Meeting between the European Science Alliance for Agriculture and Food (ESAAF) and the Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development (DG AGRI)

The DG AGRI was represented by:

• Gijs Schilthuis, Director for Sustainability (Directorate B)
• Ricard Ramon, Head of Unit for Policy Perspectives (Directorate A)
• Luis Vivas-Alegre, Head of Sector for Research and Innovation Coordination (Directorate F)

The discussions focused on defining the principles of a possible partnership between ESAAF and EBAF, which has been established to support the European Commission in achieving key objectives in the EU’s agricultural and food policy. EBAF’s core tasks include:

• providing high-level policy advice on strategic reforms in the agricultural and food sectors, including a new vision to be presented within the first 100 days of the Commission’s mandate;
• fostering a new culture of dialogue, trust, and stakeholder engagement across the food value chain and civil society, with the aim of ensuring policy coherence, synergy, and alignment with private sector initiatives;
• advising the Commission on the preparation of future-oriented agricultural and food policies and monitoring the implementation of recommendations formulated in the final report of the Strategic Dialogue on the Future of Agriculture;
• delivering opinions on specific matters upon request by the Commission.

ESAAF aspires to establish a long-term, science-based partnership with EBAF, focused on the independent assessment and communication of the state of knowledge, opportunities, and challenges related to the Common Agricultural Policy, food systems transformation, rural development, and related EU policy domains. This collaboration aims to promote evidence-based policymaking and to enhance the contribution of the scientific community to the development of integrated and forward-looking EU strategies.

In the afternoon, a high-level meeting was held at the headquarters of the Permanent Representation of France to the European Union between representatives of ESAAF and several Directorates-General of the European Commission, particularly involved in transforming the European food system. The theme of the meeting was Boosting Agrifood and Environmental R&I for EU resilience and competitiveness.

The public sector was represented by:

• Luis Vivas-Alegre, DG-AGRI, Head of Sector for Research and Innovation Coordination (Directorate F)
• Christian Holzleitner, DG-CLIMA, Head of Unit responsible for Land Economy and Carbon Removals,
• Doris Marquardt, DG-CONNECT, Programme Officer – EU Policies and Contact
• Person for agriculture in the European Commission,
• Hélène-Diane Dage, DG-GROW, Deputy Head of Unit, Clusters, Social Economy and Entrepreneurship,
• Leonard Mizzi, DG-INPTA, Deputy Director for overseeing Sustainable Agri-food Systems and Fisheries (Directorate F),
• Cindy Schoumacher, DG-RTD, Policy Officer for Bioeconomy & Food Systems (Unit B2),
• Alexandra Nikolakopoulou, DG-SANTE, Head of Unit, General Food Law, Food Waste and Food Information to Consumers,
• Giampiero Genovese, JRC (Joint Research Centre), Head of the Unit Economics of the Food System,

On behalf of Wageningen University and Research, the meeting was also attended by Joost de Laat, Managing Director, Social Sciences, and Simone Ritzer, Programme Manager of Wageningen Dialogues.

Aarhus University representatives were joined by Kristine Howe Kjer, Special Consultant and Manager at the National Centre for Sustainable Agrifood System (START). The INRAE team was strengthened by: Philippe Mauguin, President and CEO, Jean-François Soussana, Special Adviser for International Affairs, and Capucine Cuirassier, Communication Officer.

The Julius Kühn-Institute was represented by Silke Dachbrodt-Saaydeh, Research Coordinator, our university by Krystyna Rejman from the Institute of Human Nutrition Sciences, and the hosts by Antoine Mercier, Science and Technology Advisor.

The discussions focused on the role of research in European Union policies and achieving competitiveness. The increased importance of research in practice and the development of EU policies was demonstrated by the number of scientific publications resulting from the Horizon and Horizon Europe research framework programmes (under Pillar II Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness) and their citation numbers. Three research projects illustrate this finding: the GO-GRASS project has developed small-scale bio-based solutions to unlock the overlooked potential of grassland across Europe and create new business opportunities for rural areas, REFRESH (progress in tackling food losses and food waste along production and supply chains with an integrated approach towards a more sustainable and responsible food system), IPMworks (an EU-wide farm network demonstrating and promoting cost-effective Integrated Pest Management (IPM) strategies).

In the second part of the meeting, there was a discussion on undertaking collaborative, multi-centre research for a green transformation in the agri-food sector – how can collaborative research contribute to the priorities related to agriculture, food and the environment in different DGs? It was agreed that a holistic, multidisciplinary research approach is essential for the transformation of agriculture and the entire food system towards sustainability. A systemic approach is not possible without collaboration and implementation of collaborative research. There is a need for both research that brings innovative solutions for practical application, taking into account the social sciences, and basic research. The results of collaborative research, with greater involvement of the private sector, also involving academia and food chain actors from third countries, can contribute to the attractiveness, competitiveness and resilience of the sector. The meeting concluded that collaborative research should be included in the new format of the 10th Framework Programme for Research and Innovation.