EU-African Union – towards climate-neutral, social just fair trade food systems

Støtter

Programme Horizon Europe (HORIZON) Call Fair, healthy and environmentally-friendly food systems from primary production to consumption (HORIZON-CL6-2024-FARM2FORK-01) Type of action HORIZON-RIA HORIZON Research and Innovation Actions Type of MGA HORIZON Action Grant Budget-Based [HORIZON-AG] Deadline model single-stage Opening date 17 October 2023 Deadline date 22 February 2024 17:00:00 Brussels time Expected Outcome: In line with the European Green Deal priorities and the farm to fork strategy for a fair, healthy and environment‑friendly food system, and in support of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement, the successful proposal will contribute to the AU-EU High Level Policy Dialogue (HLPD) on Science, Technology and Innovation, and its first priority on Food and Nutrition Security and Sustainable Agriculture. The farm to fork strategy aims to accelerate the transition to a sustainable food system that should have a neutral or positive environmental impact, help to mitigate climate change and adapt to its impacts. New opportunities in EU-African trade are opening-up for trade regimes with co-benefits for producers, climate and citizens. Innovative Information and Communications Technology (ICT) based, traceability and certification schemes should maximise co-benefits while helping to keep the effects of Non-Tariff Measures (NTMs) in particular administrative and transaction costs low. The African countries signed the African Continental Free Trade Agreement and launched an action plan for Boosting Intra-African Trade with a view to strengthening regional integration. It is also one of the key priorities of the Africa Agenda 2063 and a major step towards African continental economic integration. Project results are expected to contribute to all of the following expected outcomes: Improved assessment systems for sustainable food trade regimes with co-benefits for producers, climate and citizens, biodiversity, assessment of certification schemes (organic, carbon neutral, de-forestation free, conventional), testing innovative solutions with food systems/certification actors; Provide data and recommendations for improved Non-Tariff Measure (NTM) regimes; Provide solutions to food trade, Ministries in charge, border regime management (digital solutions). Scope: Proposals are expected to address the following: Study the tipping points to scale-up climate-neutral, fair and just food supply; Explore the climate, biodiversity and social impacts of food supply (organic and conventional) and linked products due to land-use change; Better understanding of the aim, collection, quantification and modelling of NTMs relevant for intra-African and EU-AU trade relations; Clearly explain how the proposal will contribute towards scaling-up of business models of climate-neutral fair and just and efficient food supply; Implement the multi-actor approach by involving a wide range of food system actors and conducting inter-disciplinary research; Link to previous projects on urban – rural food systems for solutions to strengthen resilience of food systems in view of supply and/or price shocks. Innovation: Proposals should foresee a space for mentoring and accelerating innovative business concepts, including social innovation and upscaling in view of African or European food business entrepreneurs and start-ups with special consideration of women and the diaspora using cascading funding opportunities. Proposals may involve financial support to third parties e.g. to academic researchers, start-ups, SMEs and other multidisciplinary actors, to, for instance, develop, test or validate developed assessment approaches or collect or prepare data sets or provide other contributions to achieve the project objectives... Consortia need to define the selection process of organisations, for which financial support will be granted. Maximum 20% of the EU funding can be allocated to this purpose. Budget per topic with separate ‘call-budget-split’: Topic code Type of action Budget (EUR million) HORIZON-CL6-2024-FARM2FORK-01-11 RIA 9.00 Funding threshold 13.0 Summary of observer report: Some difficulties were found in the evaluation of the budgets, particularly for the lump sum. The experts requested to have more detailed instructions for the evaluation. The Quality Check by experts not involved in the evaluation is suitable in terms of preparing better the ESR, but at the level of general discussion of each proposal it can give rise to long discussions and, exceptionally, a change of score. A revision of the way the suggestions from the QC are incorporated into the revised consensus report is suggested, to try and limit the long discussions. The Cross reading of the best ranked proposals is well programmed, however a more active role, in some cases, of the TL as moderator is highly recommended in order to guide the discussion of the Experts panel. Having observed many remote meetings and also central meetings, the general conclusion is that the SEP tool to access the remote discussions (JOIN) works perfectly well and the Experts are clearly at ease. The role of the moderators is in any case crucial in order to guide the discussion, to introduce the topic, to let everyone present their opinion. These meetings can last up to two hours or, in a few cases, even longer, and this aspect has to be considered in the correct schedule. The highly demanding evaluation exercise has been run within the given deadline, in a fair and transparent way, and in compliance with the applicable EC rules. Flash information on the CALL results (flash call info) The HORIZON-CL6-2024-FARM2FORK-01 call: Fair, healthy and environmentally-friendly food systems from primary production to consumption, was closed on 22nd February 2024. 269 proposals were submitted in response to this call. Topic destination Fair, healthy and environment-friendly food systems from primary production to consumption (2023/24) National, EU and global food systems are facing sustainability challenges, from primary production to consumption that could jeopardise food and nutrition security. The farm to fork strategy, and its follow-up initiatives, aim to address these challenges and supports transition to more resilient and environmentally, socially and economically sustainable food systems on land and at sea that provide healthy diets for all and respect planetary boundaries. It is key to ensuring that the fit for 55 package[1] and the European Green Deal[2] are successful and the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)[3] are achieved. Research and innovation (R&I) under this destination will steer and accelerate the transition to sustainable, safe, healthy and inclusive food systems from farm to fork, ensuring food and nutrition security for all and delivering co-benefits for the environment, health, society and economy. Sustainable, climate neutral and biodiversity friendly farming systems provide economic, social (including health), environmental and climate benefits, and are the main prerequisite for food and nutrition security. For farmers, who are the backbone of food systems and principal managers of natural resources, the new common agricultural policy (CAP) and the European Green Deal set ambitious targets and objectives concerning the sustainability and safety of feed, food and non-food production. These targets and objectives are included in the core European Green Deal policy priorities, in particular the farm to fork strategy, the EU biodiversity strategy for 2030, zero pollution ambitions and climate action, and their follow-up initiatives. R&I in line with the strategic approach to EU agricultural research and innovation[4] will be key enablers for achieving these ambitious targets and objectives.