Fair, healthy and environment-friendly food systems from primary production to consumption (Horizon Europe)

Food systems are to be understood as covering, ‘from the farm to the fork’, all the sectors, actors, stakeholders, organisations and disciplines relevant to and connecting natural
resources, primary production from land, fresh water and sea, food processing, food distribution and retailing, food services, food consumption, healthy diets, food safety, nutrition and public health, and the prevention of food waste streams i.e. actors operating in the food supply circuit, working directly ‘with’ food. It also comprises actors that operate ‘around’ food at the broader food system level: governance, finance, education, media and culture, research, marketing and advertising, operational services and those representing business and professional interests.

The Vision on agriculture and food and the Competitiveness compass will address challenges ensuring the long-term competitiveness and sustainability of the Agri-food sector within planetary boundaries. The EU Green Deal and more specifically its competitive, resilient and sustainable food system goals, the biodiversity strategy, the zero pollution and climate action ambitions, and their follow-up initiatives set ambitious targets and objectives for food systems will continue to guide research and innovation programming under this destination. Food system related policies cover an array of diverse areas. While those policy areas are interconnected, they cover specific sectors and
actors along the food system that have distinct research and innovation needs to be addressed through this destination.

Calls for 2025, one stage:

Submission: 16.09.2025; Budget: 239 Mio. €

• HORIZON-CL6-2025-02-FARM2FORK-01: Additional activities for the European partnership on accelerating farming systems transition - agroecology living labs and research infrastructures
• HORIZON-CL6-2025-02-FARM2FORK-02: Additional activities for the European partnership on animal health and welfare
• HORIZON-CL6-2025-02-FARM2FORK-03: Overcoming the barriers for scaling up circular water management in agriculture
• HORIZON-CL6-2025-02-FARM2FORK-04: Enhancing plant protein production to bolster the resilience of agricultural systems and EU self-sufficiency in plant protein used as feed
• HORIZON-CL6-2025-02-FARM2FORK-05: Developing innovative phytosanitary measures for plant health - focus on systems approach for pest risk management
• HORIZON-CL6-2025-02-FARM2FORK-06: Improving grassland management in European livestock farming systems
• HORIZON-CL6-2025-02-FARM2FORK-07: Fostering animal breeding and genetics for climate change adaptation and mitigation, improved robustness and resilience
• HORIZON-CL6-2025-02-FARM2FORK-08: Exploring the potential of controlled environment agriculture (CEA)
• HORIZON-CL6-2025-02-FARM2FORK-09: Strengthening the EU crop breeding research and innovation ecosystem for competitive, resilient, and sustainable agriculture
• HORIZON-CL6-2025-02-FARM2FORK-10: Diversifying aquaculture production with emphasis on low-trophic species
• HORIZON-CL6-2025-02-FARM2FORK-11: Towards modern, integrated, and effective fisheries monitoring, control and surveillance (MCS) systems
• HORIZON-CL6-2025-02-FARM2FORK-12: Nutrition and Mental Health
• HORIZON-CL6-2025-02-FARM2FORK-13: Raising citizen awareness on alternative proteins derived from biotechnology
• HORIZON-CL6-2025-02-FARM2FORK-14: Nutrients produced by microorganisms utilising primarily CO2 from the air, with the support of biotechnology
• HORIZON-CL6-2025-02-FARM2FORK-15: Additional activities of the European partnership on sustainable food systems for people, planet and climate
• HORIZON-CL6-2025-02-FARM2FORK-16: Developing a joint AU-EU Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation System (AKIS) supporting the Food and Nutrition Security and Sustainable Agriculture (FNSSA) partnership
• HORIZON-CL6-2025-02-FARM2FORK-17: Nutrition in emergency situations - Ready-touse Supplementary Food (RUSF) and Ready-to-use Therapeutic Food (RUTF)

Calls for 2025/2026, two-stage:

Submission: 04 Sep 2025 (First Stage), 18 Feb 2026 (Second Stage) Budget: 56 Mio. €

• HORIZON-CL6-2025-02-FARM2FORK-01-two-stage: Emerging and future risks to plant health
• HORIZON-CL6-2025-02-FARM2FORK-02-two-stage: Open topic: Innovating for onfarm post-harvest operations, storage and transformation of crops into food and non-food products
• HORIZON-CL6-2025-02-FARM2FORK-03-two-stage: Making food systems more resilient to food safety risks through the deployment of technological solutions
• HORIZON-CL6-2025-02-FARM2FORK-04-two-stage: Research and innovation for food waste prevention and reduction at household level through measurement, monitoring and new technologies
• HORIZON-CL6-2025-02-FARM2FORK-05-two-stage: Developing agroecology living labs and lighthouses for climate action under the Food and Nutrition Security and Sustainable Agriculture (FNSSA) partnership

Links:

Work Programm: Work Programme 2025: Food, Bioeconomy, Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment.

All Horizon Europe work programmes: here