The scope includes identifying and developing environmentally and economically viable sources of pollinator-supporting industrial crops (e.g. by exploring the traits supporting the pollinators such as nectar provision, or resistance to pests and diseases, as well as the optimisation of a related agronomic practice). It also includes identifying and optimising crops (e.g. non-edible oil and fibre crops, dryland shrubs and woody crops) that could be adapted through modern biotechnology tools to require low-water/low-input use, and upscaling them in related value chains, e.g. in industrial sectors such as biochemicals, composites or elastomers, with the aim of replacing their fossil-based counterparts.

Proposals should:

1. Identify and evaluate the most suitable feedstock options for different farming systems and pedo-climatic conditions. The agricultural diversity of EU and associated countries should be considered, and the selected options should contribute efficiently to climate change mitigation/adaptation (with a focus on water scarcity and water stress) and biodiversity preservation and enhancement (with special attention to marginal lands under high risk of desertification), while ensuring overall business case viability.
2. Develop sustainable diversification strategies that can help optimise the production of agricultural feedstock in the emerging bio-based economy (e.g. through intercropping systems, logistics and storage). Identify and produce crops suited to marginal lands. Optimise intermediary/catch crops to increase biomass production sustainably, or optimise perennial crops and short-rotation coppice plantations in annual crops-dominated agricultural production systems.
3. Identify and implement the best mix of appropriate technical solutions and practices for specific industrial value chains (a proposal should select and justify the choice). The scale-dependent effects on farms and landscapes should be analysed, as well as the barriers and drivers arising from governance and market issues. Make an effort to inform and engage all actors.
4. Develop and communicate the methods to monitor and measure the qualitative and quantitative impacts of these solutions and practices for different farming systems, the climate neutrality/negativity potential and trade-offs, including for biodiversity, and the associated improvement in farm/business socio-economic resilience.
5. Develop and test mechanisms with all actors, notably the research community and bio-based industry. Exchange knowledge on and demonstrate solutions for climate change mitigation and adaptation, water stress and biodiversity loss (including biotechnology approaches) to rural stakeholders (farmers, foresters) and the broader public, and help them implement them.
6. International cooperation is encouraged to allow the exchange of best practice while ensuring win-win scenarios and contributing to European competitiveness.