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Critical challenges like climate change, environmental conservation and food security all have a line leading back to the rumen and its resident microbiome. Thus, the more is known about the microbiome, the better positioned we will be to increase food availability and develop environmentally friendly livestock. The aim of the RuMicroPlas project, funded by the European Research Council, was to do exactly that.
Many parts of a fish go to waste, never reaching our plates. New sorting technology will help the fish industry exploit raw materials much better and in a more sustainable way. The way fish is processed needs to change to take advantage of valuable nutrients. The EU-funded WASEABI project has introduced technological solutions to produce nutritional products and ingredients.
The Commission has adopted a New European Innovation Agenda to position Europe at the forefront of the new wave of deep tech innovation and start-ups. It will help Europe to develop new technologies to address the most pressing societal challenges, and to bring them on the market. Europe wants to be the place where the best talent work hand in hand with the best companies and where deep tech innovation thrives and creates breakthrough innovative solutions across the continent that will inspire the world.
As consumers, growers and authorities call for a reduction in the use of pesticides, sex pheromones – chemicals naturally produced by insects to attract a mating partner – appear very promising regarding the sustainable control of agricultural pests. The EU-funded ΕcoFRUIT project aimed at providing a sustainable and cost-efficient production of insect pheromones by fermentation as a viable alternative to chemical synthesis.
A better knowledge of the genes that underlie natural plant resistance is pivotal to develop environmentally friendly control methods against pests and diseases. Τhe EU-funded IMMUNE project has worked on a resistance gene for its control, Ma. Key to its importance, the Ma gene is a member of the TNL gene family which has a huge and unique extension of five repeating terminal exons.
The Commission adopted a new Digital Strategy under the theme “Next Generation Digital Commission”. This corporate strategy sets out a vision for a digitally transformed, more agile administration that will contribute to the achievement of the EU's strategic priorities, including Europe's Digital Decade and the European Green Deal. Smooth interaction between people, processes, data and technology will underpin a fully digitalised Commission.
The interplay between root types and soil microbial communities can have an impact on plant survival and growth. Understanding this interaction could lead to more sustainable, efficient agriculture. The key objective of ROOTPHENOBIOME was to find these linkages between root traits and the composition and function of the microbial community.
This year 2022 the fourth Navarre edition of Europa+Cerca takes place. The programme, promoted in Navarre by the Enterprise Europe Network (EEN) represented by the University of Navarra and AIN, in collaboration with the Directorate General for Foreign Action and the Delegation of the Government of Navarra in Brussels, consists of face-to-face training and the organization of a trip to Brussels. The previous training will be on September 6th, and the trip to Brussels will be from September 13th to 15th, 2022. In this link you can access the registration form, which must be filled out before June 30th.
In France, Idele (Institut d’Elevage) has developed a data-based online application called CAP’2ER®. Thirty sets of activity data are entered into the programme to determine agro-ecological indicators. From the analysis, the farmer receives an overview report and recommendations taking into account water and air quality, biodiversity, greenhouse gases, carbon sequestration capacity and the amount of nutrients produced for human consumption. The report visualises these aspects within easily understandable graphics and numbers.
Fruit growers are faced with many challenges, they need to maintain a competitive yield while respecting EU regulations limiting the use of plant protection products (PPPs) and their impact on the environment. A Spanish Operational Group, operating under the project FruitCare, is developing a list of alternative strategies for stone fruit, berries and table grapes which can be applied instead of PPPs.
The threat to agriculture from invasive species is huge. The United Nations (UN) estimates that plant disease costs the world’s economy over €200 billion per year, with 20-40% of crop production lost to pests. Nevertheless, spraying crops with synthetic compounds has adverse impacts on people, farm animals, wildlife, pollinators like bees and other living things that play an essential role in the ecosystem. As a response to this blight, CBE JU is funding the multinational BIOBESTicide project, which aims to find a biological solution to GTD.
As Russia's ongoing aggression in Ukraine is putting global food supply at risk and European consumers are already experiencing a rise of food prices, many believe that Europe's food system could be made more resilient against crisis by investing on sustainable local quality production and shortening supply chains. The European Committee of the Regions is currently preparing an opinion on Safeguarding food security and reinforcing the resilience of the EU food system.