A pilot network of organic farming actors contributing to the uptake of climate farming and its co-benefits for a carbon neutral and climate resilient Europe

Project Information

OrganicClimateNET

Grant agreement ID: 101136880

DOI

10.3030/101136880

EC signature date 13 November 2023

Start date 1 February 2024

End date 31 January 2028

Funded under

• Food, Bioeconomy Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment

Total cost

No data

EU contribution

€ 4 989 600,33

Coordinated by

FIBL EUROPE - FORSCHUNGSINSTITUTFUR BIOLOGISCHEN LANDBAU IN EUROPA
Belgium

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - OrganicClimateNET (A pilot network of organic farming actors contributing to the uptake of climate farming and its co-benefits for a carbon neutral and climate resilient Europe)

Reporting period: 2024-02-01 to 2025-07-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

With the aim to increase organic farming to 25% by 2030, the EU recognizes the potential of organic farming to contribute to a climate neutral Europe by 2050 and other environmental EU-targets. However, to achieve these targets, it is important to step-up the capability and the capacity of organic farms to reduce GHG-emissions and remove carbon through sequestration.

The overall aim of OrganicClimateNET is to establish a pilot network of 250 organic farms to adapt, test, improve and implement climate and carbon farming practices. Key to this are the peer-to-peer learning and knowledge exchanges between farmers organised in 24 hubs in 12 EU countries and facilitated by trained advisors. Concrete outputs are individual carbon farming strategies of the pilot farms as role models for the entire organic sector; 120+ climate and carbon knowledge materials, improved, translated and adapted to organic farming feeding into a decision support toolbox and freely accessible via the highly frequented Organic Farm Knowledge Platform; the evaluation of carbon farming business models (including MRV (monitoring, reporting and verification) and rewarding schemes); upscaling to EU level in a quantitative assessment of the emission reduction and sequestration potential of the EU organic sector based on the data set from the 250 pilot farms; engagement with other EU-Projects and organic AKIS actors outside the network; and a network sustainability plan to sustain the network and knowledge exchange activities on the long term. Project results feed steadily in policy briefs and policy dialogue workshops to support effective climate policy design. The 4-year project gathers 17 partners (extension, farming associations, research) from 14 countries allowing exchange between countries with a mature organic sector and countries where organic farming is less developed.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

During the first 18 months, OrganicClimateNET pilot network was successfully launched, involving 265 farms across 26 hubs in 12 countries. These activities established the foundations for structured network governance, capacity building, and peer-to-peer knowledge exchange. A key output was the submission of network guidelines and farm characterisation reports, providing strategic and analytical tools to guide farm engagement.

Moreover, a Catalogue of Organic Carbon Farming Practices was compiled, listing ca. 150 practices for mitigation and adaptation, considering co-benefits and potential risk factors. Drawing on a stakeholder workshop, a comprehensive Evaluation of MRV and Rewarding Mechanisms was prepared, which analysed the public and private rewarding mechanisms available to organic farmers. Two carbon balance tools were selected for farm management data compilation as presented in the Final Data Reporting Protocol. Trainings covering agricultural GHG emission concepts, carbon balances and tools were developed and pilot trainings on one of the tools, CAP’2ER were conducted.

The Organic Farm Knowledge (OFK) platform was strategically enhanced to serve as the central hub for carbon farming knowledge materials, with platform functionality improvements, language expansion, and thematic content integration completed. The systematic identification and prioritisation process resulted in 70 new organic climate farming KMs (carbon farming knowledge materials) made available. Hub-specific prioritisation was achieved through collaborative selection of ten priority practices per Hub, followed by identification of five knowledge materials per Hub for on-farm testing evaluation. Five practice abstracts were published on the EU CAP Network website.

Finally, 19 agricultural and environmental EU relevant policies for the project were collected in its inventory. Additionally, policymakers at EU level (46 MEPs, 12 units of the DGs in the European Commission and the environmental and agricultural departments of the Permanent Representations) as well as relevant European and international organisations in the field of agriculture, environment and climate were identified.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

Not applicable.