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Call key data
Boosting the attractiveness of agriculture and the connection between the farming community and society
Funding Program
Horizon Europe: Cluster 6 - Food, Bioeconomy, Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment
Call number
HORIZON-CL6-2025-03-GOVERNANCE-03
deadlines
Opening
06.05.2025
Deadline
24.09.2025 17:00
Funding rate
100%
Call budget
€ 12,000,000.00
Estimated EU contribution per project
€ 6,000,000.00
Link to the call
Link to the submission
Call content
short description
In line with the objectives of the Vision for Agriculture and food and the common agricultural policy (CAP), to support generational renewal, to promote fair jobs and social inclusion for farmers, the successful proposal will support the impact of this Destination related to the development of innovative governance models by providing strong evidence-informed knowledge and analytical capacity to support the development and implementation of effective policies, in particular the CAP post 2027.
Call objectives
With the current challenges of climate change, biodiversity loss, resource scarcity, new working patterns and consumers’ behaviour changes, there is the need for a more innovative, sustainable farming in the EU. However, the EU's farming sector is facing a steady decline of workforce in the last fifteen years, also depending on demographic challenges such as an ageing farming population. Thus, the need for attracting and supporting young and new farmers is critical. The motivations, commercial nature and business models for farming have changed due to the recent climate and environmental challenges and to the new opportunities offered by the technological and digital innovations, but at the same time, due to social and economic factors.
While it is a vital sector, farming still remains largely poorly understood by society, subject to many myths and misconceptions. To develop and implement effective policies and business strategies that enhance the attractiveness of the sector, it is essential to better understand how the perception of farming by society is determined by socio-economic and other factors (for example, but not limited to: income, labour conditions, land markets, use of sustainable practices, mental health, social wellbeing, social, economic and gender inequalities, generational renewal, etc…). Sound governance and policies creating an attractive environment, inclusive fair job conditions for farmers will enable the transition to more resilient and sustainable farming systems.
New interdisciplinary knowledge also stemming from disciplines such as social sciences and humanities is necessary to explore and better understand the ways in which agriculture is expressed and thought about, and its changing relationship with society. Activities under this topic should unlock the potential of cultural and creative industries to improve the communication about agriculture to society.
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Expected effects and impacts
Proposals should:
- improve understanding of the socio-economic and other factors and conditions influencing attractiveness of farming as an economic activity and profession, and how farmers see and project themselves in the future of farming;
- examine the factors that influence the decision to become or to leave the profession of farm worker or farm owner in diverse regions across Europe, incorporating storytelling and narrative techniques;
- explore and analyse how farmers’ interactions vary within the farming community and with the broad society based on different factors (e.g. historical, sectorial, territorial, farm size, age, education, gender, etc) and how those factors influence their social and economic roles;
- explore and assess the perception of and communication on farming across society at large according to different societal actors (individuals or groups that play a significant role in shaping and influencing societal norms, values, and institutions) and economic actors (individuals, businesses, or organizations that participate in economic activities, such as production, consumption, and distribution of goods and services) across the EU with different perspectives (e.g. historical, sectorial, territorial, size, age, education, gender, etc);
- map existing agricultural education and training programmes across Europe and provide recommendations, based on the evidence collected, on how they can be designed to appeal to a diverse range of individuals;
- improve societal perception of farming through the mobilisation of and cooperation between cultural and creative industries (CCIs);
- map, assess, promote existing and propose new solutions, good practices, initiatives, approaches, that aim at improving the attractiveness of farming sector and the connection between the farming community and society, and widely disseminate to policymakers, farmers, businesses and other relevant actors.
Proposals should support collaborative and interdisciplinary work. Thus, proposals should involve the effective contribution of Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) disciplines, such as sociology, geography, demography, communication, behavioural science, anthropology or education. Proposals may involve digital media, traditional media, arts, marketing, cultural disciplines (and beyond) to contribute to improving attractiveness of the farming sector. Participatory foresight methods are encouraged.
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Expected results
Project results are expected to contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:
- the perception of and the communication on agriculture as economic activity and profession are assessed and enhanced to boost the attractiveness of the sector for new entrants and young farmers and the connection between farming community and society is improved;
- knowledge on the socio-economic and other factors influencing the attractiveness of farming within the society, in particular among the young generation, is improved and disseminated to local, national and EU policymakers, business operators and other relevant actors;
- new strategies, solutions and practices to enhance the farming sector attractiveness are widely used by diverse actors, including farmers, businesses, policymakers, local or regional contracting authorities and society at large.
Eligibility Criteria
Regions / countries for funding
Moldova (Moldova), Albania (Shqipëria), Armenia (Հայաստան), Bosnia and Herzegovina (Bosna i Hercegovina / Босна и Херцеговина), Canada, Faeroes (Føroyar / Færøerne), Georgia (საქართველო), Iceland (Ísland), Israel (ישראל / إِسْرَائِيل), Kosovo (Kosova/Kosovë / Косово), Montenegro (Црна Гора), New Zealand (Aotearoa), North Macedonia (Северна Македонија), Norway (Norge), Serbia (Srbija/Сpбија), Tunisia (تونس /Tūnis), Türkiye, Ukraine (Україна), United Kingdom
eligible entities
EU Body, Education and training institution, Non-Profit Organisation (NPO) / Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), Other, Private institution, incl. private company (private for profit), Public Body (national, regional and local; incl. EGTCs), Research Institution incl. University, Small and medium-sized enterprise (SME)
Mandatory partnership
Yes
Project Partnership
To be eligible for funding, applicants must be established in one of the following countries:
- the Member States of the European Union, including their outermost regions
- the Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs) linked to the Member States
- countries associated to Horizon Europe - see list of particpating countries
Only legal entities forming a consortium are eligible to participate in actions provided that the consortium includes, as beneficiaries, three legal entities independent from each other and each established in a different country as follows:
- at least one independent legal entity established in a Member State; and
- at least two other independent legal entities, each established in different Member States or Associated Countries.
Any legal entity, regardless of its place of establishment, including legal entities from non-associated third countries or international organisations (including international European research organisations) is eligible to participate (whether it is eligible for funding or not), provided that the conditions laid down in the Horizon Europe Regulation have been met, along with any other conditions laid down in the specific call topic.
A ‘legal entity’ means any natural or legal person created and recognised as such under national law, EU law or international law, which has legal personality and which may, acting in its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations, or an entity without legal personality.
other eligibility criteria
Specific cases:
- Affiliated entities (i.e. entities with a legal or capital link to a beneficiary which participate in the action with similar rights and obligations to the beneficiaries, but which do not sign the grant agreement and therefore do not become beneficiaries themselves) are allowed, if they are eligible for participation and funding.
- Associated partners (i.e. entities which participate in the action without signing the grant agreement, and without the right to charge costs or claim contributions) are allowed, subject to any conditions regarding associated partners set out in the specific call conditions.
- Entities which do not have legal personality under their national law may exceptionally participate, provided that their representatives have the capacity to undertake legal obligations on their behalf, and offer guarantees to protect the EU’s financial interests equivalent to those offered by legal persons.
- Legal entities created under EU law (EU bodies) including decentralised agencies may be part of the consortium, unless provided for otherwise in their basic act.
- International European research organisations are eligible to receive funding. International organisations with headquarters in a Member State or Associated Country are eligible to receive funding for ‘Training and mobility’ actions or when provided for in the specific call/topic conditions. Other international organisations are not eligible to receive funding, unless provided for in the specific call/topic conditions, or if their participation is considered essential for implementing the action by the granting authority.
- Joint Research Centre (JRC)— Where provided for in the specific call conditions, applicants may include in their proposals the possible contribution of the JRC but the JRC will not participate in the preparation and submission of the proposal. Applicants will indicate the contribution that the JRC could bring to the project based on the scope of the topic text. After the evaluation process, the JRC and the consortium selected for funding may come to an agreement on the specific terms of the participation of the JRC. If an agreement is found, the JRC may accede to the grant agreement as beneficiary requesting zero funding or participate as an associated partner, and would accede to the consortium as a member.
- Associations and interest groupings — Entities composed of members (e.g. European research infrastructure consortia (ERICs)) may participate as ‘sole beneficiaries’ or ‘beneficiaries without legal personality’. However, if the action is in practice implemented by the individual members, those members should also participate (either as beneficiaries or as affiliated entities, otherwise their costs will NOT be eligible.
- EU restrictive measures — Entities subject to EU restrictive measures under Article 29 of the Treaty on the European Union (TEU) and Article 215 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU (TFEU) as well as Article 75 TFEU, are not eligible to participate in any capacity, including as beneficiaries, affiliated entities, associated partners, third parties giving in-kind contributions, subcontractors or recipients of financial support to third parties (if any).
- Legal entities established in Russia, Belarus, or in non-government controlled territories of Ukraine — Given the illegal invasion of Ukraine by Russia and the involvement of Belarus, there is currently no appropriate context allowing the implementation of the actions foreseen in this programme with legal entities established in Russia, Belarus, or in non-government controlled territories of Ukraine. Therefore, even where such entities are not subject to EU restrictive measures, such legal entities are not eligible to participate in any capacity. This includes participation as beneficiaries, affiliated entities, associated partners, third parties giving in-kind contributions, subcontractors or recipients of financial support to third parties (if any). Exceptions may be granted on a case-by-case basis for justified reasons.
With specific regard to measures addressed to Russia, following the adoption of the Council Regulation (EU) 2024/1745 of 24 June 2024 (amending Council Regulation (EU) No 833/2014 of 31 July 2014) concerning restrictive measures in view of Russia’s actions destabilising the situation in Ukraine, legal entities established outside Russia but whose proprietary rights are directly or indirectly owned for more than 50% by a legal person, entity or body established in Russia are also not eligible to participate in any capacity. - Measures for the protection of the Union budget against breaches of the principles of the rule of law in Hungary — Following the Council Implementing Decision (EU) 2022/2506, as of 16 December 2022, no legal commitments can be entered into with Hungarian public interest trusts established under the Hungarian Act IX of 2021 or any entity they maintain. Affected entities may continue to apply to calls for proposals and can participate without receiving EU funding, as associated partners, if allowed by the call conditions. However, as long as the Council measures are not lifted, such entities are not eligible to participate in any funded role (beneficiaries, affiliated entities, subcontractors, recipients of financial support to third parties, etc.).In case of multi-beneficiary grant calls, applicants will be invited to remove or replace that entity in any funded role and/or to change its status into associated partner. Tasks and budget may be redistributed accordingly.
Additional information
Topics
Relevance for EU Macro-Region
EUSAIR - EU Strategy for the Adriatic and Ionian Region, EUSALP - EU Strategy for the Alpine Space, EUSBSR - EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region, EUSDR - EU Strategy for the Danube Region
UN Sustainable Development Goals (UN-SDGs)
Additional Information
Applications must be submitted electronically via the Funders & Tenders Portal electronic submission system (accessible via the topic page in the Search Funding & Tenders section). Paper submissions are NOT possible.
Applications must be submitted using the forms provided inside the electronic submission system (not the templates available on the topic page, which are only for information). The structure and presentation must correspond to the instructions given in the forms.
Applications must be complete and contain all parts and mandatory annexes and supporting documents.
The application form will have two parts:
- Part A (to be filled in directly online) contains administrative information about the applicant organisations (future coordinator and beneficiaries and affiliated entities), the summarised budget for the proposal and call-specific questions;
- Part B (to be downloaded from the Portal submission system, completed and then assembled and re-uploaded as a PDF in the system) contains the technical description of the project.
Annexes and supporting documents will be directly available in the submission system and must be uploaded as PDF files (or other formats allowed by the system).
The limit for a full application (Part B) is 50 pages.
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). It is mandatory to submit a detailed budget table using the template available in the Submission system.
Call documents
Horizon Europe Work Programme 2025 Cluster 6 - Food, Bioeconomy, Natural Resources, Agriculture and EnvironmentHorizon Europe Work Programme 2025 Cluster 6 - Food, Bioeconomy, Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment(kB)
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