sectors) into plant and microbial proteins, polyesters and other bio-based chemicals to be used for food, feed, health and materials applications, especially by the farming sector. AgriLoop scientific and technical objectives are to i) improve the recovery of highly functional native molecules from primary and secondary residues and to tailor bioconversion schemes toward microbial proteins and polyesters, for overcoming in a balanced way the limitations related to feedstock complexity, processes eco-efficiency and end-products performances, and in parallel ii) anticipate the complex circularities of such biorefinery to comply with safe and sustainable requirements, guide scientific and technological advances of AgriLoop cascading processes toward end-products tailored to the just necessary (frugal design) and fast track their further adoption as demonstrated in upscaling selected biorefineries schemes. By strengthening EU-CN cooperation, informing SSbD guidance and opening up new avenues for flexible agri-based value chains, AgriLoop will increase resources efficiency through reduced discharges of agricultural residues, while taking share of the highly dynamic worldwide markets of alternative proteins and biochemicals (incl. biopolymers) and reducing the cost of agriculture and food system on our environment and health.

Approximately one third of all food produced globally is wasted every year throughout the whole value chain-from farmers to consumers. To extract the significant amounts of valuable compounds contained in these wastes, AgriMax will combine affordable and flexible processing technologies (ultrasound assisted and solvent extraction, filtration, thermal and enzymatic treatments) for the valorization of side streams from the horticultural culture and food processing industry to be used in a cooperative approach by local stakeholders. Through the selection of case-scenarios previously developed to a pilot scale by the participating RTOs and their industrial transfer in new applications as food additives, packaging and agricultural materials among others, the project will disclose the holistic potential of four new agro-value chains (residues and by products from the culture and processing of tomato, cereals, olives, potato). Any by-product generated along the production cycle will be valorized in a cascade manner to reach over 40% of high value use of the waste. This will lead to additional production of active ingredients in lower concentration, but also fibres, biogas and fertilizers from the left biomass (the latter with the aim of being used in closed loop in the culture of the crops used in the project to prevent soil impoverishing). An LCA and LCC will also study the best approach to minimize the environmental impact of the new value chains without jeopardizing the cost effectiveness of the operations. The pilot multi-feedstock bio-refinery processes will be validated in two demonstration sites in Spain and Italy. Societal, ethical, safety, techno-feasibility and regulatory aspects will be studied. Last but not least, a business model and platform for communication between the potential raw materials suppliers will be set up to maximize the use of the cooperative treatment plants throughout the year.