BIO2 aims to transform organic farming (OF) by replacing contentious inputs with sustainable alternatives through innovative R&D. The main innovations are: (i) combining marine materials (fish discards and seaweed byproducts), microorganisms, and recycled sewage nutrients to create fertilizers tailored for OF; (ii) encapsulating biocontrol agents (e.g., yeast and bacteria) in biogenic materials to enhance their efficacy in protecting crops from diseases; (iii) developing processes for manufacturing microalgal-based agricultural fungicides; and (iv) producing immunostimulants and bark extracts with antiparasitic properties. To facilitate the integration of BIO2 solutions into OF and make them viable for farmers, we will scale up production processes and provide sufficient materials for testing in agronomic and animal trials from the project's early stages. The efficacy of these products will be studied and compared with contentious inputs, such as copper- and sulfur-based fungicides, mineral oils, manure from conventional farming, and synthetic antibiotics. BIO2 will prioritize sustainability assessments and actively engage stakeholders (industries, the OF sector, farmers transitioning to OF, and consumers) to develop products that are both environmentally friendly and accepted by end users. Potential barriers, such as raw material quality and availability, product costs, farmers’ acceptance, and regulatory challenges, will be addressed by diversifying material sources and involving key actors. By leveraging advanced technologies and interdisciplinary collaboration, BIO2 will deliver tangible outcomes, including the industrial production of at least 1 biocontrol agent, 2 fertilizers, and 1 antiparasitic treatment. Through its comprehensive approach, BIO2 not only addresses current limitations in OF but also contributes to broader sustainability goals by reducing environmental impacts and promoting a circular economy.

Organic agriculture is considered to be one of the important development pathways towards a more sustainable agriculture and food production. This development has been and will be dependent on continuous research and innovation. CORE Organic started in 2004 and has been evolving for more than a decade. The present proposal for a CORE Organic Cofund will continue, to update and consolidate the series of transnational research calls that support a focused and coordinated research and innovation effort covering the most important challenges along the organic value chains, for example: increasing the organic production potentials, enhancing resource efficiency, and improving animal welfare. In addition this research and innovation plays a key role in adapting to the new EU regulations on Organic Farming. The new CORE Organic network will be expanded with additional partners from Netherlands and Italy totalling to 25 partners from 19 countries. One joint call with 3-4 topics will be launched with co-funding from the European Commission and another call without EU co-funding is being planned for 2019 as part of the additional activities. Other ERA-NETs with a similar scope will be invited to join this second call. The CORE Organic partners are working to increase innovation potential, knowledge accessibility, alignment of national research and international outreach in support of the ERA-NET’s objectives. CORE Organic will closely monitor the funded projects and offer assistance regarding stakeholder involvement and dissemination in order to secure high impact of the research efforts. An impact assessment will be performed after the end of the projects. Looking to the future, the CORE Organic Cofund aims to deliver results that can be used to develop the organic sector throughout Europe and the world, and to continue to be a key player in the European Research Area.

Changes in rural areas, such as depopulation, land abandonment and the loss of biodiversity, may proceed very slowly yet are often irreversible. Policymakers can steer these developments in order to reduce their negative impacts but this requires knowing whether current policy instruments are effective, who is benefiting from them and in what measure, what driving forces will be most influential and how they will affect people, planet, profits and land-use. To be truly useful, this knowledge must transcend siloed thinking and be the corollary of a joint effort uniting different actors under a common cause. PoliRur will provide this knowledge by combining several key activities needed to design effective place-based, human-centric and forward-looking rural policies. These include actionable research that takes place within an inclusive learning environment where rural populations, researchers and policymakers come together to address common problems; an evaluation exercise that uses text mining to assess the perceived effectiveness of past or planned policy interventions; and a foresight study that tries to glean the development trajectory of agriculture and its allied sectors until 2040 using several scenarios in which the evolution of rural populations occupies a central place. As a result of these activities, PoliRur will leave decision makers at different levels of government better equipped to tackle existing and emerging rural challenges, rural populations more empowered and rural areas more resilient.