Public procurement represents a decisive purchaser of food in Europe. Public authorities and local communities responsible for canteens and cafeterias in hospitals, schools etc. have into their hands a powerful opportunity to orientate food systems towards more sustainability, from the producer to the consumer. Throughout Europe, innovative strategies are emerging at local and national scales in favour of a more sustainable public food procurement. A shift from “low cost” procurement schemes to environmentally and socially performant approaches is necessary, and for that shift to happen, numerous experiences have highlighted that support and training for staff members and representatives in local authorities is crucial. Indeed, it’s a challenge for local players to develop the capacities to organize a “re-connexion” with food supply chains (especially local agriculture), to acquire new management methods of costs in food facilities and to design new procedures and tenders, among others. The aim of the project “Empowering Public Food Procurement” was to contribute to the empowerment of local players in the catering sector, by:•putting together practical knowledge of trainers on how to build sustainable food procurement at local scale in different European countries;•pooling concrete examples of good practices and innovative approaches in Europe, that can be mobilized in training activities for local actors;•proposing concrete recommendations for representatives / chefs / managers of municipalities’ catering, and for trainers who support them;•laying the foundation of European common leading principles to perform more sustainable food procurement in the catering sector. The project brought together eight organizations in seven countries: France, Austria, Czech Republic, Germany, Slovenia, Turkey and the Netherlands. The partner organizations all have competence in different areas of vocational education and training. They combine a broad spectrum of knowledge and practical know-how: consultancy and training skills for chefs, managers and municipalities’ representatives, expertise on sustainable food supply chains, experiences on designing transnational learning tools. The geographical scope of the partners permitted to juxtapose contrasted national situations towards public procurement and food supply chains, for rich and valuable exchanges of practices. The partners have shared summaries on the situation of training activities and initiatives supporting sustainability in food procurement, and have investigated case studies providing good practice examples in local communities in each project country. Two collective training sessions allowed the group to share their own field-based experiences and to gather country information and examples, enabling to sketch a European view of sustainability in food procurement support and training initiatives. Thanks to the partnership, the lessons learnt from the project have been and will be widely disseminated to a diversity of target groups: chefs, managers and responsible representatives at local level; national and European professional and institutional networks, in the sustainable food sector, the catering sector, national and European associations / initiatives run by local authorities. In a nutshell, the project has led to enhance trainers’ skills and expertise to support local communities, to provide orientations and practical recommendations for actors on-the-ground in the catering and agrofood sectors, and to raise awareness among decision makers for a switch to a more environmentally and socially performant food procurement in Europe.

"The Partnership “Preparing for the Future” developed ethical principles for organic business and employee contexts to a comprehensive European “Code of Good Organic Retailing Practice” for the trade sector. This Code described eight criteria that determine Good Organic Retailing practices: Social Aspects, Involvement in the Organic Sector, Product Quality, Sustainability in the Shop, Sustainable Relationships, Transparency, Open Communication, and Quality Management.In order to integrate the Code’s principles in the formal training of managers and personnel in the organic retail sector, but also for a transfer and promotion to the non-organic retail sector, the e-learning course and platform “Ecoretail” has been developed. Target groups of the Code concept and the e-learning training and platform were manager and staffs in organic shops and supermarket chains, institutions of adult education, trainers and teachers, representatives and stakeholders in organic retail sector, and decision-makers in public administration. The partnership consisted of nine partners from seven countries: Bulgaria, Czech Republic, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Slovenia and Turkey. It included organic retail associations, educational institutes and universities, marketing and consulting organizations.The first result of the project presented the ""heart"" of the identified themes for a “Code of Good Organic Retail Practice”, the criteria for the eight principles of the Code in business and staff contexts, provided in all partner languages and English. The second result is based on this concept: a Curriculum with Learning Outcomes for training on the ""Code"". The third result was a print version (PDF) of learning materials and course content for training of manager and staff in organic retail on the ""Code of Good Organic Retailing Practice"" in English language. The fourth result was the English pilot e-learning course “Ecoretail” for training on the ""Code of Good Organic Retailing Practice“.The fifth result consisting of seven national versions of the e-learning course “Ecoretail” in all partner countries and languages. “Preparing for the future” provides with this results an innovative certification standard and a regarding learning offer for the integration of ethical and sustainable principles in the daily practice of organic and conventional retail."

The overall goal of DiverIMPACTS is to achieve the full potential of diversification of cropping systems for improved productivity, delivery of ecosystem services and resource-efficient and sustainable value chains by (i) assessing performances of crop diversification through rotation, intercropping and multiple cropping, (ii) providing rural areas actors with those key enablers and innovations that would remove existing barriers and ensure actual uptake of benefits of crop diversification at farm, value chain and territory levels and (iii) make recommendations to policy-makers to facilitate the coordination of all relevant actors within the value chain. DiverIMPACTS will build on existing experiences of crop diversification by networking and expanding 10 existing field experiments to quantify impacts of crop diversification and by accompanying 25 multi-actor case studies in their dynamic transition. DiverIMPACTS will propose a range of technical and organisational innovations to remove lock-ins from farmers to consumers as well as strategies and recommendations to sustain crop diversification. The consortium gathers a wide range of actors (farmers and farmer organisations, advisory services, cooperatives, logistic providers, scientists, industry, representatives of civil society and of rural areas). Through a multi-actor approach, DiverIMPACTS will accompany and support innovation groups in their dynamic process to develop sustainable value chain systems characterised by a high level of crop diversification and new market products. The consortium involves pioneer actors of crop diversification and has strong experience in both the design and multi-criteria assessment of innovative systems and the analysis of barriers that impede the transition towards sustainable diversified systems that contribute to the Rural Renaissance objectives.

LIVESEED aims to improve the performance and competitiveness of the organic sector by boosting organic seed and plant breeding efforts. To increase the availability and choice of organic seed, LIVESEED will (i) harmonize the implementation of legislative requirements and develop an EU-wide router database tool for seed suppliers, (ii) develop improved cultivar testing systems, organic seed health and quality strategies, best practices for organic seed multiplication, and new variety testing protocols for the registration of cultivars for the organic sector, (iii) develop novel breeding concepts, selection tools, and genetic resources, (iv) explore plant-microbe interactions, (v) initiate new breeding networks to close major gaps for legumes, cereals, vegetables, fruit trees and fodder crops, (vi) identify bottlenecks in the organic seed market, (vii) develop business and governance models for breeding and seed production, (viii) engage stakeholder groups for knowledge exchange, practical training, and capacity building, and (ix) provide recommendations based on synthesis of LIVESEED outcomes. The innovative multi-actor and -action research approach (‘learning by doing’) of LIVESEED ensures a broad and fast implementation of the project outputs across Europe. The LIVESEED consortium represents a multidisciplinary European partnership involving 48 organisations (35 partners + 13 third linked parties) and >30 stakeholders from 16 EU countries and Switzerland, including researchers, breeders, seed producers, organic associations and retailers. Combining scientific and practical knowledge will enable the consortium to generate innovative solutions adapted to the needs of end-users for different pedo-climatic and socio-economic contexts. The main outcome will be an improved breeding efficiency and a greater choice and uptake of organic seed derived from resilient cultivars to optimize organic and low-input agriculture and strengthen sustainable food production in Europe.