The FAO estimates a 34% increase in the world population by 2050. As a result, the productivity of important staple crops such as cereals and horticultural species needs to be boosted by an estimated 43%. Against the mosaic global climate change and shifting arable land ranges, plant and soil sciences play a primordial role in finding solutions to the internationally shared challenges of ensuring sustainable agricultural and biomass production. However, to effectively meet these challenges and demands, knowledge obtained from essential plant and soil sciences must be connected to innovative applications in agriculture and plant cultivation. Hence, sustainable biological practices such as biofertilizers (compost and microorganisms) that boost plant yield, quality or even novel functionality, and tolerance to abiotic stresses should be exploited to improve agricultural production. For this purpose, this project addresses all aspects of the global food system by being good for the consumer, good for the planet and good for the farmer. By combining the complementary expertise of different research teams and companies from Morocco, France, Germany, Turkey, Tunisia, Algeria, Japan, and Mexico, we aim at (i) developing cultivation technologies verified and demonstrated in the field to tackle some challenges simultaneously, including food insecurity, malnutrition and other diet-related health issues, rural poverty, and mitigation of climate change, (ii) exploitation of beneficial indigenous microorganisms biofertilizers and agents to achieve sustainable and highly productive agriculture, and to mitigate climate change, (iii) recycling of green and agro-industrial waste into compost and biostimulants that can be reused in agriculture allowing the improvement of the soil fertility/functioning and crops yield, and (iv) understanding of the phenotypes and molecular traits of leading staple food crops (cereals and horticultural crops) under diverse environmental conditions.

SUPREM-MILK aims to provide concrete tools and propose customized and targeted solutions to support farmers of Egypt, Morocco, and Turkey to take a step towards a net zero carbon and greener and more circular farming. During the transition, the 3 forms of sustainability will be maximised and the resilience and self-sufficiency of the Mediterranean milk supply chain will be considered. In agreement with the specific challenges and scopes of the call, the main objectives are: 1 Preliminary inventory of the carbon cycle and characterization of sustainability of the milk supply chains studied. Life cycle assessment, sensors data, machine learning, remote sensing (Sentinel-2), and omics approaches will be used to evaluate the starting point of different scenarios and plan customized actions and solutions towards the desired direction(s). 2 Support the adoption and implementation of sustainable technologies, novel applications and best practices by local farmers. Transfer of knowledge, establishment of decision-support systems, definition of best practices/most recommended guidelines, and installation of open access digital applications/platforms will contribute to improve decision-making and informed choice of all stakeholders, especially those in underserved areas/condition with scarce access to technologies, e.g., smallholder farmers and women active in dairy. 3 End-point evaluation of the carbon balance, sustainability, self-sufficiency, and competitiveness of the milk supply chains considered. Multi-actor estimation of the impacts of the incorporated improvements; i.e. cost-benefit analysis, life cycle assessment, circularity level. All stakeholders of the chain will be considered: land (soil), animals, farmers, producers, and consumers. SUPREM-MILK will exploit an horizontal approach to customize and implement innovative tools that can rapidly improve nutrients circularity, self-sufficiency, and sustainability of Egyptian, Moroccan, and Turkish milk supply chain.

MNEMOSYN will develop and optimize techniques to grow large-scale two-dimensional (2D) magnetic materials, co-integrated with strong spin-orbit coupling materials, graphene and 2D ferroelectrics in high-quality multilayer van der Waals heterostructures. The main objective is to demonstrate a large power reduction for magnetization actuation by spin-orbit-torques (SOT) and by multiferroic proximity effects. The consortium will benefit from state-of-the-art molecular beam epitaxy equipment provided by three different partners to accelerate the study of various selected materials combinations in a concerted fashion. Experimental developments will be supported and guided by simulations combining first-principles calculations with large-scale simulations of SOT figures of merit on properly designed Hamiltonians. The outcomes of the project will consist in establishing the best growth and integration conditions, the corresponding upper limit of SOTs efficiency, and the demonstration of 2D multiferroicity, targeting room-temperature operation and scalable fabrication of memory building blocks. The feasibility of further fab developments will be also ascertained to achieve higher technology readiness levels (TRL).

The overall objective of the project is to increase the efficiency, sustainability and competitiveness of the post-farming processing chain of organic citrus fruit, by intervening points of weakness and the unresolved problems of this supply chain. Consistently with the scope, specific objectives include: i) Reduction (from 30 to 0.5%) of losses caused by post-harvest rots during storage and transportation, by treating the fruits with non-toxic, eco-friendly substances and bio-products compatible with organic food as an alternative option to synthetic fungicides (innovative green technology) ii) raising of the quality standards of fresh fruits and juice by using molecular diagnostics (innovative biotechnology) for the detection of pathogenic quarantine fungi (zero tolerance) and mycotoxins (under detectable levels) and excluding fruits that do not comply with EU and EPPO phytopathological and toxicological standards; iii) extension of the shelf-life (from 40 to 45-50 days for oranges; from 60 to 70 days for lemons) of fresh fruit using biodegradable active biocoating and smart packaging; iv) application of smart technologies (ICT-based technologies and machine learning techniques) to reduce shipping times and optimize the delivery of fruits to the targeted markets (20% increase in shipment efficiency and exclusion of complaints or cuts by GDO; v) minimizing the waste (reduction up to 80%) of the industrial fruit transformation by recycling and exploiting the most of citrus pulp, the major by-product of juice and essence industry, by utilizing it as a raw material to produce a biodegradable and natural biocoating of fruit packaging, in accordance with the principles of circular economy and the standards of organic food.