CORE ORGANIC - 15 YEARS OF JOINT RESEARCH FOR ORGANIC FOOD AND FARMING SYSTEMS. CORE Organic 15-year activity report (2004-2019)

Summary

Organic agriculture is considered to be one of the important development pathways towards a more sustainable agriculture and food production. This development has been and will be dependent on continuous research and innovation. The ERA NET1 CORE Organic (‘Coordination of European Transnational Research in Organic Food and Farming Systems’) was established in 2004. On 1 October 2019, the network celebrated its 15th year of activity. It presently includes 27 ministries and research councils from 19 countries and regions whose main purpose is to fund and support transnational organic research. CORE Organic (CO) partners have been working together to increase innovation potential, knowledge accessibility, alignment of national research and international outreach in support of the ERA-NET’s objectives. By joining forces, the network sustains focused and coordinated research and innovation efforts, covering the most important challenges at every link of the organic value chains. The objective of CO has been, from the beginning, the enhancement of the European research area (ERA) on organic agriculture with more efficient use of research funds and with a higher impact of research on the organic sector's development. This has been achieved, among other things, by reducing redundancies between EU and national funding, and by ensuring better use of the limited resources for research and innovation, thus achieving critical mass in research on organic food and farming.These improvements have aimed at supporting the development of a larger and more sustainable organic food system, including farming practices, processing and innovative value chains, with the purpose of fulfilling the growing demand for organic products, subsequently supporting health, trade and job creation. In pursuing these objectives, the CO network has also contributed to the improvement of the general competitiveness of European agriculture and to the development of innovative solutions for environmentally friendly agriculture for Europe and the world. After 15 years of experience, we can argue that CO has largely achieved its mission. The number of projects funded on topics identified as common priorities while ensuring the participation of SMEs and facilitating the integration of new forms of knowledge generation, innovation and dissemination, has allowed the sector to better meet the demand for organic food and products and, at the same time, to develop practices in accordance with organic principles and regulations. Significant parts of national and EU research funding in organic agriculture and food have been channelled into a common pot for transnational projects, in areas where transnational efforts are relevant and where results may be applied across regions and member states. In addition, collaboration with the EU Technology Platform, TP Organics, and other relevant sector players has helped to ensure that the voice of transnational organisations representing farmers, industry and civil society has been taken into account. Moreover, the creation of Organic Eprints represents a cornerstone in the process of creation of a shared reservoir of knowledge and of an effective dissemination of research outcomes.