Background

Support Action of the European Commission under the Horizon Europe Framework Programme. It represents 15 currently active EU ERA-Net Cofunds and self-sustained initiatives in the field of agri-food and biotechnology. The partners and initiatives consider GEH an ideal measure to continue and extend their fruitful co-operation. Among the main aims, the GEH builds on previous achievements and further enhance cross-sectoral collaboration between agri-food and biotechnology ERA-Nets by identifying common research and innovation priorities and addressing them in joint transnational funding of collaborative research projects.

As a result of the alignment of various national and regional research programmes, the GEH has combined the research and innovation priorities of different ERA-Net initiatives to launch this GEH First Funding Call.

Objective and Scope

sustainable and resilient food and farming systems. This includes consideration of what resources are used and how they are used; reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions; and impact on yields, product quality, human nutrition and profitability.
The scope covers both organic and conventional farming and/or food approaches. A holistic systems approach to food and farming systems is encouraged both pre- and post-farm gate. Such an approach could be, for instance, to look at circularity, closing nutrient cycles, utilising side streams, and minimising waste, trying to enhance the efficiency at system level and to improve the use of natural resources.

The approaches outlined hereunder may be used as inspiration for proposals, but not exhaustive and other approaches are also welcomed:

• Analysis of potential synergies and trade-offs of redesigned or new production systems or products along the value chain and their economic, ecological and social effects
• Identification of the most important drivers, facilitators and barriers to implement and accept new strategies, processes and products
• Design and analysis of socio-economic structures within a socio-ecological market economy that facilitate functional competition
• Building strategies to improve the consumers´ knowledge about the impact of their food choices and consumption behaviour on health, environment and economy (food literacy)

Timeline

The deadline for pre-registration of proposals is July 20, 12:00h CEST.

The deadline for full proposal submission is September 7, 12:00h CEST.

Call Topics

Proposals must address at least one of the following four topics which may also be combined in various ways; the items listed under each topic are not exhaustive for that topic. Not included in the scope are cultivated meat and precision fermentation of oils.

Topic 1: Enhance fertilizer efficiency and reduce fertilizer use

Possible areas of intervention (note that this list is not exhaustive):

• Fertilizer production and recovery: innovative procedures to retrieve fertilizers from agricultural (by)-products, residues and waste from agricultural/food production
• Fertilizer utilisation: improved/optimized use of fertilizer through innovative agricultural production strategies such as precision farming potentially supported by ICT solutions, modelling and decision support systems, as appropriate
• Organic fertilizer: biological nitrogen fixation by co-cultivation strategies, for example with legumes

Topic 2: Increase European protein self-sufficiency

Possible areas of intervention (note that this list is not exhaustive):

• Protein in feed: new concepts for optimal use of feed protein in livestock production, including livestock breeding for low protein feed rations
• Protein recovery: innovative biorefinery concepts to retrieve protein from residues of feed and food production
• Protein production: novel sources of protein from breeding of new protein crops and from alternatives (e.g. algae, seaweeds, insects) for food and non-food applications
• Protein in food: novel food protein sources, their consumer acceptance, and understanding of consumer choices

Topic 3: Mitigate GHG emissions in agricultural and food systems

Possible areas of intervention (note that this list is not exhaustive):

• Climate neutrality in agri-food systems: strategies and innovations for GHG mitigation and carbon removal
• Improved national GHG inventories: new and/or refined emission/removal factors enabling better monitoring, reporting and verification of emissions/removals
• Enabling conditions: evaluation of policy and/or economic measures to support GHG emissions reductions and enhance removals across the farm-to-fork chain
• Climate-friendly choices: better understanding of the drivers of consumer behaviour in order to support consumers in reducing food waste and making more climate-friendly food purchases

Topic 4: Sustainable energy use and production in agri-food systems

This topic focusses on alternatives to fossil fuels and covers production and use of energy within agri-food systems. Possible areas of intervention (note that this list is not exhaustive):

• Energy saving strategies “from farm-to-fork”, including approaches during food processing and packaging
• Renewable energy production in agri-food systems (e.g. biogas, wind, solar)
• Biogas production in circular systems, avoiding food-feed competition
• Benefits and trade-offs of energy saving and renewable energy use, including economic aspects