The Horizon Europe project AGRO4AGRI has kicked off on 28th – 29th May in Paterna, Valencia. Funded with 5.3 M€ from the European Commission, the initiative will seek to provide ground-breaking and SSbD solutions for plant nutrition and protection aiming to reduce the use of agrochemicals in agriculture and minimise their negative environmental impact.

Meet the partners

The AGRO4AGRI project consortium is formed by 12 high-profile European and non-European beneficiaries and associated partners from 7 different countries. AGRO4AGRI is coordinated by AINIA (ES), a specialised technology centre with more than 35 years of experience in R&D&I in the agri-food sector, and has the participation of the Technological Centre CTC (ES), the University of Southern Denmark – SDU (DK), the Technical University of Denmark – DTU (DK), Fundación Grupo Cajamar (ES), Research Centre Hoogstraten (BE), SIPCAM OXON (IT), Institute for Advanced Studies Vienna – IHS (AT), Syspro (ES), Mirat Fertilizantes (ES), FI Group (PT and ES) as well as Optimat (UK) as an associated partner.

The AGRO4AGRI project celebrated its kick-off meeting on 28th and 29th May, hosted at AINIA, in Valencia. The kick-off meeting launched a momentous first contact among all partners, where they showcased their technical background and outlined their anticipated contributions to the project. The meeting ended with an insightful visit to AINIA’s R&D facilities.

“We are very excited to coordinate this project with such an exceptional consortium. We have high hopes that we can contribute to achieving a more sustainable and competitive European agriculture.”

Julia Ponce, project coordinator at AINIA

The AGRO4AGRI project consortium at the kick-off meeting in AINIA facilities (Valencia, Spain).

Paving the way for higher efficiency and less environmental impacts of the agroindustry

By the implementation of nano and biobased controlled delivery systems for fertilisers combined with plant biostimulants plant nutrient use efficiency will be enhanced. On the other hand, the development of target-specific biopesticides based on RNAi technology will avoid the use of chemicals that result toxic and bioaccumulative for humans nor non-targeted organisms. AGRO4AGRI’s aims to deliver agrochemical solutions that will be biodegradable in the environment and safe for farmers, reducing at the same time the number of inputs needed for crop productivity.
In this context, the scientific achievements of AGRO4AGRI will have enormous societal impacts, simultaneously addressing the top environmental challenges of current agricultural practices in Europe, the overuse of fertilizing and biocontrol products and their ecotoxicity, by the development and demonstration of safe, sustainable and cost-effective agrochemical alternatives.

Impacting EU’s policies and strategies to strengthen its leadership in the agri-food sector

AGRO4AGRI R&D and validation stages predict to cut the use of nutrient elements in agriculture by more than 40% and pesticides by more than 50% to be aligned with the current policies and initiatives such as the European Green Deal, the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), The farm to Fork Strategy and the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal.
Consequently, this project aims to significantly influence EU policies and strategies by addressing soil contamination and degradation, reducing water consumption, improving the efficiency of agrochemicals, minimizing water body pollution, promoting the shift to sustainable food systems, and ultimately strengthening the EU’s industrial competitiveness and leadership in the sustainable agri-food sector. This will be achieved through the commercialization of innovative solutions, driven by the growing focus on sustainable agriculture and the use of safe inputs in both EU and global markets.