Funding Programme

Horizon Europe is the EU’s key funding programme for research and innovation.

Read more about the Horizon Europe programme here.

‍

Call overview

This call aims to improve knowledge on impacts and risks of various types of urban farming from the economic, environmental and social perspective.

‍

Expected outcomes

The successful proposals will support the European Green Deal, farm to fork strategy and impact assessment for the post-2027 common agricultural policy (CAP).

Projects results are expected to contribute to all of following expected outcomes:

• Improved knowledge on impacts and risks of various types of urban farming from the economic, environmental and social perspective, with a particular focus on spill-over effects into rural and peri-urban areas;
• Improved awareness of policy makers helping them adjust policy and legal frameworks to foster benefits and mitigate risks associated to the development of various forms of urban farming and related technologies.

Scope

Proposals are expected to:

• Assess current and future (foresight) contribution of various forms of urban farming to:  
• Overall food supply, food security and resilience mainly for urban citizens but also addressing potential food security impacts on rural populations, factoring in megatrends and potential risks around key inputs or conditions enabling urban farming;
• Evolution of farm income in urban and rural areas, the distribution of value added in the supply chain and possible effects on the bargaining power of supply chain actors;
• The provision of ecosystem services in urban and rural areas against the evolution of environment and climate conditions (including water and nutrient use and cycling, biodiversity protection, energy use, soils including soil health, regulation of the urban heat island effect etc.), in relation with European Green Deal objectives;
• The provision of social benefits (e.g., access of new and/or young farmers, gender equity, place-based/community development) and improvement of social capital (e.g., values, networks, governance) and community cohesion in urban and rural areas. Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) aspects should be an integral part of the proposal;
• The demand for new skills, training and educational offer also taking into account the technological or social dimensions of different forms of urban farming.
• Compare the conditions under which various types of urban, peri-urban or rural farmers operate in order to identify the challenges that may justify targeted regulatory or policy initiatives. Conditions are to be understood in a broad sense, including e.g., initial investments, production, quality control, labelling, marketing and retail as well as the legal and enabling environment in which they operate.
• Support the discussion on rationale for policy interventions in the EU context.

Eligibility

To be eligible for funding, applicants must be established in one of the eligible countries, i.e.:

• the Member States of the European Union, including their outermost regions;
• the Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs) linked to the Member States;
• eligible non-EU countries including countries associated to Horizon Europe and low- and middle-income countries.

‍

Consortium composition

Unless otherwise provided for in the specific call conditions, legal entities forming a consortium are eligible to participate in actions provided that the consortium includes:

• at least one independent legal entity established in a Member State; and
• at least two other independent legal entities, each established in different Member States or Associated Countries.

‍

Budget

The total indicative budget for the topic is EUR 5.00 million.

The Commission estimates that an EU contribution of around EUR 5.00 million would allow these outcomes to be addressed appropriately.