1500 pilot demo farmers and climate farm consultants from 28 countries are networking in the just launched EU project 'Climate Farm Demo' to jointly promote climate adaptation and climate protection measures in agriculture and to support each other in implementing them. The aim is to adapt agricultural production systems to climate change and to transform them into climate-neutral ones. The Leibniz Institute of Agricultural Engineering and Bioeconomy (ATB) coordinates the 'Leibniz Innovation Farm' in Groß Kreutz near Potsdam, one of the projects ten 'Living Labs' distributed across Europe.
The ambitious project aims to contribute to a carbon-neutral transformation of the agricultural sector by 2050 and thus meet the goals of the EU climate strategy.
With its many actors, the pan-European network 'Climate Farm Demo' covers all pedoclimatic zones. Central instruments of the project are the 'Living Labs'. In these labs, new and innovative solutions for Climate Smart Farming will be jointly developed, tested and also demonstrated in close collaboration between science and practice. Within the framework of the project, a total of ten 'Living Labs' in different European regions will develop options that enable agriculture to be climate-neutral and adapted to climate change. Stakeholders from agriculture, industry, trade, politics and civil society will work together on these solutions and efficiently promote knowledge transfer and implementation. The exchange of experiences and knowledge as well as the application of harmonised methods and tools will accelerate the introduction of Climate Smart Farming practices and solutions.
With the 'Leibniz Innovation Farm' in Groß Kreutz near Potsdam, ATB coordinates one of the 'Living Labs'. Prof. UZ Dr Barbara Amon, project leader for the 'Climate Farm Demo' project at the ATB, explains: "The 'Leibniz Innovation Farm' offers a unique platform for combining scientific findings and practical expertise. More than 20 scientific institutions together with numerous industry and practice partners are jointly developing sustainable technical solutions in order to realize as many circular material and energy streams as possible on the farm, for example by integrating biogas plants and biorefineries. These innovations are intended to help to establish sustainable and at the same time profitable business models. They will also increase the resilience of farms," says Barbara Amon. "In view of the increasingly noticeable impacts of climate change, such as water scarcity, heat waves and other extreme weather events, it is clear that we really need to advance the transformation towards climate-smart agriculture very quickly. We can only succeed if all actors work together. We therefore hope that this project with its numerous actors and transfer formats will provide attractive impulses with a snowball effect for introducing climate-adapted practices on a broad level."
Accompanying the practice-oriented work, the project will develop and implement comprehensive strategies for communication and transfer at EU and national level. Six demo campaigns with a total of more than 4,500 events during the project's runtime will support interactive and mutual learning and enable the knowledge transfer on a broad scale.
The transnational project ‚Climate Farm Demo‘ (Demonstration network on climate-smart farming linking pilot farms) with 59 (plus 16 associated) partners from 28 countries is funded under Horizon Europe (HORIZON-CL6-2021-CLIMATE-01-04) with a total of €21.5 million. The project, which started in October, will run for eight years. The project is coordinated by the Institut de l'Élevage, Paris. (For more information see Cordis Data Base)
The Leibniz Institute for Agricultural Engineering and Bioeconomy is a pioneer and a driver of bioeconomy research. We create the scientific foundation to transform agricultural, food, industrial and energy systems into a comprehensive bio-based circular economy. We develop and integrate techniques, processes and management strategies, effectively converging technologies to intelligently crosslink highly diverse bioeconomic production systems and to control them in a knowledge-based, adaptive and largely automated manner. We conduct research in dialogue with society - knowledge-motivated and application-inspired.
Contact ATB:
Prof. UZ Dr Barbara Amon - Project Climate Farm Demo at ATB
Helene Foltan - Public Relations ATB