Agroecology, organic farming and the path to innovation

Transition to sustainable farming and food systems

Agroecology and organic farming are approaches with recognised potential to accelerate the transition to sustainable farming and food systems and to contribute to achieving the objectives set in the Vision for Agriculture and Food and in the EU Action Plan for the Development of Organic production.

Compared to more conventional approaches, agroecology and organic farming place more emphasis on crop diversification and soil management to reduce the use of external inputs. They rely on interactions between plants and/or animals and other organisms, above and below ground, and increase the provision of ecosystem services, which are highly context-specific and not yet well known, such as:

• pollination,
• biological pest control,
• nutrient cycling and
• hydrological services.

These approaches also have the potential to simultaneously address the social, environmental, climate, and economic challenges of the agricultural sector, and increase its resilience, by seeking cooperation with other parts of the food and non-food supply chains to develop solutions and business models adapted to context-specific challenges.

Advancing agroecology and organic farming in Europe

The EU is boosting its support for research in these areas. Research projects are helping find solutions to specific challenges of organic farming, including through agroecological approaches. Research is improving our understanding of the practical implementation and of the effects of these approaches, along with their environmental, climate, economic, and social benefits. This is contributing to building a robust Research and Innovation system for agroecology in Europe, which is being further consolidated through the Horizon Europe ‘Agroecology’ Partnership, launched in 2024. Research is underpinning the agroecology transition in Europe by enhancing knowledge and delivering the necessary context-specific solutions and tools.

Research in action

EU-funded research is helping to achieve the full potential of diversifying cropping systems. It demonstrates that crop diversification can increase productivity while decreasing the need for chemical inputs. Research projects such as the following offer advice on crop combinations and management, including alternatives for pest control:

• Diversify
• Diverfarming
• Diverimpacts
• Remix
• IWMpraise
• GOOD
• AGROSUS
• CONSERWA
• Oper8

Research is helping to boost the sustainable development of legume production in Europe. This has been the objective of research projects and thematic networks such as the following, which key outcomes include the creation of the Legume Hub, the Legume Innovation Network (LIN), and decision support systems for value-chain-wide sustainability assessment and knowledge sharing:

• Legumes Translated
• LegValue
• TRUE

The following projects are helping us understand how agroforestry could offer an opportunity for land use to become part of the solution to climate change and land degradation:

• Stargate
• Afinet
• Mixed
• Agromix
• Reforest
• Digitaf
• AF4EU

Organic farming

EU-funded research is helping to boost organic farming in Europe. Several research projects are addressing specific challenges in the sector. The following research projects are helping to increase the availability and quality of organic seeds and develop resilient new cultivars and crops.

• Liveseed
• Ecobreed
• Bresov
• Liveseeding
• InnoBreed

Research is also facilitating the adoption of alternatives to phase out the use of contentious inputs in organic farming. The following projects are identifying promising phase-out pathways for some of those inputs by promoting knowledge exchange among farmers, farm advisers and scientists which is a key objective of EU-funded research on organic farming:

• Organic-Plus
• Relacs
• Scale-it
• BIO-2

Knowledge sharing and advice

Boosting conversion to and implementation of organic farming practices requires solid mechanisms for knowledge sharing and advice among farmers and with other actors of the agri-food chain. Research and innovation are supporting this through several projects, which include:

• OK-Net Arable which set up the Organic Farm Knowledge (OFK) platform to make information accessible to farmers.
• OK-Net EcoFeed which has helped organic farmers move towards using 100% organic feed
• OH-FINE is establishing a pan-European organic farming learning community
• OrganicAdviceNet is establishing a network of 1 000 organic advisers across Europe
• PPILOW which is developing solutions to improve animal welfare in organic farming.

Coordination and alignment of EU and national R&I priorities

The EU is also supporting the coordination of European transnational research in agroecology, organic food and farming, notably through the ERA-Net Core Organic and the Partnership Agroecology.

The organic sector is also addressed in several other EU-funded research projects focusing on a wide range of aspects.

The importance of ecosystems

Research is helping European farmers with the knowledge and tools they need to maximise the ecosystem services obtained from sustainable agricultural approaches. Developing innovative tools to help farmers capitalise on nature and biodiversity and integrate biodiversity into farming practices is at the core of the following research projects:

• EcoStack
• Showcase
• Framework
• Biovalue

Research is helping identify sustainable systems based on permanent grasslands through projects such as Super-G. The Console, Effect and Contracts2.0 projects have developed tools to make payments-for-results schemes more attractive to farmers.

Socio-economic benefits and challenges

Identifying the drivers behind the development of ecological farming, and analysing its socio-economic benefits and challenges, have been at the core of LIFT and UNISECO research projects.

Agroecology in EIP-AGRI

Other instruments and other programs, like the European Innovation Partnership for Agricultural productivity and sustainability (EIP-AGRI), also help maximise the adoption and development of agroecology and organic farming. 

Relevant EIP-AGRI focus groups and other networking activities include:

• Agroforestry: woody vegetation
• Non-chemical weed management
• Biodiversity on farmland
• Carbon storage in arable farming
• Mixed farming systems
• Nutrient recycling
• Organic farming
• Permanent grassland
• Enhancing the biodiversity on farmland through high-diversity landscape features
• Workshop ‘Cropping for the future: networking for crop rotation and crop diversification’
• Workshop ‘Conversion to organic farming’