Among the main factors that contribute to an increasing global food insecurity include a growing population, increased affluence, urbanisation, limited resources and climate change. The transnational joint call ‘Climate Smart Agriculture: Adaption of agriculture systems in Europe’ was organised under FACCE ERA-NET Plus, one of the first actions of FACCE-JPI. The available budget (18 million euro) came from 22 national funding organisations from 18 countries and was co-funded by the European Commission under FP7.

2013 joint Call: Climate Smart Agriculture: Adaptation of agricultural systems in Europe

The Call addressed adaptation of European agriculture to climate change in its broad sense. Four areas were highlighted as key to advancing research on: 1) genetics and breeding of animals and plants to increase resilience to climate change; 2) pests and diseases of animals and plants linked to climate and posing significant risks; 3) adaptive management of water and soil resources; and 4) options for adapting agricultural systems. Eleven projects were selected for funding in a two-step submission process. Research on adaptation types included the introduction of no-till soybean cropping and decision support tools, better cooling of naturally ventilated barns, and drought tolerant ryegrass. The researchers also assessed various scenarios by asking, for example: What would be the yield of wheat in different countries after ten or fifty years under climate change conditions? How will the organic matter balance in the soil improve when Swiss, German or Italian farmers start using compost? How much carbon sequestration can you then expect? How many additional labour hours are needed? By combining forces in this joint call, the funding organizations and project partners have avoided unwanted fragmentation and improved effectiveness.

Kick-off meeting

On September 21^st, 2015, a kick-off meeting was organised by INRAE. There the projects were introduced, followed by additional presentations on the FACCE Knowledge Hub MACSUR (Modelling European Agriculture with Climate Change for Food Security), Monitoring and Reporting of projects and increasing impact of project results.