EU-Wide Advantages & Opportunities Under HORIZON-CL6-2025-02-FARM2FORK-04

1. Single Market Access

• 450 + million consumers and 10+ million farms create the critical mass needed to shift feed protein preferences toward EU-grown sources.

• Uniform customs rules and the removal of intra-EU tariffs simplify movement of *seeds, inoculants, feed ingredients and knowledge services* between Member States, accelerating market entry of new legume varieties or mixed-crop concepts.

• Labelling schemes such as “EU Origin Protein Feed” can quickly gain recognition across 27 countries, multiplying demand with one certification process instead of 27.

2. Cross-Border Collaboration & Knowledge Exchange

• The topic explicitly requires a multi-actor approach, encouraging consortia that combine:

– Nordic & Baltic experts on cool-tolerant faba/pea varieties.

– Mediterranean partners experienced in drought-resilient chickpea/grass-pea.

– Central EU feed mills able to test new extrusion or fermentation processes.

• Participation of the JRC (iMAP modelling) offers a ready-made, EU-level platform for comparing scenarios across pedo-climatic zones—saving each partner from building its own model.

• Access to 1000+ existing EIP-AGRI Operational Groups and 20+ Agroecology Living Labs lets the project instantly pilot on-farm trials in multiple regions.

3. Alignment With Major EU Strategies

• Green Deal / Farm to Fork: Directly targets protein autonomy, biodiversity and climate goals.

• CAP 2023-27 Eco-schemes: Results can feed into new or updated eco-scheme designs rewarding mixed cropping, nitrogen-fixing species or locally sourced feed.

• Deforestation-Free Products Regulation (EU 2023/1115): Delivering EU feed alternatives reduces compliance risk for livestock operators sourcing soy.

• Biotech & Biomanufacturing Communication (2023): Scope supports bioprocessing innovation (e.g., enzymatic upgrading of EU pulses) aligned with the upcoming EU Biotech Act.

4. Regulatory Harmonisation Benefits

• A single set of EFSA feed-safety rules and EU fertiliser/seed marketing regulations means varietal trials or novel feed authorisations can be submitted once and recognised EU-wide.

• Harmonised sustainability reporting (CSRD) enables uniform LCA benchmarks, making it easier to demonstrate environmental advantages of EU protein crops to retailers and finance institutions.

5. Access to Europe’s Innovation Ecosystem

• Synergy with EIT Food, PRIMA, Agroecology, Sustainable Food Systems & Agriculture of Data Partnerships gives access to >1 000 research teams and testbeds.

• Opportunity to plug into Regional Innovation Valleys (RIVs) for Bioeconomy & Food Systems, unlocking place-based demo sites and ERDF co-funding.

• Digital Europe & Copernicus data streams (soil moisture, crop stress) can be integrated at zero licensing cost, shortening development of decision-support tools for farmers.

6. Funding & Programme Synergies

• Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) Pillar II: Member States can top-up living-lab costs or on-farm trials via Eco-schemes or EAFRD measures.

• InvestEU & LIFE: Provide scale-up finance for processing plants (e.g., fractionation or fermentation units) once piloted.

• Horizon Europe Cluster 6 sibling calls (2024-2025):

– CL6-2024-FARM2FORK-02-5 (feed nutrition)

– CL6-2025-FARM2FORK-07 (grassland)

enable data sharing and complementary trials, reducing duplication and boosting publication outputs.

• Interregional Innovation Investments (I3) instrument can commercialise successful pilot chains in multiple regions.

7. Scale & Impact Potential

• Replacing only 15 % of imported soybean meal with EU grain/fodder legumes would:

– Shrink EU agriculture’s land-use footprint abroad by ~2 M ha.

– Retain €3-4 bn/year feed expenditure within rural EU economies.

– Cut feed transport emissions by ~3 Mt CO₂-eq/year.

• Multi-country trials across Atlantic, Continental, Mediterranean and Nordic zones ensure varieties/processes are validated for >90 % of EU acreage, smoothing rapid diffusion.

• Uniform training toolkits (videos, VR farm walks, digital advisory apps) translated into the 24 EU official languages maximise farmer uptake and advisor reach.

8. Strategic Value of Operating at EU Scale

• Only an EU-level project can create a pan-European protein crop roadmap credible to policymakers shaping trade, CAP and Green Deal files.

• Public goods (open datasets, LCA benchmarks, breeding lines) are more valuable when openly shared across 27 Member States, avoiding fragmented national repositories.

• Pooling risk and resources across countries de-risks investment in *low-acreage but high-potential* crops (lupin, vetch, grass-pea) that no single Member State could fund alone.

• Coordinated messaging to global traders reinforces EU’s negotiating position in WTO / Mercosur discussions on sustainable soy.

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Bottom line: Leveraging the EU Single Market, harmonised regulations, connected innovation ecosystems and multiple complementary funding streams positions consortia under this call to deliver continent-wide shifts in feed protein sourcing, rural economic growth and climate resilience—outcomes unattainable through isolated national projects.