Programme Category
Programme Name
Programme Description
Horizon Europe is the European Union (EU) funding programme for the period 2021 – 2027, which targets the sectors of research and innovation. The programme’s budget is around € 95.5 billion, of which € 5.4 billion is from NextGenerationEU to stimulate recovery and strengthen the EU’s resilience in the future, and € 4.5 billion is additional aid.
Identifier Code
Call
Summary
Good grassland management is crucial for the sustainability of agriculture in the EU and associated countries, as well as for the provision of multiple ecosystem services such as water purification, erosion and flood prevention, carbon sequestration and food production, and for the conservation of biodiversity.
Grasslands can also play an important role as a source of protein crops for animal feed. They are key elements of European socio-cultural landscapes.
Detailed Call Description
Proposals should address all the following activities and should cover various farming systems/approaches, one of which should be organic farming:
- develop and operationalise methodologies to measure, monitor, benchmark and assess the performance of grassland farming systems in different contexts in terms of the delivery of ecosystem services (e.g., productivity, carbon sequestration, nutrient cycling, resilience to climate change, soil health, forage value), biodiversity restoration, reducing emissions of greenhouse gas (GHG) and air pollutants, and social aspects such as profitability for farmers and co-benefits for other stakeholders. This should include analysis of synergies and trade-offs between the above elements in the short- to medium- and long-terms. The benchmark of the performance of grassland farming systems should also include comparison between different levels of grass-based ruminants’ farming systems in similar pedo-climatic contexts;
- develop new knowledge, innovative solutions/practices, and manageable strategies for creating, maintaining and restoring grasslands systems that are productive, cost-effective, sustainable, environmentally sound, and resilient to a changing climate. These strategies should include assessment of innovations in the social, environmental and economic domains, such as market uptake by value chain actors and consumers through, for instance, standards and labelling;
- develop farm- and landscape level decision tools and strategies to support farmers in managing grasslands sustainably, to improve forage productivity and quality and livestock production, and the delivery of other ecosystem services, based on documented cases or in-situ demonstrators;
- organise activities to mobilise the sharing of knowledge (scientific, practical and traditional), and networking among relevant actors. Proposals should develop practice-oriented dissemination materials, e.g. audiovisual materials, brochures, etc., presenting solutions, and make them publicly available;
- assess relevant public policies at various levels and provide policy recommendations to improve their impact and coherence in supporting sustainable grassland systems;
- perform economic cost-benefit analysis of applying the R&I solutions developed during the project and explore the potential of financing or incentive tools specific to the sustainable management of grassland farming systems, including lower-polluting and lower-GHG-emitting grazing livestock systems, and where relevant, restoration of degraded grasslands habitats.
Call Total Budget
Financing percentage by EU or other bodies / Level of Subsidy or Loan
100%
Expected EU contribution per project: €8.00 million.
Thematic Categories
- Agriculture - Farming - Forestry
- Environment and Climate Change
- Land Development
- Natural and Cultural Heritage
- Regional Development
- Research, Technological Development and Innovation
- Rural development
- Social Affairs & Human Rights
Eligibility for Participation
- Businesses
- Central Government
- Farmers, Agriculturalists
- Legal Entities
- Natual person / Citizen / Individual
- NGOs
- Private Bodies
- Researchers/Research Centers/Institutions
- Services Providers
- Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs)
Eligibility For Participation Notes
The Joint Research Centre (JRC) may participate as member of the consortium selected for funding.
The following additional eligibility criteria apply: The proposals must apply the multi-actor approach. See definition of the multi-actor approach in the introduction to this work programme part.
If projects use satellite-based earth observation, positioning, navigation and/or related timing data and services, beneficiaries must make use of Copernicus and/or Galileo/EGNOS (other data and services may additionally be used).
A number of non-EU/non-Associated Countries that are not automatically eligible for funding have made specific provisions for making funding available for their participants in Horizon Europe projects
Call Opening Date
Call Closing Date
National Contact Point(s)
Research and Innovation Foundation
29a Andrea Michalakopoulou, 1075 Nicosia,
P.B. 23422, 1683 Nicosia
Telephone: +357 22205000
Fax: +357 22205001
Email: support@research.org.cy
Website: https://www.research.org.cy/en/
Contact Persons:
Marcia Trillidou
Scientific Officer A’
Email: trillidou@research.org.cy
Dr. Mary Economou
Scientific Officer
Email: meconomou@research.org.cy