Reducing food losses and waste along the agri-food value chain

Building on the state of the art, proposals shall identify, validate and demonstrate innovative, effective ways to reduce food losses and waste, with a focus on preventing avoidable losses and waste of perishable products, all along the agri-food value chain from primary production down to final household consumption and disposal. Proposals should consider diverse forms of innovation, e.g. technological, social, organizational, managerial and institutional, etc. that allow actors to better organize and coordinate their activities, to monitor conditions, to eliminate the many intricate direct and indirect causes of inefficiency, and, hence, to discard as little food as possible all along the agri-food value chains without compromising on food quality, including safety, and sustainability. When applicable, proposals should address requirements from relevant EU regulatory frameworks, including pre-market approval.

In order to test and demonstrate efficacy of the introduced innovative approaches and to further improve understanding of the root causes behind the current situation, proposals shall include a task to measure and monitor food losses and waste (and associated economic and environmental costs) along the agri-food value chains. Any methods used for this purpose should be compatible with the EU legislation on measurement and reporting data on food losses and waste (to be adopted by the 31 of March 2019)[[For further details see - https://ec.europa.eu/food/safety/food_waste/eu_actions/food-waste-measurement_en]], but may be complemented with measurement of materials not covered by the legislation (e.g. farm losses). Activities should scrutinize factors enabling and hindering innovative approaches. Recommendations, best practice guidelines and toolkits for promising innovative approaches to the reduction of food losses and waste shall be developed, taking into consideration the underlying socio-cultural factors and gender aspects, when relevant.

Proposals should foresee activities to inform diverse actors along the agri-food chain, including consumers and policymakers, about the innovative solutions to food losses and waste, influencing their behaviour in relation to this issue, and supporting policy development and implementation. Proposals should seek complementarities[[Articles 2 and 41.4 of the MGA]] with selected projects under topic RUR-07-2020 and other relevant EU projects, as well as contribute to relevant initiatives at EU level[[https://ec.europa.eu/food/safety/food_waste_en;]]^{, [[ http://ec.europa.eu/environment/circular-economy/index_en.htm]]}. To maximize impact across Europe and to ensure wide dissemination of the project results, proposals should foresee a dedicated work package for cooperation with selected projects under topic RUR-07-2020 and earmark appropriate resources. Cooperation with other selected projects under topic RUR-06-2020 is also encouraged.

Proposals shall fall under the concept of the 'multi-actor approach'[[See definition of the 'multi-actor approach' in the introduction to this Work Programme part]], ensuring solid collaboration between relevant actors, such as farmers or farmers associations, agri-food industry (including small businesses), wholesalers and retailers, food related services, consumers and policymakers.

The Commission considers that proposals requesting a contribution from the EU of up to EUR 6 million would allow this specific challenge to be addressed appropriately. Nonetheless, this does not preclude submission and selection of proposals requesting other amounts.

Annually in the EU around 88 million tonnes of food are lost or wasted all along the agri-food value chain, from primary production to final consumption, with consequent high environmental, social and economic impacts[[Figure based on 2012 data. The reference for the figure of 88 million tonnes of food waste quoted by the Commission corresponds to the latest estimates of food waste generated in the EU-28 published in 2016 by FP7 project Fusions 'Estimates of European food waste levels. This figure is not broken down on what is produced in the EU and what is imported.]]. The problem is particularly worrying for perishable foods. Reducing food losses and waste, primarily through prevention, has enormous potential for ensuring sustainable food and nutrition security, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and lessening environmental impacts by improved resource use efficiency. Nonetheless, reducing food losses and waste all along the agri-food value chain is not straightforward, as the problem is a result of manifold and highly interlinked causes. Much is known about the causes and many innovative solutions are already available. There is, however, an urgent need for their demonstration and market replication. To avoid shifting the burden of food losses and waste from one stage of the agri-food value chain to another, it is important to coordinate the innovative actions to tackle food losses and waste along all stages of the agri-food value chain.

In the short and medium term, proposed innovative activities will lead to a significant reduction of food losses and waste along the entire agri-food chain, and:

• increase the capacity and engagement of actors along the agri-food chain to collaborate with each other towards the common objective to reduce food losses and waste;
• raise awareness on the value of food and increase shared responsibility for food losses and waste prevention among all actors of the agri-food chain;
• expand the portfolio of innovative technologies, added-value products, business models and modes of cooperation between actors across the agri-food chain with large potential for market replication and reduction of food losses and waste; the TRL of the innovative solutions can vary at the start of the project, but should achieve at least TRL 6-7;
• contribute to and/or improve understanding of the root causes behind the current situation and measurement of food losses and waste to be taken by Member States as laid down in the recently amended Waste Framework Directive[[https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:02008L0098-20180705]].

In the long-term the innovation action will:

• identify adequate measures to promote the reduction of food losses and waste;
• increase resource use efficiency and reduce adverse environmental impacts, including emissions of greenhouse gases;
• reduce economic costs associated with food loss and waste, create jobs and increase competitiveness of the agri-food chain.