Improving understanding of the contribution of the organic farming sector to sustainability

Expected Outcome:

Project results are expected to contribute to all the following expected outcomes:

• improved and increased data collection on the environmental, economic and social impacts of the EU organic sector, from farm to consumer levels, leading to improved understanding of the overall impact of the organic sector on sustainability (including climate change mitigation and biodiversity);
• improved capacities of organic supply chains and organic value chain actors, including farmers, to collect and provide data on organic production to fulfil reporting requirements;
• increased cooperation between public and private data providers in the organic sector across the EU.

Scope:

The Vision for Agriculture and Food recognises organic farming as an approach with potential to ensure an attractive and predictable agri-food sector, while at the same time delivering several ecosystem services beneficial for the environment, climate and biodiversity. There is a dual need to, on one hand, better understand the contribution of organic farming and of the organic sector as a whole to the three dimensions of sustainability, and on the other, to improve methods for data collection in the organic sector, in a way that reduces administrative burden on farmers and on other operators. There is potential for both needs to be addressed in combination, and a role for research and innovation to support in achieving this objective.

Proposals should address all the following activities:

• undertake an exhaustive mapping of existing tools, platforms and methods at EU, national and local levels, that allow for the collection of relevant data on organic production to comply with the various reporting requirements of the sector, including under the Common Agricultural Policy and under the EU organic certification. This exercise should include a mapping of the actors involved in the collection of data, as well as an analysis of cost-effectiveness, best practices and challenges faced. It should also include an assessment of the potential of existing tools to reduce administrative burden on organic farmers and on other operators of the organic value chain, as well as to streamline data exchange with relevant actors, including certification bodies and supply chain actors;
• facilitate the exchange of experiences and best practices on data collection and reporting on organic production across the EU. Identify concrete opportunities for the cross-fertilisation and transfer of solutions among countries/regions;
• assess the need, feasibility and cost-effectiveness of leveraging existing data collected by organic certification bodies in a way that it can simultaneously be used to assess the contribution of organic production to the three axes of sustainability (economic, environmental, social). This should include an analysis of existing standards for the interoperability of agricultural digital systems, and identification of opportunities and challenges;
• develop recommendations, including in relation to governance, for the effective use of current tools for data collection, considering differences across the EU Member States;
• organise and implement training activities targeted to organic farmers and other operators of the organic value chains, to build their capacities to collect relevant data to comply with the reporting obligations on organic production. This should include networking activities to foster cooperation among actors in the organic agri-food supply chains with a view to increasing overall efficiency of the organic sector for data collection.

Proposals should address all EU Member States. Proposals under this topic should support the implementation of the EU Action Plan for the Development of Organic Production^[1] and of the EU regulatory framework for organic farming, and contribute to the objectives of the Vision for Agriculture and Food^[2], the Common Agricultural Policy, and the EU’s biodiversity, zero pollution and climate policies.

Both crop and livestock production systems under organic production are in scope of this topic.

Proposals must implement the multi-actor approach and ensure adequate involvement of the main stakeholders involved in the organic sector, and including a range of actors to ensure that different sources of knowledge and perspectives are brought together. The needs and expertise of all relevant actors, including certification bodies, should be duly considered in the activities. Proposals should capitalise on existing knowledge and tools, such as the Farm Sustainability Data Network (FSDN)^[3]. Proposals should build on the results of relevant past/ongoing EU-funded R&I projects relevant for the organic farming sector, as well as of other relevant related work/studies, and on any relevant activities funded under the Digital Europe Programme. Proposals should include a dedicated task, appropriate resources and a plan on how they will collaborate with other relevant ongoing and upcoming EU-funded R&I projects and initiatives, including the Horizon Europe Partnership ‘Agroecology’ and the project that may follow from the topic “HORIZON-CL6-2024-GOVERNANCE-02-01: European Partnership of Agriculture of Data”.

[1] https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A52021DC0141R%2801%29

[2] https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:52025DC0075

[3] https://agriculture.ec.europa.eu/data-and-analysis/farm-structures-and-economics/fsdn_en