Strategies and technologies to achieve a European Fossil-energy-free agriculture
Start date: 1 October 2020
End date: 30 September 2023
In a nutshell:
Agrofossilfree is the European Union’s Horizon 2020 project aiming to create a framework under which critical stakeholders will cooperate to evaluate and promote currently available fossil-energy-free strategies and technologies (FEFTS) in EU agriculture. Such a framework will contribute to closing the gap between the available FEFTS, either commercial or from applicable research results with the everyday EU agricultural practices, by promoting an effective exchange of novel ideas and information between research, industry, extension and the farming community. In this way, existing research and commercial solutions can be widely communicated, while capturing grassroots level needs and innovative ideas from the farming and related industry communities. Financing opportunities for de-fossilizing EU agriculture will be investigated and highlighted. The Agrofossilfree Consortium has 16 partners, led by the Centre for Research & Technology Hellas (CERTH) with an overall budget of € 1.999.937, 50.
Project objectives:
Objective 1: Consider and evaluate the current status in EU agriculture regarding energy use and assess existing needs and interests for the future farm energy profile
Objective 2: Identify and register currently available and directly applicable FEFTS, spanning from applied research results to market solutions and investigate available financing tools for de-fossilizing activities
Objective 3: Create an online platform containing all available FEFTS to be assessed and provide a Decision Support Toolkit to provide proposed interventions based on user inputs as well as links for those interventions financing
Objective 4: Collaborate with all relative stakeholders in thematic groups using interactive physical and online methodologies to produce community-based ideas for FEFTS integration in agricultural systems in a regional and EU-basis
Objective 5: Create policy recommendations and communicate them to increase visibility and promote the proposed strategies and technologies in real agricultural activities in the near future.
CEMA’s role:
In AgroFossilFree, CEMA will support activities in WP1, WP2, WP4, but will be mainly involved in WP3 and WP5.
In WP1, CEMA will support the identification and promotion of the examples of novel products and best practices among manufacturers in the field of near to Fossil Energy Free Technologies and Strategies, (FEFTS). This action will be closely interlinked with WP2, where CEMA will participate in the preparation of the methodology framework related to the systematic review of the papers, projects and industrial solution which will feed the FEFTS Platform developed in WP4. Additionally, CEMA will be focused mainly on the creation on FEFTS industrial products and integrated solution registry using its own industry network for data collection.
CEMA will actively participate and will motivate and encourage industry experts to be actively involved in the project activities within WP3, particularly by participating in regional and transnational workshops providing input on maturity, availability and affordability of FEFTS. Based on their own company experiences, industry experts involved in the AgroFossilFree will be also able to provide feedback to the AgroFossilFree activities. CEMA will additionally contribute to the creation of policy recommendations for FEFTS use expansion in EU agriculture, bringing the view of the agricultural machinery industry sector.
In WP4, CEMA will support other partners in the development of Online platform, enabling the interaction between agricultural sector stakeholders and providing the ground for the exploitation and wider application of FEFTS.
CEMA will participate in Dissemination and Communications (WP5) by:
- Supporting the WP leader in the communications activities; including support in the organization of the project final conference;
- Participating in events and meetings;
- Contributing to the dissemination of the project;
- And facilitating a link with existing relevant EU initiatives dedicated to the implementation of approaches and strategies towards a fossil-energy-free.
Check more on this unique project and follow AgroFossilFree on social networks:
https://www.agrofossilfree.eu/
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement no. 101000496
