The European Innovation Partnership: opportunities for innovation in organic farming and agroecology

Summary

The European Innovation Partnership for Agricultural Productivity and Sustainability, or EIP-AGRI, is a new policy instrument for more stakeholder and demand-driven research & innovation in agriculture. It contains several elements that are supportive of organic farming and agroecological innovation. The organic sector, with its history of strong collaboration across disciplines and between researchers and producers, should take advantage of the opportunities the EIP-AGRI offers.
This dossier is there to help the organic sector and the agroecological community understand the implementation of the EIP-AGRI. After a general introduction to the EIP-AGRI in the first chapter, the concepts behind the new approach to innovation are explained. The third chapter addresses the EIP-AGRI activities at EU level. An important part of the work will have to be done, however, by the rural development programmes at the national or regional levels. This is explained in the fourth chapter. Whilst each Member State will take its own approach, the EIP-AGRI is all about learning from each other. Therefore, the fifth chapter describes a number of interesting initiatives in the Member States. The dossier ends with an overview of the wide range of innovations with which the organic sector can contribute to the EIP-AGRI.