The European Commission is launching a call for experts such as farmers, advisors, scientists and other relevant actors for four new EIP-AGRI focus groups.
The European Innovation Partnership (EIP) ‘Agricultural Productivity and Sustainability’ aims to provide a working interface for innovation leaders, including farmers, advisors, agri-business, civil society and researchers, working at EU, national and regional level.
The partnership aims to act as a catalyst for innovation-related actions to foster enhanced productivity and sustainable resource management across the whole value chain. This being the case, the European Commission, Directorate General for Agriculture and Rural Development, requested the EIP Service Point to set up focus groups on specific agricultural topics to facilitate innovative actions in the field and better connect science and practice.
There are already six focus groups ongoing, which cover a range of areas such as organic farming protein crops, animal husbandry, genetic resources among others.
The Commission’s latest call for experts is for focus groups that will begin their work in June and July this year and are expected to present their results and recommendations within 12 to 18 months.
For the current call, experts, including farmers, advisors, researchers and others are invited to apply for participation in focus groups on the following topics:
High nature value (HNV) farming profitability – How to make HNV farming more profitable without losing the HNV characteristics?
Mainstreaming precision farming – How to organise the data capture and processing to mainstream the application of precision farming for an optimisation of inputs and yield?
Profitability of permanent grassland – How to manage permanent grassland in a way that combines profitability, carbon sequestration and biodiversity?
Fertiliser efficiency – focus on horticulture in open field – How to use innovative fertilisation and nutrient recycling to solve the conflict between the need for crop fertilisation and legislative requirements regarding water quality?
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