The Agroecology Partnership started on 1 January 2024 and will last up to 10 years. Its total budget is up to 300 million euros (50 percent from the European Union and 50 percent co-funded by the Agroecology consortium).
The partnership comprises 70 partners, including the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture FiBL Switzerland, FiBL Europe and FiBL group member ÖMKi – the Hungarian Research Institute of Organic Agriculture. All three institutes were also partners in the ALL-Ready project, which developed a framework for the European network of Living Labs (LLs) and Research Infrastructure (Ris) and thus prepared the Agroecology partnership.
Kick-off meeting in February
The kick-off meeting of the Agroecology Partnership took place on 28 and 29 February in Brussels.
On 28 February, Albert Wulff (Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food BMEL, Germany) and Kerstin Rosenow (Directorate General for Agriculture and Rural Development DG AGRI, European Commission) opened the meeting by presenting the German perspective on agroecology and the European vision and expectations of the agroecology project.
Nicolas Tinois of Projektträger Jülich, one of the leading project management organisations in Germany and coordinator of the Agroecology Partnership, gave an overview of the main objectives, methods and highlights of the first year of the partnership, such as launching calls** to fund high-level transnational research projects and implementing a range of supporting activities, including communication, monitoring and capacity building.
The subsequent panel discussion among leaders of the Agroecology Partnership’s work packages was convened to provide insights and perspectives on key issues such as challenges and opportunities for achieving impact, the uniqueness of the partnership as a tool and barriers to collaborative efforts across different areas of expertise and stakeholder engagement.
Mihai Pera, from the European Commission's Research Executive Agency (REA), which is responsible for monitoring the implementation of the grants, was invited to explain the issues of funding, reporting, ethics and dissemination.
On 29 February, the secretariat of the Standing Committee on Agricultural Research (SCAR) opened a session presenting European networks, providing the context for an interactive discussion to explore and develop synergies.
Finally, Nicolas Tinois, Daniela Piaz Barbosa Leal and Ulrike Ziegler from Projektträger Jülich informed the participants about the management of the partnership and opened the floor for discussion.
Launch event in Brussels
The Agroecology Partnership’s kick-off meeting was preceded by a launch event for both the Agroecology Partnership and the Partnership on Animal Health and Welfare.
The recording of this event, which took place on the morning of 28 February, is available on the European Commission’s website (see link below).
The roles of FiBL and ÖMKi
In the Agroecology Partnership, FiBL Europe, FiBL Switzerland and ÖMKi will contribute to work packages 2, 7 and 8. For the latter, ÖMKi has the lead.
The overall objective of work package 2 is to create and support mechanisms for exchange between scientists and policymakers, considering current policies and governance models, in order to provide evidence-based policies that support agroecological transition.
The goal of work package 7 is to enhance the capacities of agroecology living labs and research infrastructures and their various stakeholders from the agri-food value chain from farmers to consumers, and through improved sharing and access to knowledge, strengthen the Agricultural, Knowledge and Information System (AKIS) for agroecology transition across Europe.
In work package 8, led by ÖMKi, the objective is to consolidate and further develop the European Network of agroecology living labs and research infrastructures in order to accelerate the transition to agroecological food systems across Europe, and to strengthen collaboration between living labs and research infrastructures and empower their actors in the production of new and diverse knowledge. Work package 8 will also ensure that the Network will improve the access to and availability of the knowledge and experiences of agroecology living labs and research infrastructures at different scales to foster information sharing through the online Agroecology Collaborative Knowledge Platform.
The Agroecology Collaborative Knowledge Platform
FiBL Switzerland and the International Centre for Research in Organic Food Systems (ICROFS) will establish the information/collaboration platform on agroecology in Europe and worldwide.
The core of the platform will be a database providing access to publications and various information materials on the subject. This platform will use the Eprint software, which is the basis of the Organic Eprint archive run by ICROFS and FiBL (www.orgprints.org). In addition, the agroecology platform will provide access to information on living labs and research infrastructures practising agroecology, as well as relevant networks, institutions and projects.
The service will be rounded off by news and event notifications and the possibility for networking and interactive exchange of experiences and information between interested parties. It complements existing services such as those provided by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) or the Agroecology Europe network.
ICROFS and FiBL are now starting to develop the platform with an initial focus on the Eprint-based repository. From 2025, the Eprint repository will be integrated into the overall platform and supplemented with additional information.
*Horizon Europe is the current funding programme for research and innovation of the European Union.
**The first co-funded call, "Fostering agroecology at farm and landscape levels", was launched on 15 February. 2024 Details can be found below (see weblink).
Authors: Gabriele Ridolfi, FiBL Europe, Korinna Varga, ÖMKi, and Helga Willer, FiBL Switzerland
Further information
Contacts
- Gabriele Ridolfi, FiBL Europe
- Korinna Varga, ÖMKi, korinna.varga(at)biokutatas.hu, +36 30 171 8291
- Helga Willer, FiBL Switzerland
Weblinks
- agroecology.ptj.de: First co-funded call of the Agroecology Partnership - "Fostering agroecology at farm and landscape levels"
- ec.europa.eu: Launch event of the European Partnerships on Agroecology and Animal Health and Welfare
- all-ready-project.eu: Website of ALL-Ready - The European Agroecology Living Lab and Research Infrastructure Network: Preparation phase
- icrofs.dk: Website of the International Centre for Research in Organic Food Systems ICROFS
- orgprints.org: Search link for upcoming publications of the Agroecology Partnership