Green ERA-Hub initiatives
Discover the research needs and priorities of all 15 initiatives constituting the Green ERA-Hub (GEH). A profile of each initiative is presented that introduces the network with its background, goals and the challenges it focuses on. This is followed by the scope, goals and relevant research topics identified by each initiative.
The diversity of the research domains agriculture, food, and biotechnology within the GEH is our greatest strength. As we travel this common journey, the culmination of insights, priorities and joint efforts of the various initiatives will lead the GEH towards a visionary path of impactful research and innovation.
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European Research Area on Sustainable Animal Production Systems
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The scope for this ERA-NET was developed under the SCAR Collaborative Working Group on Sustainable Animal Production (CWG-SAP). Funding organisations from 23 European countries initially sought to support one co-funded call, followed by other joint activities, including the development of a common strategic research and innovation agenda on sustainable animal production, a joint European research effort for the further development of sustainable European animal production based on the three pillars of sustainability - economic, environmental and social.
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European Research Area on Sustainable Animal Production Systems
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Societies depend on soil. Fertile and productive soil is the foundation of our existence and the prerequisite for a stable supply of food, fiber, animal feed, timber and other biomasses. Soil sustains biodiversity and contributes to the provision of a wide range of ecosystem services, and as the largest store of carbon on land, it is also in the nexus of global climate challenges. Soil is part of the solution to realizing the SDGs. The threat of global warming makes climate-smart sustainable agricultural soil management crucial. The EU-funded EJP SOIL project will create an enabling environment to enhance the contribution of agricultural soils to key societal challenges such as climate change adaptation and mitigation, sustainable agricultural production, ecosystem services provision as well as prevention and restoration of land and soil degradation.
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Sustainable and Resilient agriculture for food and non-food systems
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The objective of FACCE SURPLUS was to strengthen the European Research Area in support of different integrated food and non-food biomass production and transformation systems, especially by organising, implementing and cofunding with the EU a joint call for transnational research projects on the topic of sustainable and resilient agriculture. As this topic falls within the scope of the Strategic Research Agenda (SRA) of the Joint Programming Initiative on Agriculture, Food Security and Climate Change (FACCE–JPI), this ERA-NET Cofund represents a substantial contribution to the delivery of the FACCE–JPI SRA. It also contributed to the overall EU objective of building the European Research Area through enhanced cooperation, coordination and alignment of national research programmes.
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Coordination of European Transnational Research in Organic Food and Farming Systems Cofund
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Organic agriculture is considered one of the important development pathways towards more sustainable agriculture and food production. CORE Organic started in 2004 and has been evolving for more than a decade. The CORE Organic partners increased innovation potential, knowledge accessibility, alignment of national research and international outreach in support of the ERA-NET’s objectives. CORE Organic closely monitored the funded projects and offered assistance regarding stakeholder involvement and dissemination in order to secure high impact on the research efforts. CORE Organic Cofund aimed 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.
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Cofund on Biotechnologies
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ERA CoBioTech is an ERA-Net Cofund Action under H2020, which aims to strengthen the European Research Area (ERA) in the field of Biotechnology through enhanced cooperation and coordination of different national and regional research programs, promoting systems biology and synthetic biology as technology drivers to speed up research and innovation in industrial biotechnology. The key mission of ERA CoBioTech is to maximise synergies between current mechanisms of biotechnology research funding in Europe, to foster the exchange of knowledge across borders, to highlight the benefits of a bio-based economy for society, and to maintain and strengthen Europe’s position in biotechnology. The ERA-Net Cofund on Biotechnologies is an ERA Net Cofund Action under Horizon 2020 building on the achievements of ERA-IB2 (ERA-Net for Industrial Biotechnology 2), ERASysAPP (ERA-Net for Applied Systems Biology) and ERASynBio (ERA-Net for Synthetic Biology).
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International coordination of research on infectious animal diseases
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Infectious animal diseases bring severe economic, environmental and social damage to many countries, and in some cases could pose a threat to human health. Globalisation of agricultural production requires urgent efforts to control and fight many livestock diseases including African swine fever and animal influenza, which represent a global threat. The EU-funded consortium of 28 partners from 19 countries will address these global threats through joint efforts via multi-disciplinary research on mechanisms of host/vector/pathogen interactions, epidemiology, diagnostics and vaccination strategy. This project will build on the work of the two previous ERA-NET programmes with successful outcomes that are dedicated to ensuring sustainable livestock production along with safety in international trade.
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ERA-NET Cofund for Monitoring & Mitigation of Greenhouse gases from Agri- and Silvi-culture
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This ERA-NET Cofund aimed to strengthen the transnational coordination of research programmes and provide added value to research and innovation on greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation in the European Research Area. ERA-GAS covered aspects of monitoring and mitigation of agricultural GHGs, including such aspects as reducing uncertainties and improving national agricultural GHG inventories, the role of climatic variability and agricultural and forestry practices for GHG emissions, the technical and economic potential of CH4 and N2O mitigation, carbon sequestration and reduced emissions from energy use and pre-chain inputs, emissions/removals certification, economic and policy measures, including trade, barriers to implementation and life cycle assessment.
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Sustainable and Resilient ERA-Net Cofund on Sustainable Food production and consumption
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SUSFOOD2 was an ERA-NET Cofund on sustainable food production and consumption with 26 partners from 15 countries.
The overarching goal of SUSFOOD2 was to reinforce the cooperation in research, development and innovation between EU member and associated states in order to make food systems more sustainable, resilient and secure. The SUSFOOD2 consortium has organised a cofunded call (2017) for transnational research projects on sustainable food production and consumption. Beyond this, other joint activities, like additional joint calls with CORE Organic and FOSC, workshops, and research and stakeholders’ events have been undertaken, and thus SUSFOOD2 has contributed to the establishment of a resource-efficient, sustainable bioeconomy in the European Research Area.
SUSFOOD2 goals were based on challenges for the field of sustainable food production and consumption. These goals include:
To develop sustainable food systems from production to consumption;
To increase food processing sustainably while reducing waste in food supply chain and limiting environmental impacts;
To improve the quality of life by improving food quality in a sustainable way and to ensure the resilience of the food supply chain;
To encourage sustainable consumer behaviors and food choices;
To improve competitiveness and economic growth in the European food industry with special attention to SMEs.
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Long-term EU Africa research and innovation partnership on food and nutrition security and sustainable agriculture
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The ERA-Net Cofund LEAP Agri is the result and part of the implementation of the priorities of the EU Africa HLPD (High-Level Policy Dialogue ) on Food, Nutrition Security and Sustainable Agriculture (FNSSA). This partnership will increase investments in research and innovation through coordinated bi-regional (EU/Africa) mechanisms aimed at reducing fragmentation. The project has two pillars, (i) funding R&I projects on FNSSA, and (ii) Feeding the long-term EU- AU partnership on FNSSA. Building on earlier experiences such as ERAfrica, PRO-IntensAfrica and ERA-ARD, LEAP-AGRI will be guided by strong partnership principles such as equitability, shared governance and long-term commitment to the partnership by organisations who have had relationships of trust for many years.
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Network for phytosanitary research coordination and funding
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Euphresco is a network of organisations that fund research projects and coordinate national research in the phytosanitary area. The overall goal of Euphresco is to support coordination and collaboration in the area of phytosanitary research and to maintain itself as a strong, long-term network of research stakeholders. In Europe, many of the phytosanitary policies, regulations and underpinning technical recommendations are determined at regional level, while the research that supports them is mostly funded and carried out at the national level. Coordination of such national activities is then vital to reduce the impact of plant pests on the economy, the environment and the health of citizens at the level of each country but more generally at European and international level. EUPHRESCO-I ran from 2006-2010 and aimed to coordinate plant health research at the European (national and EU) levels for the first time and to develop and test the funding mechanisms, processes and tools for implementing transnational research projects. EUPHRESCO-II ran from 2011-2014 and had an emphasis on broadening and deepening the Network’s activities and ensuring a strong, durable Network emerged. An external evaluation of EUPHRESCO (as a whole from 2006-2014) has identified current and expected future impacts, as well as improvements in processes and operations.
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Central and Eastern European Initiative for Knowledge-based Agriculture, Forestry and Aquaculture in the Bioeconomy
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The transition of Central Eastern European countries towards a sustainable circular bioeconomy involves multiple actors. Governments should embrace strategic thinking at the national level. The role of multi-actor techniques for the development of new value chains must be emphasised and a Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA) should be adopted. The EU-funded BIOEASTsUP project will support the deployment of bioeconomy on national, macro-regional and EU levels. It will address challenges related to national and regional strategy as well as to research and innovation. Deployed in 11 Central Eastern European countries, it is supported by 26 government ministries together with a wide range of stakeholders from industry and research.
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ERA-NET Cofund on Sustainable Crop Production
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Currently, the global production of crops requires excessive amounts of water, pesticides, chemicals and energy. New ways of sustainable crop production have to be explored in order to increase productivity and to improve the quality of crops whilst simultaneously reducing the use of chemicals. Moreover, it is important that sustainability aspects cover the whole food value chain and address topics including (but not limited to) crop diversity and resilience, resource use efficiency, nutrient recycling, ecosystem services, minimal environmental impacts, integrated pest management, reduction and re-use of waste, and achievement of food and nutritional security. Only by securing and enhancing sustainable crop production food and nutrient security for a growing population under climate change can be ensured. The expected impact of the ERA-Net cofund is to contribute to developing cropping systems with improved performance in terms of reduced environmental impacts, resource-use efficiency and product quality. This will help the farming sector adapt to changes expected to result e.g. from emerging resource scarcity, environmental variation, demography, consumer preferences, and global trade.
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ERA-NET Cofund on Food Systems and Climate
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Climate change will affect food security: food availability, food accessibility, food utilisation and food systems stability. Designing sustainable food processes under climate change evolution is complex, encompassing many sectors. The EU-funded FOSC project is the ERA-NET Cofund on Food Systems and Climate. It will implement a range of joint activities to contribute to the creation of a strong and effective research and innovation network between Africa, Europe, and Latin America, as well as the coordination and synergism between national, international and EU research programmes relevant to food security under climate change. It will assess climate change-related risks for food value chains, reduce volatility in agri-food production, and develop novel approaches to valorise side streams and reduce food waste.
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ERA-NET Cofund on ICT-enabled agri-food systems
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Protecting the health of humans, animals and plants at every stage of the food production process is a key public health and economic priority for the EU. Smart digital technology can help safeguard health along the whole agro-food chain. Since already 2009, the ERA-NET ICT AGRI is supporting the development and implementation of new technologies for a competitive, sustainable and environmentally friendly agriculture. ICT-AGRI-FOOD is an ERA-NET Co-fund that wants to underpin the transition towards more sustainable and resilient agri-food systems with digital technology. Data from the entire food chain is used for this purpose. All stakeholders benefit, but ultimately it is the consumer who will be able to make smarter, healthier and more appropriate choices based on information about environmental impact, origin, nutritional value, safety and integrity.
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Coordinating Action in Plant Sciences
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ERA-CAPS is the European Research Area Network for Coordinating Action in Plant Sciences. Building on the ERA-CAPS ERA-NET that was supported by the European Commission’s 7th Framework Programme until mid-2015, ERA-CAPS has now become a self-sustained network. Meeting the 5 major challenges (Healthy, safe and sufficient food - Plant-based products–chemicals and energy - Sustainable agriculture, forestry and landscape - Vibrant and competitive basic research - Consumer choice and governance) is an ambitious goal that will not be met without an underpinning EU-wide plant science research structure. We are convinced that ERA-CAPS can help to deliver the science and coordination required to make progress against these challenges. Therefore, ERA-CAPS initiative aims at deepening and enlarging European cooperation in the area of Plant Sciences, which should significantly help plant sciences to address both current and future challenges in food and non-food crop production.
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Related initiatives
All partners in the Green ERA-Hub are fully aware that all attempts to make agriculture and food production more sustainable and to advance the bioeconomy through utilising biotechnology need strong global interconnection.
The Green ERA-Hub plans to cooperate closely with other relevant organisations. In particular, value will be added by developing stronger interactions with the following European initiative:
The Joint Programming Initiative on Agriculture, Food Security and Climate Change comprises 20 countries with the aim of targeting joint research to secure a safe and sustainable food supply, whilst reducing the impact of agriculture on climate change. The intentions of ERA-CAPS fit very well under the broader vision of the FACCE-JPI and therefore it is anticipated that ERA-CAPS will help to implement some of their objectives.
5 FACCE ERA-NETs: FACCE ERA-NET Plus - FACCESURPLUS - FACCE ERA-GAS - SusCrop and FOSC
Other: EJP Soil
FACCE-JPI has dedicated significant efforts to making researchers aware of the need to provide results to policy makers and other end users. FACCE-JPI will continue these efforts, in particular through the FACCE-JPI Project Wheel, an interactive tool that allows all FACCE-JPI projects to be visualised according to specific criteria..