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HORIZON EUROPE TOPIC · Cluster 6 · Food, Bioeconomy, Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment

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

HORIZON-CL6-2027-02-FARM2FORK-05 — the expected outcomes as checkable statements, what evaluators look for in this topic, and the conditions that shape the proposal.

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ForthcomingIA · lump sumDeadline 23 September 2027around EUR 6 million per project

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TopicHORIZON-CL6-2027-02-FARM2FORK-05
StatusForthcoming
CallHORIZON-CL6-2027-02 — Call 02 - single stage (2027)
DestinationFair, healthy and environment-friendly food systems from primary production to consumption (2026-27)
Type of actionInnovation Actions · lump sum
Opening20 April 2027
Deadline23 September 2027
Budgetaround EUR 6 million per project · 2 projects expected · EUR 12 million in total
Part B page limit45 pages (standard application form; check your call)
TemplateWork Programme 2026–2027 application form

Expected outcomes

Projects should contribute to all of the expected outcomes. The topic says: “Project results are expected to contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:”

  1. EO1 farmers are able to transition to diversified, resilient and innovative cropping systems, increasing their sustainability, competitiveness and promoting biodiversity conservation as well as climate adaptation and mitigation.
  2. EO2 profitability of farming is boosted through the adoption of diversified cropping systems and the development of local value chains as well as through the valorisation of crops by-products.
  3. EO3 awareness and knowledge/data exchange among actors on the benefits of diversified cropping systems for farmers and for downstream value chains across Europe is increased.

Expected impacts named in the destination

The wider, long-term effects the destination seeks. Your outcomes feed them; they are not project deliverables.

  1. EI1 agriculture and food systems contribute to ensuring a secure, safe, sustainable, nutritious, and affordable supply of healthy food in Europe and beyond by fostering its long-term competitiveness, resilience, scalability and sustainability within the boundaries of our planet with the One Health approach.
  2. EI2 farmers are empowered to ensure the competitiveness, resilience and sustainability of the farming sector, through increasing knowledge, tools, innovative solutions, and advice that allow efficient productivity, working for and with nature, preserving and restoring biodiversity within agricultural ecosystems and helping to decarbonise the EU economy.
  3. EI3 sustainable fisheries and aquaculture (in marine, brackish and freshwater) contribute to fair, healthy, resilient and environment-friendly food systems in healthy aquatic ecosystems with thriving diversity of species and habitats providing ecosystem and climate services and triggering growth and jobs’ creation in coastal and rural areas.
  4. EI4 tools are provided so that citizens and communities are empowered to make the sustainable food choices and move towards safe, healthy, nutritious, accessible, affordable and sustainable diets. Insights and advances in life science and digital & data technologies are valorised to deploy solutions in practice across the EU.
  5. EI5 food businesses, including food processing industries and SMEs, are supported to increase their resilience and competitiveness, while ensuring resource efficiency and sustainability, and human, animal and ecosystem health is preserved.

What evaluators will look for in this topic

Expected outcomes

  • Projects should contribute to all of the expected outcomes.
  • For each outcome (EO1 to EO3), name who will use or adopt your results (a specific group, not “industry” or “society”), how they get them, and the indicator that shows the change, with baseline, target and date.
  • Use the topic's own words for each outcome, so the evaluator can tick it off.

What the scope asks for

Evaluators check the proposal against these sentences of the scope. Answer each one visibly, in the call's own words.

  • “The temporal and spatial diversification of crops through e.g. rotation and associations, are drivers for low-input, resource-efficient farming systems that can fulfil the need to produce food, feed, industrial products (e.g. bioenergy, biomaterials, biochemicals) and other ecosystems services.”
  • “Proposals should:. develop, test and showcase innovative solutions as well as business and cooperation models with a focus on activities addressing the challenges to support farmers in diversifying their crop production, enhancing profitability, resilience and sustainability;. assess the viability and impact of the practical implementation of the proposed innovations on the overall sustainability of farmers activities and businesses (economic,…”
  • “The climate change mitigation and biodiversity protection and restoration potential of the proposed innovations should be analysed;. describe an exploitation pathway tailor-made for the developed innovations through the different necessary steps (e.g. market research, regulatory approvals and licensing, IP management, etc.) in order to accelerate exploitation of the results;. provide support to farmers to transition to crop diversification,…”
  • “Activities must fall under the concept of the multi-actor approach and allow for adequate involvement of SMEs, technology developers, farmers and consumers.”
  • “The involvement of farmers SMEs is crucial and should be fostered through targeted calls and financial support to third parties, particularly for SMEs developing and testing the proposed innovative solutions.”
  • “Proposals should address various farming systems/approaches, one of which should be organic farming.”
  • “Proposals should allocate adequate resources to collaborate with topic projects funded under other topics in this work programme, in particular 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.”

Conditions that shape the proposal

  • Part B, sections 1–3: 45 pages (standard application form). Text beyond the limit is not read; tables and figures count.
  • Lump sum: the budget is fixed per work package and paid when each work package is completed. Every work package needs activities and deliverables an evaluator can verify, and the effort must match the money.
  • Innovation action: evaluators expect a plausible path to commercialisation and named first users or customers.
  • Other Eligible Conditions: “The following additional eligibility criteria apply: the proposals must apply the multi-actor approach. See definition of the multi-actor approach in this work programme part.”
  • Legal and financial set-up of the grants: “Beneficiaries may provide financial support to third parties (FSTP). The support to third parties can only be provided in the form of grants. The maximum amount to be granted to each third party is EUR 60 000.”

Impact pathway and traps

  • The scope expects pilots or demonstration. Name the sites, the partners who run them and what is measured there.
  • Policy or regulation is in scope. Name the policy owners you will reach and what you will give them.
  • Keep outputs, outcomes and impacts apart: what you deliver, what changes when others use it, and the long-term effect.
  • For each destination impact you claim, show which of your outcomes feeds it. Destination impacts are long-term effects, not project deliverables.
  • Name the barriers outside the project (regulation, markets, user behaviour) that could block uptake, and what you will do if they do.
  • Section 2.3 (the summary canvas) is optional on this call; the old split into scientific, economic and societal impact is no longer required.
The scope, as published

Crop diversification supports farmers resilience to external shocks, be it economic, climatic, or market related. By reducing dependency on a single farmed crop, farmers can strengthen their competitiveness in an ever-changing agricultural landscape. The temporal and spatial diversification of crops through e.g. rotation and associations, are drivers for low-input, resource-efficient farming systems that can fulfil the need to produce food, feed, industrial products (e.g. bioenergy, biomaterials, biochemicals) and other ecosystems services. These diversified and low-input farming systems will emerge if clear benefits to farmers and society are demonstrated and if the downstream value chains are properly organized. Proposals should: develop, test and showcase innovative solutions as well as business and cooperation models with a focus on activities addressing the challenges to support farmers in diversifying their crop production, enhancing profitability, resilience and sustainability; assess the viability and impact of the practical implementation of the proposed innovations on the overall sustainability of farmers activities and businesses (economic, social and environmental). The climate change mitigation and biodiversity protection and restoration potential of the proposed innovations should be analysed; describe an exploitation pathway tailor-made for the developed innovations through the different necessary steps (e.g. market research, regulatory approvals and licensing, IP management, etc.) in order to accelerate exploitation of the results; provide support to farmers to transition to crop diversification, addressing the specific challenges of the sector and designing strategies to overcome them. Create diverse practice-oriented dissemination materials, such as audiovisuals, brochures, presentations, that showcase innovations in a creative way, incorporating artistic elements for engaging storytelling. Activities must fall under the concept of the multi-actor approach and allow for adequate involvement of SMEs, technology developers, farmers and consumers. The involvement of farmers SMEs is crucial and should be fostered through targeted calls and financial support to third parties, particularly for SMEs developing and testing the proposed innovative solutions. Proposals should address various farming systems/approaches, one of which should be organic farming. Proposals should allocate adequate resources to collaborate with topic projects funded under other topics in this work programme, in particular 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 under this topic are relevant to the 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. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A52021DC0141R%2801%29

Other topics in HORIZON-CL6-2027-02

Source and attribution

Topic text from the official topic page on the EU Funding & Tenders Portal, retrieved 19 October 2026. © European Union, reused under Commission Decision 2011/833/EU (CC BY 4.0). Changes: the expected outcomes and impacts are split into numbered statements, long passages are shortened, and the evaluator checklist is GrantWise's own commentary. Your call and the Work Programme always win; check them before you submit. GrantWise is independent and not affiliated with, endorsed by, or acting on behalf of the European Commission.