Analysing fossil-energy dependence in agriculture to increase resilience against input price fluctuations

ExpectedOutcome :

In supporting the implementation of the European Green Deal, in particular the European Climate Law, the farm to fork strategy and the common agricultural policy, R&I is expected to support agriculture pathways towards reduced greenhouse gas emissions and better use of inputs, while improving the incomes of primary producers. Relevant inputs include in particular fossil fuels and fertilisers produced from non-renewable resources. The topic will contribute to the Destination’s expected impact of “foster[ing] climate change mitigation in the primary sectors, including by the reduction of their GHG emissions and other pollutants”.

Successful proposals are expected to contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:

• Better analytical tools and capacity to integrate the use of fossil energy and energy-intensive inputs in modelling and in socio-economic analysis more broadly;
• Improved decision-making by farmers in relation to the consumption of energy and energy-intensive inputs, in particular mineral fertilisers;
• Better capacity of the farming sector to cope with variations in the price of energy and energy-intensive inputs;
• Direct and indirect dependence of the sector on hydrocarbons is reduced. Scope :

Proposals should:

• Use foresight methods to elaborate scenarios of fossil energy and mineral fertiliser use evolution and dependence. Where available, reference scenarios of the European Commission (DG ENER) should be used to advance the state of the art;
• Improve the capacity of models to take into account direct and indirect energy uses and prices;
• Cover both macro and micro levels in the analysis. At the micro-economic level linkages should be established with the Farm Sustainability Data Network (FSDN) under development by the European Commission;
• Develop tools to support farmers’ decision-making for optimal use of energy and mineral fertiliser, to improve economic, environmental and climate performance of farming systems.

This topic should involve the effective contribution of SSH disciplines.

Projects shall leverage the data and services available through European Research Infrastructures federated under the European Open Science Cloud, as well as data from relevant Data Spaces in the data-driven analyses.

The possible participation of the JRC in the project would ensure that the approach proposed is compatible with and improves the tools used at the European Commission.

General conditions

1. Admissibility conditions: described in Annex A and Annex E of the Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes

Proposal page limits and layout: described in Part B of the Application Form available in the Submission System

2. Eligible countries: described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes

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. See the information in the Horizon Europe Programme Guide .

3. Other eligibility conditions: described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes

The Joint Research Centre (JRC) may participate as member of the consortium selected for funding.

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

5. Evaluation and award:

• 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

• Indicative timeline for evaluation and grant agreement: described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes

6. Legal and financial set-up of the grants: described in Annex G of the Work Programme General Annexes

Eligible costs will take the form of a lump sum as defined in the Decision of 7 July 2021 authorising the use of lump sum contributions under the Horizon Europe Programme – the Framework Programme for Research and Innovation (2021-2027) – and in actions under the Research and Training Programme of the European Atomic Energy Community (2021-2025). [[This decision is available on the Funding and Tenders Portal, in the reference documents section for Horizon Europe, under ‘Simplified costs decisions’ or through this link: https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/docs/2021-2027/horizon/guidance/ls-decision_he_en.pdf]].

Specific conditions

7. Specific conditions: described in the specific topic of the Work Programme

Documents

Call documents:

Standard application form — call-specific application form is available in the Submission System

Standard application form (HE RIA, IA)

Standard evaluation form — will be used with the necessary adaptations

Standard evaluation form (HE RIA, IA)

MGA

Lump Sum MGA v1.0

Call-specific instructions

Detailed budget table (HE LS)

Guidance: "Lump sum funding: what do I need to know?"

Additional documents:

HE Main Work Programme 2023–2024 – 1. General Introduction

HE Main Work Programme 2023–2024 – 9. Food, Bioeconomy, Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment

HE Main Work Programme 2023–2024 – 12. Missions

HE Main Work Programme 2023–2024 – 13. General Annexes

HE Programme Guide

HE Framework Programme and Rules for Participation Regulation 2021/695

HE Specific Programme Decision 2021/764

EU Financial Regulation

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