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UpSCALing Efficient alternatives for contentious InpuTs in organic farming

Project description

New solutions for sustainable organic farming

Organic farming faces challenges due to its use of certain contentious plant protection products, manure from conventional farms, antibiotics, anthelmintics and synthetic vitamins. In this context, the EU-funded SCALE-it project aims to increase the availability and adoption of cost-effective alternatives to these inputs, reducing dependencies in organic farming. Involving partners across the organic value chain, the project will develop and validate new solutions through experimental testing and demonstration trials. Local ambassadors will lead more than 65 trials across Europe, organising events, collecting data for environmental and economic assessments, and supporting companies in scaling up these alternatives. These efforts will encourage the use of ecologically sustainable viable options in both organic and non-organic production, supporting the goals of the Farm to Fork strategy.

Objective

The objective of SCALE-it is to increase the availability, accessibility and adoption of cost-effective alternatives to contentious inputs and thus reduce the dependency of organic farming on (a) critical plant protection products, (b) manure from conventional farms, (c) antibiotics and anthelmintics, and (d) synthetic and GMO derived vitamins.

SCALE-it follows a multi-actor approach involving partners from the whole organic value chain (farmers, farmers' associations, advisors, veterinarians, researchers, industry, consumers). It builds on previous projects and takes forward most alternatives (products, tools, holistic methods) to TRL7-9. Less advanced alternatives are developed further by (i) reviewing information and (ii) testing experimentally before including them in demonstration trials under organic conditions. Local Ambassadors with an outstanding outreach capacity in the organic farming community lead over 65 trials across Europe, organising local dissemination events, and generating novel data for the environmental and economic impact assessments. SCALE-it supports companies to establish roadmaps for upscaling alternatives, registration and IP protection. Farmers’ and consumers’ acceptance of alternatives is analysed. SCALE-it is well placed to moderate the development of implementable rules on the use of inputs in organic farming and provide support to policy development via national and international multi-actor activities. Targeted dissemination materials and training packages will be developed.

SCALE-it results will reduce the use of contentious inputs and increase the use of their alternatives in organic (and non-organic) production by (a) increasing the availability and knowledge on best use of alternatives, (b) creating decision making and (c) advisory tools and (d) showcasing the alternatives. It supports the transition to sustainable farming systems in line with the F2F strategy, promoting fair, healthy and environmentally-friendly food systems.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/euroscivoc.
This project's classification has been validated by the project's team.

Keywords

Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)

Programme(s)

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Topic(s)

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Funding Scheme

Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.

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-CL6-2024-FARM2FORK-02

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Coordinator

FIBL EUROPE - FORSCHUNGSINSTITUTFUR BIOLOGISCHEN LANDBAU IN EUROPA
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.

€ 647 000,00
Address
RUE DE LA PRESSE 4
1000 Bruxelles / Brussel
Belgium

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Region
Région de Bruxelles-Capitale/Brussels Hoofdstedelijk Gewest Région de Bruxelles-Capitale/ Brussels Hoofdstedelijk Gewest Arr. de Bruxelles-Capitale/Arr. Brussel-Hoofdstad
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.

€ 772 017,50

Participants (31)

Partners (4)

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