In light of the multiple challenges that the agricultural sector is facing today including climate change, loss of biodiversity, dwindling resources, degradation of soil and water quality, today there is wide recognition that “business as usual” is no longer an option. The European Green Deal sets out ambitious targets for a Europe, including no net emissions of greenhouse gases by 2050, economic growth that is decoupled from resource use, and no person and no place are left behind.
The Green Deal will be implemented through specific strategies, including the “Farm to Fork” and the 2030 Biodiversity strategy, both of which cite agroecology as a sustainable practice and a means to reducing the use of pesticides, fertilisers and antimicrobials. Furthermore, as part of Horizon Europe, a new set of co-funded European partnerships – mobilising resources from Member States and Associated Countries and from the European Commission – are being developed that are designed to have societal impact. Among these is one on “Accelerating farming systems transition: agroecology living labs and research infrastructures” (AGROECOLOGY). In line with the Farm to Fork Strategy, this partnership recognises the urgent need to transform our agri-food systems.
ALL-Ready is a Coordination and Support Action (CSA) funded by the European Commission with the aim of contributing significantly to the future partnership by preparing a framework for a future European network of living labs and research infrastructures that will enable the transition towards agroecology throughout Europe.
The partnership builds on the premise that agroecology can strengthen the sustainability and resilience of farming systems. It further supposes that living labs, which are user-centred, function in real life conditions and in a co-creative approach involving a multitude of different actors, are particularly suited for accelerating this transition, supported by research infrastructures. Research infrastructures can be facilities for agroecology transition. They are dedicated to research communities, and allow scientists to observe / experiment / predict agroecosystem and agri-food redesign. All together they contribute to bringing a corpus of scientific knowledge on agroecology available for agroecology transition.
The ALL-Ready project has defined, in a co-creation process, a conceptual framework that includes a vision and mission for a European Network of Living Labs and Research Infrastructures, which is designed to accelerate the transition to agroecology. A second achievement concerns the wide-scale mapping, analysis and overview of existing mechanisms (in EU and beyond) for participatory agroecological research and innovation for the network implementation. This involved defining a set of inclusion criteria for the network, exploring barriers and enablers, including policies, to agroecology transition, examining funding mechanisms, preparing an inventory of European living labs and research infrastructures that can contribute to agroecology transition and finally identifying exemplary cases.
A small-scale pilot network of 20 living labs and research infrastructures was established that allowed the testing of the functioning and activities of the network. In conjunction with the pilot network, guidance for an implementation plan was designed, based on an iterative process of assessing the needs of potential network members. It also addresses how to ensure the long-term implementation and sustainability of the network. In parallel, the ALL-Ready project has developed a capacity building programme including training actions and packages that were tested with the pilot network. Finally, the project has provided evidence-based knowledge to support the transition to agroecology. Cross-cutting issues included involving stakeholders in every step of the project, communication and dissemination of project results and the preparation of a virtual lab containing information supporting agroecology transition.
