Onsite digital technologies to monitor nutrients and chemical or biological stressors in soil and plants with relevance for food safety and nutrition

Closed

Programme Category

EU Competitive Programmes

Programme Name

Horizon Europe (2021-2027)

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.

Programme Details

Identifier Code

HORIZON-MISS-2023-SOIL-01-03

Call

Onsite digital technologies to monitor nutrients and chemical or biological stressors in soil and plants with relevance for food safety and nutrition

Summary

Onsite digital technologies and applications are emerging in food production and have the potential to detect chemical and biological stressors in soil and plants to help assessing, managing and eventually eliminating potential food safety risks that these stressors may pose. There is a need to improve the development and application of digital tools in primary production and food industries and boost their technological scale-up as a means to address more effectively the soil-food nexus. Moreover, those technologies will help the food industry to track safety and quality of post-harvested food grown in soils.

Detailed Call Description

Proposed activities should:

  • Advance and/or develop onsite digital technologies and applications (e.g., light-based technologies, remote sensing, AI) to analyse (detect and quantify) nutrients that could support appropriate interventions at the various food production stages (from farm to processing stages) to enrich soil or remove excess nutrients and micronutrients.
  • Advance and/or develop onsite digital technologies and applications (e.g., light-based technologies, remote sensing, AI) to analyse (detect and quantify) chemical (contaminants, anti-nutrients, pollutants) and biological contaminants (bacteria, viruses, fungi, parasites) in soil, plants and food with the aim to mitigate/manage the potential of food safety risks associated with their presence.
  • Advance and/or develop digital technologies and applications for in-field detection of soil parameters with relevance for food safety and nutrition to improve soil management practices (e.g., targeted fertilization, soil remediation).
  • Advance and/or develop innovative digital technologies including exploratory modelling for calibration and prediction, to detect nutrients and micronutrients, chemical and biological contaminants which have a bearing on food quality and safety.
  • Identify challenges to the scale-up of existing digital technologies related to the soil-food nexus.

Call Total Budget

€12.00 million

Financing percentage by EU or other bodies / Level of Subsidy or Loan

70%

EU Contribution per project: €6.00 million

Thematic Categories

  • Agriculture - Food
  • Environment and Climate Change
  • Information and Communication Technologies
  • Land Development
  • Research, Technological Development and Innovation
  • Rural development

Eligibility for Participation

  • Associations
  • Farmers Unions
  • Farmers, Agriculturalists
  • Large Enterprises
  • Private Bodies
  • Producer Associations
  • Researchers/Research Centers/Institutions
  • Semi-governmental organisations
  • Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs)
  • State-owned Enterprises

Eligibility For Participation Notes

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).

Call Opening Date

17/01/2023

Call Closing Date

20/09/2023

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
Websitehttps://www.research.org.cy/en/

Contact Person:
Myrto Anastasiadou
Scientific Officer
Email: manastassiadou@research.org.cy

(Publish Date: 22/02/2023-for internal use only)

EU Contact Point