APRENTISEM (“Good practices for learnings related to farmers seeds”) is part of an ongoing process initiated ten years ago by the european networks for promotion and development of cultivated biodiversity. This projects aims at facing a major issue : genetic erosion of cultivated varieties. This erosion mainly comes from the lost of knowledge and know-how related to on-farm seed conservation.APRENTISEM aims at carrying out an analysis of partner’s peer learning paths, in particular by identifying good practices.APRENTISEM’s more specific objectives are to contribute to i) improving participants’ skills and knowledge related to cultivated biodiversity (120 farmers, artisanal seeds producers and agricultural facilitators) ; ii) strengthening partners’ trainers and facilitators’ skills in terms of facilitation and support ; iii) promoting peer learning within the european networks for agrobiodiversity preservation and development.The evaluation methodology bases on concrete case studies (i.e. learning activities focused on peer learning) in order to analyze in real conditions the different practices carried out by the partners. These activities have been defined according to the target audience’s requests related to skills transfers on precise themes. The project’s activities encompass a great part of learning issues faced by farmers : how to process and add value on-farm to cultivated biodiversity products? ; how to act collectively/mutualize a work on live beings? ; How to produce one’s own seeds and what is the farmers seeds’ legal, economic and political context? This analysis will be completed by sharing and capitalizing pedagogical experiences between partner’s staffs and key-persons.At the end of the project, a good practices guide will be edited and the project’s results will be disseminated within partner’s organisations’ members (148 organisations implying about 25,000 persons). The project’s results will also be spread at european level within partner’s networks (research institutes, universities, European Coordination for Let’s Liberate Diversity, International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements - IFOAM, European Coordination Via Campesina - ECVC).

A major sustainability challenge for the European society is moving beyond conventional, industrialised food production and agricultural systems, characterised by a high use of external inputs. Mainstream conventional food production systems are posing a serious threat to the environment and to biodiversity and are becoming increasingly unsustainable due to unacceptable levels of food waste in industrialized countries and to shrinking farmers’ incomes. Alternative systems with reduced use of external inputs have to be promoted , based on i) an optimised use of agricultural biodiversity (hereafter ‘agrobiodiversity’), ecological processes and natural resources and on ii) improved food systems based e.g. on short supply chain quality food, where consumers play an active role in driving produce demand and consequently offer. CAPSELLA will address this challenge in two ways: (a) raising awareness on these issues especially within and among local communities (smallholders agriculture, biodiversity, food quality) but also within the broader European public, and (b) offering innovative ICT solutions that will address needs and requirements coming from the communities. To achieve this we will use a combination of participatory bottom up data collection and top down data integration to develop solutions for two domains: agrobiodiversity and local food knowledge. The project aims to (a) build from scratch open data repositories concerning regional agrobiodiversity, and (b) to build upon and enhance existing data sets on the agrobiodiversity and food domains. Based on these, the project will develop a number of community-driven data powered ICT solutions, which will be tested by the communities engaged in the project and will result in a number of pilots. Finally, our project will have a strong societal and business sustainability focus by also including incubation activities for selected pilots.

Conservation of Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (PGRFA) is an arena populated by different and composite players. Acknowledging the diversity of the stakeholders involved in the conservation of wild and cultivated biodiversity, DYNAVERSITY will propose a dynamic management and governance aiming at enhancing interactions, complementarities and synergies. DYNAVERSITY will facilitate co-construction between actors (e.g. farmers, gardeners, natural parks, seed craftsmen, community seed banks, researchers, ex situ actors, consumers) and establish new forms of seed networking, socio-environmental knowledge and practices. By creating the Sharing Knowledge and Experience Platform (SKEP), representing stakeholders coming from research, ex situ networks and communities of practice, and taking into account the respect of the singularities of each of the actors, DYNAVERSITY will facilitate exchange and integration of scientific as well as practical knowledge on how to best manage diversity in agriculture and in the entire food chain, restoring evolutionary and adaptation processes. To achieve the above, DYNAVERSITY will integrate Crop Wild Relatives (CWRs) world represented by natural parks to on farm and on garden communities. Specific attention will be paid to map stakeholders, actors and sites and through in depth case study analysis suggesting new sustainable links and partnerships for in situ conservation. DYNAVERSITY will also promote an enabling institutional framework that will allow the creation of new dynamic seed systems. Raising public awareness will be a crucial issue for DYNAVERSITY addressed with specific and targeted communication products adapted to different target groups. DYNAVERSITY will also support seed fairs and Let’ Liberate Diversity communities in order to promote knowledge and seed sharing between stakeholders.

Organic/low input cereal food systems in the EU are emerging in answer to the sustainability crisis of the conventional agri-food sector. “Alternative” systems are based on local, decentralized approaches to production and processing, regard to quality and health, and short supply chains for products with strong local identities. Diversity is deeply embedded in these food systems, from the agro-biodiversity grown in farmers’ fields, which improves resilience and adaptation, to diverse approaches, contexts and actors in food manufacturing and marketing. Diversity thus becomes a cross-sectoral issue, underlying innovations in the agronomic, processing, and marketing phases which respond to consumers’ demand for healthy products. CERERE’s objective is to foster and speed up these innovations to strengthen the economic, social and environmental sustainability of these cereal food systems, consolidate links among practitioners and with researchers, further enhance the resilience of agro-ecosystems and make the overall sector more competitive and better recognized by society. By creating a multi-actor network of researchers and communities of practice, by adopting a bottom-up approach, and by liaising with EIP-AGRI Operational Groups, CERERE will synthesize, share and disseminate existing best practices, research results and co-innovative solutions in organic/low-input cereal food systems, focusing particularly on agro-biodiversity and the associated values of quality and health. Through its activities and training products, CERERE will address the key issues and most urgent needs of these systems: availability/ management of adapted germplasm, use of rotations, soil fertility, weed competitiveness and crop protection strategies, quality-oriented processing techniques, alternative marketing schemes. For each of these, CERERE will identify opportunities for better integrating science and practice, paving the way for more dynamic interactions between the two domains.

TRIBIOME's vision is to develop and implement a systemic solution to transform current food production systems. To this end, TRIBIOME aims to advance alignment with the Green Deal and Farm2fork strategies, by deepening the knowledge of soil/plant/animal and human microbiomes, as well as their interrelationships and interconnections, so that they can play a leading role in the resilience of food production systems in the near future. TRIBIOME will face the main challenges such as the need to minimize resources, reduce the environmental impact and promote healthy and plant-based food chain while feeding a constantly growing world population under the paradigm of climate change. This project aims to drive this concept from its base, establishing its central nucleus in current agricultural production systems based on the relevancy of the soil and plant microbiome, in order to produce more with less, through knowledge of microbial biodiversity and its interaction with the plant, developing novel technologies to influence its modulation (i.e., those enhancing plant growth, nutrient use efficiency, abiotic stress tolerance and better nutritional and health quality of food products) in such a way as to generate an upgrade quality food and have a positive influence on the microbiomes of both animals and humans. To this end, we will work cooperatively in a multiactor approach framework with all actors in the food production systems chain, from farmers to consumers, industry, investors and policy makers, in order to develop systemic solutions that guarantee their implementation and solve the real problems and needs of society.