The overall objective of this multi-actor, participatory project is to facilitate the use and increase the value of Neglected and Underutilised Crops (NUCs) in food chains to foster healthier diets and more sustainable food systems. To achieve this, DIVINFOOD will focus on interactive short and mid-tier value chains that can meet the growing consumer demand for: 1) healthy plant-based food; 2) products with a local/regional identity, and 3) diverse services and benefits received from agriculture and food. DIVINFOOD will study minor cereals and legumes in 3 geographical regions that face various climatic hazards and diverse socio-economic challenges to developing agrobiodiversity-rich value chains. DIVINFOOD will: - Co-develop, with consumers, new interactive marketing modes and channels valuing biodiversity use and its services/benefits, with the support of participatory guarantee systems and digital tools - Co-produce new and diversified plant-based healthy and appetising products and recipes from NUCs meeting consumers’ needs, from minimal or mild food processing and formulations better expressing NUCs’ potential - Benchmark diverse agroecological farming systems and techniques that improve NUCs’ performance, inter-specific biodiversity and the provision of citizen-focused agro-socio-ecosystem services - Breed more performant cultivars of cereals and legumes with local adaptation, intra-specific biodiversity, biotic and abiotic stress tolerance, and potentiating nutritious and appetising food - Demonstrate new business models that diversify income and activities for farmers and small-scale processors who are using agrobiodiversity - Co-design pilot multi-actor territorial networks/social cooperatives in charge of managing, propagating and promoting NUCs. Design policy recommendations to promote their replication - Disseminate the results to relevant stakeholders to optimise their exploitation

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 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.

The EU is a major player in greenhouse production, with about 175.000 ha dedicated to this purpose. In 2021, a total of 13.62 k tonnes of vegetables were cultivated in greenhouses in the EU. However, greenhouse production remains a niche sector for organic production (3% of the total organic area in the EU). Furthermore, Organic greenhouse production is highly knowledge-intensive and represents unique challenges such as the maintenance of soil health, biodiversity and pest control with a limited set of inputs. In addition, structures can be costly, require skilled workforce and present high regional variability in their production strategies. Research findings are not sufficiently integrated into agricultural practices tailored to the diverse needs and conditions faced by greenhouse producers in different areas. Moreover, there are insufficient nodes to establish meaningful connections among farmers. BIOGREENET aims to collect, evaluate, adapt, share and foster the uptake of consolidated practices and promote knowledge exchange by increasing collaboration among communities. Agriculture Knowledge and Innovation Systems (AKIS) will be reinforced, and new local, regional and cross-border platforms will emerge and encourage the sharing of knowledge, innovation and digitalisation among producers, advisors, researchers and other relevant stakeholders across and beyond the EU. A transdisciplinary team of organisations has grouped in BIOGREENET to spark innovation and induce a collaborative environment in the community through a bottom-up approach and digital initiatives that will establish the base of synergies with EIP-AGRI projects and strengthen AKIS. Over a four-year project, the engagement of >3,000 producers and specialised advisors through up-to-date knowledge digital platforms and workshops, will promote implementation of the collected best organic practices in greenhouse production.