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Smart solutions to empower small- and medium-sized farms as guardians of the territory

Project description

Customised technological advancement transforms small farms

Above all other considerations, creating a sustainable food system necessitates the restoration of primary production to the 'guardians' of the land, namely the proprietors of small and medium-sized farms and agricultural structures situated in rural areas. The EU-funded GUARDIANS project is designed to bolster agroecological farming models using economical and people-centred digital solutions. These solutions will undergo testing on 22 small and medium-sized farms encompassing diverse production types across six pilot initiatives led by farming cooperatives in four countries. The objective is to assist owners of such farms in bridging the technological divide that separates them from larger farms. This objective is pursued through a co-creative approach that involves farmers, agricultural stakeholders, scientists, technicians, and SMEs.

Objective

Ensuring a sustainable food system requires, above all other factors, re-entrusting our primary production to the guardians of our territory, the owners of small- and medium-sized farms and farm structures in rural areas. GUARDIANS focuses on understanding their challenges and empowering them with a set of digital innovative solutions that will help them to bridge the current technological gap between small and large farms.
GUARDIANS will put in place a set of cost-effective and human-centric digital solutions, which aim to support and empower the penetration, sustainability and resilience of more agroecological farming models, like regenerative agriculture, natural grazing, alternative managed grazing strategies, and the promotion of pollinators in different farm structures. To do this, a multi-actor co-creation methodology, a set of adoption pathways and 9 different technologies, combining software and hardware (i.e. drones, sensors), will be customized to cover the farmers' needs.
These digital solutions will be tested through a total of 24 small- and medium-sized farms and farm structures with a wide range of production types (arable crops, woody crops, grassland and livestock production) in 6 pilots represented by farming cooperatives (acting as one stop shops) from 5 different countries with diverse environmental, climatic and socio-economic conditions. As a result, GUARDIANS will increase the uptake of innovative digital technologies by farmers, guaranteed by the use of a multi-actor approach, integrating farmers and agricultural stakeholders at all stages of the project, as well as scientists, technicians and SMEs.
Cascade funding and connections to specific stakeholders (agricultural cooperatives, agrifood hubs, DIHs, OGs) will be used as multipliers to allow GUARDIANS to roll up its impact throughout Europe. It is expected to roll-out and replicate GUARDIANS results up to 92 farms around Europe during the project duration.

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Keywords

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Programme(s)

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Topic(s)

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Funding Scheme

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HORIZON-IA - HORIZON Innovation Actions

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Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

(opens in new window) HORIZON-CL6-2022-FARM2FORK-02-two-stage

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Coordinator

FUNDACION CTIC CENTRO TECNOLOGICO PARA EL DESARROLLO EN ASTURIAS DE LAS TECNOLOGIAS DE LA INFORMACION
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 1 543 307,53
Address
CALLE ADA BYRON 39 PARQUE CIENTIFICO Y TECNOLOGICO
33203 Gijon
Spain

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Region
Noroeste Principado de Asturias Asturias
Activity type
Research Organisations
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Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

€ 1 543 307,53

Participants (22)

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