Agroecology: AE4EU policy brief is available - Agroecology: AE4EU policy brief is available

Within the H2020 Agroecology for Europe project, of which CREA is a partner, the programmatic document about the recommendations to promote the transition towards resilient agri-food systems, compatible with biodiversity, with low environmental impact and socially just, was created, using a agroecological approach.

Specifically, to bring about an effective change it is necessary:

1. Establish research programmesthat considerthe entire agri-food system and its actors, not only on the agronomic field and farming scales.
2. Strengthen research cooperation and networks at the European scale by lowering the barriersthat hinderthe connection and participation of the currently lessinvolved countries.
3. Promote research programmes addressing, at least, level 3 (redesign) of Gliessman'sframework, and especially those that go beyond this and include the social and governance aspects of level 4 and 5. On the other hand, diminish research programmes addressing only level 1 (efficiency) and 2 (substitution).
4. Design research programmesthatstrengthen transdisciplinary research, and explicitly demand the implementation of transdisciplinary designs and processes.
5. Enhance the involvement of a greater number of actorsfrom the entire agri-food system, in particularthose who have been less represented thusfar,such as upstream and downstream value chain actors, and the non-economic actors of the food system (i.e., citizens).
6. Identify important elements and traits of agroecological Living Labs to truly guarantee the implementation of transdisciplinary approaches.
7. Promote appropriate policiesregarding scientific data to guarantee data sharing and reuse within the scientific community (i.e.,rewards, mandatory data sharing agreements).
8. Introduce institutional and procedural innovation to guarantee higherflexibility in the implementation ofresearch projects, especially within budget and partnership management.
9. Increase the duration of projectsthat are dealing with agroecology.
10. Frame research programmesin a way that does not allow small projects whose results might be too simplified, as well as very large onesthat cannot be efficiently managed.