The new Farm to Fork Strategy sees research and innovation as key drivers to ensure a fair, healthy and environmentally friendly food system.
As an important part of the European Green Deal, the European Commission (EC) has adopted a new Farm to Fork Strategy, looking to transform the agri-food sector across the whole value chain. It will enable the transition to a sustainable system and safeguard food security, while reducing the environmental and climate footprint of the EU food system. Important objectives also include strengthening the resilience of the food system, protecting citizens’ health and ensuring the livelihoods of the actors within the sector. The strategy reinforces the newly adopted Biodiversity Strategy (see SwissCore article) in bringing together nature, farmers, business and consumers to transition towards a sustainable future.
The strategy sets concrete targets to transform the EU’s food system, including a reduction by 50% of the use and risk of pesticides, a reduction by at least 20% of the use of fertilisers, a reduction by 50% in sales of antimicrobials used for farmed animals and aquaculture, and reaching 25% of agricultural land under organic farming. It also seeks to make healthy diets more easily accessible through measures such as improved labelling.
Research and innovation have an important role in helping develop and test solutions to meet these objectives, overcome barriers, and uncover new market opportunities. The strategy cites important initiatives, such as the Green Deal call that the EC is preparing under Horizon 2020, which will support environmentally-related solutions for a total of around EUR 1 billion, and the further EUR 10 billion that they propose to spend on research and innovation on the food system under the next Framework Programme, Horizon Europe. An important contribution will come from the mission in the area of soil health and food under Horizon Europe. Further agriculture-specific structures foreseen under the next framework programme include a dedicated public-private partnership with a focus on reducing pesticides, fertilisers and antimicrobials through the use of living laboratories. A strengthened European Innovation Partnership “Agricultural Productivity and Sustainability” (EIP-AGRI) will support the farming sector, and a new Horizon Europe Partnership for “Safe and sustainable food systems for people, plant and Climate” will focus on circularity and quality of food.
In addition to such direct research and innovation support, the EC also foresees enabling the take-up of new technologies in the agro-food sector by accelerating the roll-out of fast broad-band in rural areas (with 100% access by 2025), de-risking investments in the sector through the InvestEU fund, and additional advisory services, knowledge sharing, data spaces and skills development.
The EC has invited the European Parliament and the Council to endorse the strategy and its commitments.