VISIONARY wants to make a difference in food system transitions, by identifying what factors underlie the path dependencies and ‘lock-ins’ in current unsustainable food systems, and showing how these can be overcome. VISIONARY will tackle both, policy and business shifts as drivers that are necessary to make a change at the system level. The project aims to improve the sustainability of agriculture by promoting practices in food production systems that are more environmentally friendly, economically viable and socio-culturally appropriate. VISIONARY focuses on existing initiatives, practices and (policy) interventions (case studies) that are still niche or small-scale, and investigates the barriers to scaling up and out. Case studies cover value chain examples with a differing complexity, different environmental policy transitions pathways and existing agri-food system examples, namely the shift to organic farming and more plant-based protein production and consumption. At its core, VISIONARY uses methods from experimental and behavioural economics to identify barriers and appropriate behavioural interventions (nudges, education, incentives) for farmers and consumers. The novelty of VISIONARY lies in the combination of experimental methods with a systems thinking approach, considering the whole agri-food system as an influence on farmer decisions. The innovative combination of quantitative and qualitative data from a variety of methods is our important methodological contribution to more system based research. Comparability will be achieved by applying the same or similar methods across case studies in Germany, Poland, Hungary, Romania, Italy, Spain, Denmark and the UK. In order to achieve improved capacities, for researchers in behavioural and experimental research, as well as for policy makers and value chain actors to, utilise such research, VISIONARY will work with these actors in Science-Policy-Interfaces set up alongside the case studies.

Mountain covers 36% of Europe area and play an essential role in the provision of public and private goods. Despite their relevance in both ecological and socioeconomic terms, we lack updated and comparable knowledge of the impacts of climate change, demographic trends and socioeconomic drivers in these areas; as well as the necessary policy-mix to address them. Advanced knowledge on the vulnerability of land use and production systems and related value chains; and on the long-term trends and dynamics affecting European mountains is necessary to design the next generation of policies. MOVING objective is to build capacities and co-develop policy frameworks across Europe for the establishment of new or upgraded/upscaled value chains contributing to resilience and sustainability of mountain areas, valorising local assets and delivering private and public goods. MOVING includes: the screening of traditional and emerging value chains in all European mountain areas (including non-EU countries); in-deep assessment of Vulnerability and resilience of land use, production systems and value chains in 23 reference regions, accounting with the variability of the different mountains types; Participatory theory building to provide knowledge and assessment indicators; Participatory foresight exercises to inform about the future trends at regional and EU levels; Benchmarking analysis to identify enabling and blocking factors to value chains resilience. A policy roadmap will provide guidelines to support the design of public and private policy instruments that boost mountain areas resilience and provision of public and private goods. MOVING strongly relies on a Citizen-science-policy interface organised around a multi-actor approach: a Community of Practice formed by 23 multi-actor platforms and an EU platform; a Virtual Research Environment to foster online interactions among actors; and new visual tools to make the information accessible to different audiences.

The Societal Challenges addressed by European Union (EU) strategies such as the Green Deal and Farm-to-Form require innovative solutions in agriculture, forestry and rural areas. The Multi-Actor-Approach (MAA) is a promising instrument to speed up innovation. However, the H2020 RIA LIAISON (2018-2022) has identified some deficits and inconsistencies in the interpretation of the MAA by both current and potential MA consortia and Member States’ (MS) authorities. PREMIERE will therefore foster the development of sound, coherent and well-prepared MA projects in two ways. Firstly, it will contribute to the building of project consortia that make best use of the complementary knowledge of their members during proposal writing, project activities and beyond, in particular by improving the connection between Horizon Europe (HE) MA projects and Operational Groups (OG). Secondly, through insights and tools, it will support the implementation of innovative governance and sound decision making in policy and administration for the green transition. By using the results from LIAISON and capturing ‘grass roots’ ideas from project participants, policy makers and executive agencies through stakeholder dialogue across all 27 EU MS (including with the SCAR AKIS SWG, National Contact Points and other relevant HE projects), PREMIERE will develop tools as well as training and networking events for capacity development. These will include a Serious Game, an Online Academy and a MOOC. The project will test out the effect of providing seed funding to at least eight MA organisations (mainly OGs) and prepare a handbook of good practices. This user-focused workplan, with its open science outputs, will lead to more effective EU and national AKIS. It will be implemented by a very experienced, competent and genuinely MA consortium of policy makers, executive agencies, advisors for co-innovation partnerships, AKIS actors and/or and current and potential MA project partners.

The fall armyworm (FAW) is a highly invasive and polyphagous pest native to the Americas, first detected in Africa in 2016 and which has since spread globally, including western Asia. By late 2023, FAW had reached mainland Europe, with detections in Greece and Romania. This pest now presents a major threat to European agriculture, as climate change and increased trade increase the likelihood of its establishment or presence across wide areas of Europe. The aim of EUFAWREADY is to provide European agricultural stakeholders—including farmers, advisors, and phytosanitary services—with the tools they need to respond quickly and effectively to potential FAW outbreaks. This involves tools to detect the presence of the pest the earliest possible and to effectively and sustainably manage the pest, thus minimizing the economic, environmental and social impact and the reliance on synthetic pesticides. The specific objectives of EUFAWREADY are to: i) Raise awareness and improve stakeholder preparedness regarding FAW risks, and enhance their engagement in management efforts; ii) Generate new knowledge on the biology of European FAW populations, focusing on traits that enhance their invasiveness potential; iii) Assess the economic and environmental impacts FAW could have on Europe; iv) Provide effective strategies for early detection and monitoring of FAW; v) Investigate a diversified array of sustainable control options that could be offered to European farmers, including the use of FAW natural enemies, microbial agents, and plant-based and natural semiochemical solutions; vi) Integrate these management strategies into guidelines intended to plant health actors, and an IPM toolbox to be provided to European farmers and advisers; vii) Ensure the project's scientific and technical findings are widely shared, so stakeholders are fully informed on FAW risks and management strategies by the project's end.

The current state of the art is that the project EURAKNOS has analyzed the knowledge of 28 Horizon funded Thematic Networks (TNs) and linked operational groups (OGs) and developed a vision and guidelines for a digital knowledge reservoir for an EU-wide agriculture and forestry practice. EUREKA has continued this effort by examining 120 Horizon funded MA projects within the EIP-AGRI and developing a ‘proof of concept’ of such a knowledge reservoir building on the results of the EURAKNOS project. EU-FarmBook will capitalize on the results of EURAKNOS and EUREKA, making the data taken up in the platform more FAIR and adding necessary functionalities to the platform based on the users’ needs such as interactive peer to peer interaction and user content evaluation tools. Moreover EU-FarmBook will assure the linkage to traditional dissemination channels, such as agricultural journals, on farm demo activities, and training and education initiatives. The EU-FarmBook will therefore work closely with associations of journalists (ENAJ), educational and training institutions and strengthen the ties with EIP-AGRI Service Point. The effort will also be expanded by looking beyond H2020 and Horizon Europe funded projects, and OGs, through linkage and interoperability with national and regional initiatives. During the whole project an intensive dialogue will be maintained with AKIS coordination offices and CAP networks in all MS. The aim is that during the first stage of the project the concept of the platform will evolve to an exploitable product that will stimulate the exchange and collaboration between the AKIS actors at an EU wide scale. Targeted and efficient management of data and information to support agriculture and forestry practice from different sources will not only support the CAP but also the Green Deal and Farm to Fork objectives and targets, ultimately resulting in innovation for an environmentally, socially and economically sustainable agriculture and forestry