Periodic Reporting for period 2 - DIVINFOOD (Co-constructing interactive short and mid-tier food chains to value agrobiodiversity in healthy plant-based food)
Période du rapport: 2023-09-01 au 2025-02-28
What is the problem/issue being addressed by DIVINFOOD? Why is it important for society?
Biodiversity is in rapid decline. This concerns both wild diversity and agrobiodiversity which includes all the species and varieties used for food. This decline is mostly due to the industrialisation of agriculture and the standardisation of food production. As a result, since 1900, 75% of plant genetic resources have been lost and 60% of human energy intake comes from 3 crops: wheat, maize and rice. This heavy reliance on a small number of varieties is a threat to food security and deprives consumers of the nutritional quality of other species. At the same time, demand for healthy, local, plant-based products is growing in Europe. The Covid-19 crisis has amplified these expectations of local products, but has also encouraged the expansion of local food policies aimed at relocating food production and developing short food supply chains. Small-scale producers and processors offer local food products valuing neglected and under-utilised species (NUCs) in short chains, thus helping to both reverse the decline in biodiversity and meet this demand. However, they face many challenges, from insufficient availability of suitable varieties to difficulty in developing viable business models.
What are the overall objectives of DIVINFOOD?
The overall objectives of DIVINFOOD is to contribute to reverse the agrobiodiversity decline by producing knowledge and tools to support farmers and small-scale processors to develop short and mid-tier supply chains valuing NUCs and meeting consumer expectations of local, healthy plant-based food. DIVINFOOD focuses on legumes and minor cereals, whose use in short and mid-tier chains is increasing, and whose potential for health and agroecology is high. The production of knowledge and tools, from breeding to marketing, involves citizen-consumers and relies on 9 living labs (LLs) gathering all concerned stakeholders in 7 partner countries (Denmark, France, Hungary, Italy, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland).
Biodiversity is in rapid decline. This concerns both wild diversity and agrobiodiversity which includes all the species and varieties used for food. This decline is mostly due to the industrialisation of agriculture and the standardisation of food production. As a result, since 1900, 75% of plant genetic resources have been lost and 60% of human energy intake comes from 3 crops: wheat, maize and rice. This heavy reliance on a small number of varieties is a threat to food security and deprives consumers of the nutritional quality of other species. At the same time, demand for healthy, local, plant-based products is growing in Europe. The Covid-19 crisis has amplified these expectations of local products, but has also encouraged the expansion of local food policies aimed at relocating food production and developing short food supply chains. Small-scale producers and processors offer local food products valuing neglected and under-utilised species (NUCs) in short chains, thus helping to both reverse the decline in biodiversity and meet this demand. However, they face many challenges, from insufficient availability of suitable varieties to difficulty in developing viable business models.
What are the overall objectives of DIVINFOOD?
The overall objectives of DIVINFOOD is to contribute to reverse the agrobiodiversity decline by producing knowledge and tools to support farmers and small-scale processors to develop short and mid-tier supply chains valuing NUCs and meeting consumer expectations of local, healthy plant-based food. DIVINFOOD focuses on legumes and minor cereals, whose use in short and mid-tier chains is increasing, and whose potential for health and agroecology is high. The production of knowledge and tools, from breeding to marketing, involves citizen-consumers and relies on 9 living labs (LLs) gathering all concerned stakeholders in 7 partner countries (Denmark, France, Hungary, Italy, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland).
The project began with a broad European consultation of citizen-consumers to gather their preferences and aversions regarding the use of agrobiodiversity in value chains. The results were compiled in a white paper, which helped to adjust the DIVINFOOD research and innovation programme in 9 living labs across Europe, following a ‘reverse technology approach’ based on consumer demand. The partners provided guidance for the development and operation of these living labs so that they could co-create and co-learn within the framework of the project’s objectives. The value of NUC-based products in various food environments was also analysed, resulting in a literature review, a database, case studies and a typology of value chains promoting NUCs. Moving up the value chain from consumption, innovative mild processing approaches have been developed and/or optimised for a variety of legume and cereal NUCs. These NUCs have already been or are currently being incorporated into a range of innovative/renewed recipes. Quality assessments of raw and processed NUCs, based on improved laboratory approaches and consumer evaluation, have also been developed. The innovation capacity of stakeholders in the mild processing of NUCs is strengthened through participation in the European community of practice. The partners have also identified farms growing NUCs under agroecological conditions in the nine European regions of the living labs, creating a repertoire of farms and local farming systems and benchmarking the pre-processing techniques and equipment commonly used in minor cereal or legume farms. Agronomic data, including ecosystem service indicators, were collected during the DIVINFOOD farm trials in seasons 1 and 2 to complement this repertoire and help farmers grow NUCs. In order to support agroecological production and meet the needs of stakeholders, genetic resources were evaluated on farms (e.g. beans in France and several grain legumes in Denmark and Sweden) and a multi-stakeholder breeding programme was set up. As examples of DIVINFOOD results, a pea population has been notified as organic heterogeneous material (OHM) in Italy, the first populations of grass peas are available for selection in Portugal, and breeding lines of white lupin and emmer have been improved in Switzerland and Hungary, respectively. From consumption and marketing to breeding, the partners have co-elaborated relevant SMART indexes to document the benefits of using NUCs. Data on more than 100 cases of NUC use across the 9 living labs have been recorded in the project’s genotype-environment database. Further data is being collected on the results of the co-creation process in these living labs, with the concrete aim of identifying new ways of doing business with NUCs that can inspire other actors and policy-makers. From a cross-cutting perspective, since the start of the project, DIVINFOOD has developed a robust communication and training strategy to widely disseminate its results, partly in collaboration with sister projects and with the support of Horizon Booster. A website, social media, newsletters and open-access tools ensure the visibility and transparency of the project. Demonstration days and training sessions have been organised for farmers, chefs and small-scale processors, as well as numerous events for the general public, including participation in European Heritage Days, which had not previously included agrobiodiversity as part of our heritage. The results have been promoted in a set of 20 practice abstracts, as well as in several scientific articles and presentations at major conferences. Finally, procedures and tools have been developed and strictly followed to ensure that the project complies with its objectives and the ethical requirements of the European Commission.
Varieties are usually assessed along agronomic or technological parameters, in relation to biophysical environments and with sophisticated methods. From trials and exchanges in LLs, and with the help of adapted tools, the DIVINFOOD teams are feeding the first interdisciplinary and participatory database on the use of varieties in specific agro-ecological and socio-economic environments, starting to highlight their multiple performances and the ecosystem services they provide for humans, territories and the planet through easily observable criteria and easy-to-use assessment methods. From citizen-consumers’ expectations collected in the European survey and focus groups, the DIVINFOOD team get first concrete insights to develop an innovative reverse methodology approach valuing agrobiodiversity to generate food diversity, as well as new short and mid-tier chains shaping an enabling food environment for NUCs. Foundations have also been laid in LLs for multi-actor breeding extending participation to food system stakeholders not usually represented in research projects (e.g. chefs, regular consumers), in synergy with the innovative breeding tools being developed in laboratories. Finally, first data have been produced to develop new business models for farms and small-scale food companies valuing NUCs.