Enhancing farmer's profitability and resilience through innovations for diversified crops and value chains

The Horizon Europe call, identified as HORIZON-CL6-2027-02-FARM2FORK-05, focuses on enhancing farmers' profitability and resilience through innovations aimed at diversified crops and value chains. The upcoming submission period opens on April 20, 2027, and closes on September 23, 2027. The call is structured as a single-stage submission process, offering a total funding amount of €12 million, divided into two grants of €6 million each.

Eligible applicants include a diverse consortium, composed of small and medium enterprises (SMEs), technology developers, farmers, research institutions, and consumers, emphasizing a mandatory multi-actor approach to foster innovation in agriculture. The project should focus on developing, testing, and implementing innovative agricultural practices, specifically targeting sustainable farming systems, crop diversification, and local value chain development to enhance competitiveness and resilience against external challenges.

The funding mechanism is a lump-sum grant that simplifies financial management, allowing for greater flexibility in resource allocation across project activities. Additionally, financial support for third parties is permitted, capped at €60,000 per entity involved in the consortium. The geographic scope primarily includes EU Member States, with provisions for countries outside the EU subject to specific eligibility criteria.

The projects will operate at various stages, including development, validation, and demonstration of innovative solutions. They must align with broader EU strategies, such as the European Vision for Agriculture, and focus on sustainability, climate adaptation, and biodiversity.

Application processes and evaluation criteria are defined in detail, ensuring submissions meet specific requirements for quality and relevance to agricultural innovation. The competitive nature of the call suggests a low expected success rate, as only a limited number of grants will be awarded. Therefore, applicants should prepare comprehensive proposals that showcase real-world applicability and stakeholder impact.

Overall, this funding opportunity aims to accelerate the shift towards diversified, resilient farming systems that enhance sustainability and profitability in the agriculture sector throughout Europe.

This is a Horizon Europe (HORIZON) call, specifically Call 02, which is a single-stage call for 2027, referenced as HORIZON-CL6-2027-02. The type of action is HORIZON-IA, which stands for HORIZON Innovation Actions. The Model Grant Agreement (MGA) type is HORIZON Lump Sum Grant [HORIZON-AG-LS]. The planned opening date for submissions is April 20, 2027, and the deadline for submissions is September 23, 2027, at 17:00:00 Brussels time.

The call focuses on "Enhancing farmer's profitability and resilience through innovations for diversified crops and value chains," specifically under topic HORIZON-CL6-2027-02-FARM2FORK-05.

The expected outcomes of projects funded under this topic include:
Farmers transitioning to diversified, resilient, and innovative cropping systems, enhancing sustainability, competitiveness, biodiversity conservation, and climate adaptation/mitigation.
Boosting farming profitability through diversified cropping systems, local value chain development, and valorization of crop by-products.
Increasing awareness and knowledge/data exchange among actors regarding the benefits of diversified cropping systems for farmers and downstream value chains across Europe.

The scope of the projects should involve:
Developing, testing, and showcasing innovative solutions, business models, and cooperation models to support farmers in diversifying crop production, enhancing profitability, resilience, and sustainability.
Assessing the viability and impact of implementing proposed innovations on the overall sustainability of farming activities and businesses, considering economic, social, and environmental aspects. Analyzing the potential for climate change mitigation and biodiversity protection/restoration.
Describing a tailor-made exploitation pathway for developed innovations, including steps like market research, regulatory approvals, IP management, to accelerate result exploitation.
Providing support to farmers in transitioning to crop diversification, addressing specific challenges, and designing strategies to overcome them. Creating diverse, practice-oriented dissemination materials (audiovisuals, brochures, presentations) that creatively showcase innovations, incorporating artistic elements for engaging storytelling.
Activities must align with the multi-actor approach, involving SMEs, technology developers, farmers, and consumers. The involvement of farmers and SMEs is crucial, fostered through targeted calls and financial support to third parties, particularly for SMEs developing and testing innovative solutions. Proposals should address various farming systems/approaches, including organic farming.
Proposals should allocate resources to collaborate with projects funded under other topics in the work programme, particularly HORIZON-CL6-2027-02-FARM2FORK-03. Proposals should clearly explain how they will build on and not duplicate past and ongoing EU-funded R&I activities, including relevant projects and activities funded under the Horizon Europe Partnership ‘Agroecology’ and the EU Mission Soil.
The projects should align with EU policies related to the EU Vision for Agriculture and Food, the EU Action Plan for the Development of Organic Production, and the Common Agricultural Policy.

General conditions for admissibility include:
Proposal page limits and layout as described in Annex A and Annex E of the Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes and Part B of the Application Form.
Eligible countries as described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes, with specific provisions for non-EU/non-Associated Countries as detailed in the Horizon Europe Programme Guide.
Additional eligibility criteria: proposals must apply the multi-actor approach, as defined in the work programme.

Financial and operational capacity and exclusion criteria are described in Annex C of the Work Programme General Annexes.

Evaluation and award processes:
Award criteria, scoring, and thresholds are described in Annex D of the Work Programme General Annexes.
Submission and evaluation processes are described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes and the Online Manual.
The indicative timeline for evaluation and grant agreement is described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes.

Legal and financial setup of the grants:
Eligible costs will take the form of a lump sum, as defined in the Decision of 7 July 2021.
Beneficiaries may provide financial support to third parties (FSTP) in the form of grants, with a maximum amount of EUR 60,000 per third party.
Annex G of the Work Programme General Annexes provides further details.

Specific conditions are described in the specific topic of the Work Programme.

Application and evaluation forms and model grant agreement (MGA):
Application form templates are available in the Submission System, including the standard application form (HE RIA, IA).
Evaluation form templates will be used with necessary adaptations, including the standard evaluation form (HE RIA, IA).
Guidance is available in the HE Programme Guide.
Model Grant Agreements (MGA) include the Lump Sum MGA.
Call-specific instructions, a detailed budget table (HE LS), and information on financial support to third parties (HE) are provided, along with guidance on lump sums.

Additional documents include:
HE Main Work Programme 2026-2027 – 1. General Introduction
HE Main Work Programme 2026-2027 – 9. Food, Bioeconomy, Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment
HE Main Work Programme 2026-2027 – 15. General Annexes
HE Programme Guide
HE Framework Programme 2021/695
HE Specific Programme Decision 2021/764
EU Financial Regulation 2024/2509
Decision authorising the use of lump sum contributions under the Horizon Europe Programme
Rules for Legal Entity Validation, LEAR Appointment and Financial Capacity Assessment
EU Grants AGA — Annotated Model Grant Agreement
Funding & Tenders Portal Online Manual
Funding & Tenders Portal Terms and Conditions
Funding & Tenders Portal Privacy Statement

The budget overview for the call in 2027 includes several topics:
HORIZON-CL6-2027-02-CLIMATE-01: EUR 16,000,000, indicative number of grants: 2
HORIZON-CL6-2027-02-CLIMATE-02: EUR 12,000,000, indicative number of grants: 2
HORIZON-CL6-2027-02-CLIMATE-03: EUR 12,000,000, indicative number of grants: 2
HORIZON-CL6-2027-02-CLIMATE-04: EUR 22,000,000, indicative number of grants: 2
HORIZON-CL6-2027-02-COMMUNITIES-01: EUR 15,000,000, indicative number of grants: 3
HORIZON-CL6-2027-02-COMMUNITIES-02: EUR 12,000,000, indicative number of grants: 2
HORIZON-CL6-2027-02-FARM2FORK-01: EUR 12,000,000, indicative number of grants: 2
HORIZON-CL6-2027-02-FARM2FORK-02: EUR 12,000,000, indicative number of grants: 2
HORIZON-CL6-2027-02-FARM2FORK-03: EUR 11,800,000, indicative number of grants: 2
HORIZON-CL6-2027-02-FARM2FORK-04: EUR 6,000,000, indicative number of grants: 1
HORIZON-CL6-2027-02-FARM2FORK-05: EUR 12,000,000, indicative number of grants: 2
HORIZON-CL6-2027-02-FARM2FORK-06: EUR 10,000,000, indicative number of grants: 2
HORIZON-CL6-2027-02-FARM2FORK-07: EUR 15,500,000, indicative number of grants: 2
HORIZON-CL6-2027-02-FARM2FORK-08: EUR 7,800,000, indicative number of grants: 1
HORIZON-CL6-2027-02-FARM2FORK-09: EUR 6,750,000, indicative number of grants: 1

Partner search announcements are available for collaboration on this topic. LEARs, Account Administrators, or self-registrants can publish partner requests after logging into the Portal.

The submission system is planned to open on the date stated on the topic header.

A general FAQ section and support services are available, including an Online Manual, Horizon Europe Programme Guide, Funding & Tenders Portal FAQ, Research Enquiry Service, National Contact Points (NCPs), Enterprise Europe Network, IT Helpdesk, European IPR Helpdesk, CEN-CENELEC Research Helpdesk, ETSI Research Helpdesk, the European Charter for Researchers, and a Partner Search function.

In summary, this Horizon Europe call aims to enhance the profitability and resilience of farmers through innovative and diversified cropping systems. It encourages projects that develop, test, and showcase solutions that promote sustainability, competitiveness, and biodiversity. The call emphasizes the importance of multi-actor involvement, particularly SMEs and farmers, and encourages collaboration with other relevant projects and EU initiatives. The funding is provided as a lump sum, and projects can offer financial support to third parties. The call provides extensive guidance and support resources to assist applicants in preparing and submitting their proposals.

Eligible Applicant Types: The eligible applicant types include SMEs, technology developers, farmers, and consumers. The involvement of farmers and SMEs is particularly crucial. Non-EU/non-Associated Countries may also be eligible if they have specific provisions for funding participants in Horizon Europe projects.

Funding Type: The primary financial mechanism is a grant, specifically a HORIZON Lump Sum Grant. Beneficiaries may also provide financial support to third parties (FSTP) in the form of grants, with a maximum amount of EUR 60,000 per third party. The actions include HORIZON Research and Innovation Actions (RIA), HORIZON Innovation Actions (IA) and HORIZON Coordination and Support Actions (CSA).

Consortium Requirement: The opportunity requires a multi-actor approach, implying that a consortium of multiple applicants is generally expected. The involvement of various actors such as SMEs, technology developers, farmers, and consumers is crucial.

Beneficiary Scope (Geographic Eligibility): The geographic eligibility includes EU member states, associated countries, and potentially non-EU/non-associated countries with specific funding provisions as detailed in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes and the Horizon Europe Programme Guide.

Target Sector: The program targets the agriculture and climate sectors, specifically focusing on crop diversification, sustainable farming systems, agroecology, biodiversity, climate adaptation and mitigation, and the development of local value chains. It is relevant to the EU Vision for Agriculture and Food, the EU Action Plan for the Development of Organic Production, and the Common Agricultural Policy.

Mentioned Countries: The opportunity is open to EU member states and associated countries. A number of non-EU/non-Associated Countries that are not automatically eligible for funding have made specific provisions for making funding available for their participants in Horizon Europe projects.

Project Stage: The expected maturity of the project varies depending on the specific action type. It ranges from research and innovation (RIA) to innovation actions (IA), suggesting projects in the development, validation, demonstration, and potentially commercialization or scale-up stages.

Funding Amount: The funding amounts vary depending on the specific topic and action type, ranging from EUR 6,000,000 to EUR 22,000,000. For example:
HORIZON-CL6-2027-02-CLIMATE-01: EUR 16,000,000
HORIZON-CL6-2027-02-FARM2FORK-07: EUR 15,500,000
HORIZON-CL6-2027-02-CLIMATE-04: EUR 22,000,000
HORIZON-CL6-2027-02-FARM2FORK-08: EUR 7,800,000
HORIZON-CL6-2027-02-FARM2FORK-03: EUR 11,800,000

Application Type: The application type is an open call with a single-stage submission process.

Nature of Support: Beneficiaries will receive money in the form of a lump sum grant. They may also provide financial support to third parties (FSTP) in the form of grants up to EUR 60,000 per third party.

Application Stages: The application process involves a single stage.

Success Rates: The success rates are not explicitly mentioned, but the indicative number of grants for each topic suggests a competitive process.

Co-funding Requirement: The information does not explicitly state a co-funding requirement. However, Horizon Europe grants often involve some form of resource commitment from the beneficiaries, even if not strictly financial.

Summary:

This Horizon Europe call, part of the Cluster 6 work program for 2027, focuses on "Enhancing farmer's profitability and resilience through innovations for diversified crops and value chains." The call aims to support projects that promote crop diversification, sustainable farming systems, and the development of local value chains. It seeks to enhance farmers' resilience to external shocks, improve their competitiveness, and promote biodiversity conservation and climate adaptation/mitigation.

The call includes various topics under the Climate, Communities, and Farm to Fork strategies, each with specific scopes and expected outcomes. Projects should develop, test, and showcase innovative solutions, assess their viability and impact on sustainability, describe exploitation pathways, and provide support to farmers transitioning to crop diversification.

Eligible applicants include SMEs, technology developers, farmers, and consumers, with a strong emphasis on the multi-actor approach. Funding is provided as lump sum grants, with the possibility of providing financial support to third parties. The geographic scope includes EU member states, associated countries, and potentially non-EU/non-associated countries with specific funding provisions.

The application process is a single-stage open call with a deadline of September 23, 2027. The funding amounts vary from EUR 6,000,000 to EUR 22,000,000 depending on the topic and action type. This call represents a significant opportunity for stakeholders in the agriculture sector to contribute to a more sustainable, resilient, and profitable farming landscape in Europe.