Report on first round of multiplier events

2 This project has received funding from the European Union’s HORIZON-AG - HORIZON Action Grant Budget-Based research and innovation programme under grant agreement GA 101091268 NOVASOIL INNOVATIVE BUSINESS MODELS FOR SOIL HEALTH Grant agreement ID: 101091268 Report on first round of multiplier event Project NOVASOIL Project title INNOVATIVE BUSINESS MODELS FOR SOIL HEALTH Work Package 5 Building a Community of Practice and dissemination strategy Deliverable 5.2 Period covered 01/11/2022-28/02/2023 Publication date 28/02/2023 Dissemination level PU Organisation name of lead beneficiary for this report EVENOR Authors Blanco-Velázquez FJ, Alonso Martín F, Bravo-García J, González-Peñaloza F and Anaya-Romero M Contributors ALL Ref. Ares(2024)5757038 - 09/08/2024 3 This project has received funding from the European Union’s HORIZON-AG - HORIZON Action Grant Budget-Based research and innovation programme under grant agreement GA 101091268 4 This project has received funding from the European Union’s HORIZON-AG - HORIZON Action Grant Budget-Based research and innovation programme under grant agreement GA 101091268 QUALITY ASSURANCE PROCEDURES This document has been reviewed by the NOVASOIL consortium according to the national reports and comments received TABLE REVISION HISTORY DELIVERABLE Ro w Version Date Reviewers Description 1 V1.0 24/02/2023 EVENOR Draft version circulated by email 2 V1.1 27/02/2023 ULEEDS, ZSA and METK Version updated based on inputs received 3 V2.0 28/02/2023 WU, IDECO, NBU Final version with minor changes from previous version 5 This project has received funding from the European Union’s HORIZON-AG - HORIZON Action Grant Budget-Based research and innovation programme under grant agreement GA 101091268 Project Consortium Nº Participant organisation name Countr y 1 EVENOR TECH SLU ES 2 LEIBNIZ-ZENTRUM FUER AGRARLANDSCHAFTSFORSCHUNG GE 3 ZEMNIEKU SAEIMA LV 4 NEW BULGARIAN UNIVERSITY BU 5 CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE CNRS FR 6 KOBENHAVNS UNIVERSITET DK 7 TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITAET MUENCHEN GE 8 ASSEMBLEE DES REGIONS EUROPEENNES FRUITIERES LEGUMIERES ET HORTICOLES FR 9 ISTITUTO DELTA ECOLOGIA APPLICATA SRL IT 10 UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI FERRARA IT 11 WAGENINGEN UNIVERSITY NL 12 CENTRE OF ESTONIAN RURAL RESEARCH AND KNOWLEDGE EE 13 UNIVERSIDAD POLITECNICA DE MADRID ES 14 UNIVERSITA DI PISA IT 15 ASOCIACION AGRARIA JOVENES AGRICULTORES DE SEVILLA ES 16 UNIVERSITY OF LEEDS GB 6 This project has received funding from the European Union’s HORIZON-AG - HORIZON Action Grant Budget-Based research and innovation programme under grant agreement GA 101091268 Table of contents 1 List of Abbreviations 7 2 Executive summary 7 3 Introduction 8 4. Multiplier Events 8 4.1 Bulgaria 8 4.2 Denmark 9 4.3 Estonia 9 4.4 Germany 9 4.5 France 10 4.6 Italy 10 4.7 Latvia 10 4.8 Netherlands 11 4.9 Spain 11 4.10 United Kingdom 11 5. Conclusions 12 6 Acknowledgment 13 7. Multiplier Event Reports 14 7 This project has received funding from the European Union’s HORIZON-AG - HORIZON Action Grant Budget-Based research and innovation programme under grant agreement GA 101091268 1 List of Abbreviations WP Work Package ME Multiplier event NGO Non-governmental organisation CoP Community of Practice SDGS30 Sustainable Development Goals 2030 EU European Union CS Case Study DoA Description of Action ES Ecosystem Services 2 Executive summary This document reports on activities carried out under task 5.4 (Multiplier events) in the framework of WP5 (Building a Community of Practice and dissemination strategy) of the NOVASOIL project. This document includes information on the first round of Multiplier Events carried out by partners in the few months of the project in order to attract attention and receive input from participants about the planned activities. In total were 10 MEs held during the first few months of the project. A second round of Multiplier Events will take place at the end of the project. 8 This project has received funding from the European Union’s HORIZON-AG - HORIZON Action Grant Budget-Based research and innovation programme under grant agreement GA 101091268 3 Introduction At the beginning of the project, partners have been asked to organize a Multiplier Event in their respective countries. The purpose of the MEs is to strengthen the links and involvement of stakeholders. In addition to implementing strategies for information flow and co-working, as well supporting successful surveys and questionnaires, and to launch invitations for further participation in project activities. During the project lifetime, two MEs will be organized by one partner in each country, except France where due to the characteristics of one of the partners the event was transnational. The first round of ME aimed to attract stakeholder’s attention to the project, to include them from the beginning. This document includes a brief summary of the discussion as well as a general overview of what participants thought about the project, and any inputs regarding case studies in their region. 4. Multiplier Events In total, there were 10 MEs held during the first few months of the project. They were held across Europe, and attracted a range of stakeholders. The first round of events took place between January and February in the form of workshops with invited participants from a range of different backgrounds. This included members of local, national and European policy makers, farmers, industry and NGO as well as prospective case study participants. The workshops were distributed over time in a slightly different way than expected by the project, in order to allow the best possible engagement of stakeholders (given most of them were close to winter holidays 2023). 4.1 Bulgaria NBU organised two days of multiplier events with a total of 23 representatives participants. WP2 and WP5 were the WPs voted as more interesting for the audience. However, new incentives, soil health business models and the final toolbox were the more interesting project outcomes. However, the CoP was voted on as a relevant outcome highlighting the relevance to build a CoP around soil health business. Winery sector is relevant in Bulgaria. In fact, there is a problem with unregistered farmers emphasized by a participant. On the other hand, wine tourism could be relevant too considering that the audience looks to introduce some novel business models in this direction from NOVASOIL outcomes. There is a difference between implementation of eco-schemes in the Bulgaria’ regions so new business opportunities may provide new incentives for farmers and soil health improvement. 9 This project has received funding from the European Union’s HORIZON-AG - HORIZON Action Grant Budget-Based research and innovation programme under grant agreement GA 101091268 4.2 Denmark The event organised by University of Copenhagen involved nine participants from research, public administration and non-profit agricultural research and development association. Market-based instruments were an interesting topic by the audience regarding carbon farming and carbon credits. Furthermore, they highlighted that there are other ecosystem services which should be focused too. One recommendation was to develop a matrix-like mapping about positive/negative/no trade-offs between key ESs affected by soil health measures. Another recommendation was to monitor the existing ongoing policy initiatives at different levels (EU and national) related to soil health in order to adapt NOVASOIL outcomes if new policies or initiatives are introduced during project lifetime. 4.3 Estonia The event organized by METK brought together more than 18 participants (33% belong to public sector, meanwhile 17 % were farmers and other 50% were researchers). Participants highlighted some concerns about carbon farming due to the lack of information about measurements, regulation and potential or not penalties in negative scenarios. However, there are other qualitative parameters required for soil health. Soil biodiversity should be more emphasized to be measured. Soil certification is intended to be voluntary but the system must be standardised and regulated and, for that, a participatory process with stakeholders must be implemented to the final design of policy recommendations. 4.4 France AREFLH organised an online event with 16 participants. To sum up the event, challenge was the word more used due to the relevance of project outcomes and the need to really implement business models to have a positive impact on soil health. Some clarifications about business models concepts and definitions were provided. Regarding the final NOVASOIL tool-box, participants highlighted the need to involve existing knowledge at local level for particular regions. The possibility to be part of the Community of Practice around project objectives was very well accepted as well as to collaborate with another initiative on the soil. 10 This project has received funding from the European Union’s HORIZON-AG - HORIZON Action Grant Budget-Based research and innovation programme under grant agreement GA 101091268 4.5 Germany TUM and ZALF organised an online event with 20 participants including moderators. Innovative was the word used to sum up the project thoughts by the Germany stakeholders. How soil health can be defined including biodiversity and climate certificates as topics related. Most of the case studies interesting by the audience are related to agricultural business cases about organic farming, society involvement and nature protection. The participants highlighted that there are several challenges to implement soil health business models: 1) reduce administrative load by farmers; 2) consider external factors in results-oriented or measure-oriented payments; 3) to provide a clear definition of soil health (with parameters); 4) to implement robust and feasible measurement methods; 5) fairness due to the annual fluctuation in hummus; 6) policy improvements to overcome potential barriers for private initiatives and; 7) increase the appreciation by society toward soil health. 4.6 Italy The ME organised by UNIPI, UNIFE and IDECO brought together about 39 participants from different sectors (NGO, Private sector, Public administration, etc.). The audience showed a high interest in the next evolutions in terms of soil policies. However, there is a need to coordinate efforts to increase rural actors’ willingness to invest in soil health. For that, the proposed toolkit of the NOVASOIL project as possible organisational solutions and their effectiveness and implementability. Finally, the participants recommended focusing on incentives to facilitate the diffusion of available knowledge and practices. 4.7 Latvia ZSA organized online meeting with 137 participants, including, moderator and project staff. The majority of the participants were farmers, representing different agriculture sectors’ as well as advisors, civil servants and other interested parties. Healthy soil is the main prerequisite for growing healthy plants. With support of the Novasoil project will be presented the successful business cases to promote the soil health in the toolbox. The participants admitted the project importance for the sustainable farming practices, therefore showed interest for following the NOVASOIL project activities and interest for participating in the exchange of experience and training activities. 17 This project has received funding from the European Union’s HORIZON-AG - HORIZON Action Grant Budget-Based research and innovation programme under grant agreement GA 101091268 expected results. They are aspiring and in line with global challenges related to sustainable development, environmental protection, and the European Union's Green deal, as well as the Bulgarian soil strategy 20-30 and the new Bulgarian Rural Development Program 23-27. In addition, they are relevant, useful for practice, and adequate for their organizations' future. Therefore, they are particularly interested in the project and would be actively involved with whatever is necessary for its implementation. At the end of the first day of the MPE, it was organized voting for the CoP members about two questions: 1. Which WP is considered more interesting? 2. Which of the main results are more beneficial? It was applied the following voting approach: • before each question, there was a presentation on the topic; • on the final slide, there was the relevant question and all possible answers, so the participants were able to see the answers all the time; • all participants vote for a maximum of three answers. According to the first question answers, WP2 Analysis and Development of Business Models to Promote Soil Health and the WP5 Building a Community of Practice and dissemination strategy are the most interesting WPs, with 25% of respondents selecting them. WP4 Envisioning incentives & policies solutions received a similar level of interest with 23%. WP3 Testing and development of a toolbox for incentives received moderate interest with 12%, while WP6 Coordination & Management and WP1 Development of end-usersled soil health business cases framework received the least interest with only 13% and 2%, respectively. Figure 2. Which WP is considered more interesting? Regarding the second question related to the evaluation of the most beneficial results, New incentives soil health business models and Toolbox for incentives were selected as the most beneficial by almost half of the respondents with 24% and 22%, respectively. This indicates that many of the respondents believe that incentivizing and promoting new business models that prioritize soil health is an effective way to achieve their goals. 2% 12% 13% 23% 25% 25% WP 1 WP 3 WP 6 WP 4 WP 2 WP 5 18 This project has received funding from the European Union’s HORIZON-AG - HORIZON Action Grant Budget-Based research and innovation programme under grant agreement GA 101091268 Figure 3. Which of the main milestones are more beneficial? Develop a consolidated CoP and Business models and Social innovations received the same percentage of votes at 16%, and were tied for the third most beneficial results. This suggests that creating a community of practice and exploring new business models and social innovations are both seen as important steps in promoting soil health. Supply Chain Development for Business Models received 9% of the votes, indicating that many respondents feel that prioritizing soil health across the entire supply chain is a key factor in achieving their results. Highlight benefits obtained from soil health investment and Roadmap on policies and innovation both received only 4% of the votes, indicating that they were seen as less beneficial than the other main results. Finally, both Soil health business framework and Individual policy and innovation lab report received the lowest percentage of votes at 2%, suggesting that they were seen as the least important result in achieving their objectives. During the second day of MPE (17/02/2023), it was presented Bulgarian case and the other NOVASOIL case studies (CS). Additionally, it was presented WP 3 approach for inventory and mapping of incentives for improving soil health. It was organised voting about the most interesting CS using 4 votes per CoP members. 2% 2% 4% 4% 9% 16% 16% 22% 24% Soil health business framework Individual policy and innovation lab report Highlight benefits obtained from soil health… Roadmap on policies and innovation Supply Chain Development for Business… Business models and Social innovations Develop a consolidated CoP Tool box for incentives New incentives soil health business models 19 This project has received funding from the European Union’s HORIZON-AG - HORIZON Action Grant Budget-Based research and innovation programme under grant agreement GA 101091268 Figure 4. Which case study are more interesting? The Soil Fertility Fund has the highest percentage of 22%, making it the most interesting case study. It is followed by Organic Wine in Rueda, Spain and Crop production – Estonia both with a percentage of 13% and 12%, respectively. Both Rabo Carbon Bank and Integrated Production in the Vineyards with Winery and Rural Tourism took 10%. On the other hand, the three case studies with lowest percentage of about 2% are District of the Sands, A Model for Multifunctional and Sustainable Local Development of Marginal Areas, and CO2-Land. Questions and comments During the first MPE there were different discussions related to the presented WPs and the Bulgarian and other NOVASOIL project case studies. Day 1 – 16/02/2023 During the first day the participants made several discussions and comments. Wine value chain actors Milko Yanev agreed that the wineries are the most important in the wine value chain. Especially the big wineries, which produce vine and highly alcoholic beverages. He emphasized that in Bulgaria exist two categories of vineyards 2% 2% 2% 3% 3% 7% 7% 8% 10% 10% 12% 13% 22% District of the Sands A model for multifunctional and sustainable local development of marginal areas CO2-Land Integrated production Crop production - UK CiRAA LTEs on conventional and organic agriculture AgoraNatura Crop production and animal farming Integrated production in the vineyards with winery and rural tourizm Rabo Carbon Bank Crop production - Estonia Organic wine in Rueda, Spain (Rueda) Soil Fertility Fund 20 This project has received funding from the European Union’s HORIZON-AG - HORIZON Action Grant Budget-Based research and innovation programme under grant agreement GA 101091268 holdings – registered and unregistered. The second category takes a part in almost half of the vineyards in the country and does not receive subsidies. He outlined two groups of vineyards: those with a winery and smaller ones without a winery. These are different types of farms and need a different approach. The unregistered agriculture holdings are difficult to be covered by the policy measures. Todorka Stoicheva also emphasized on the problem of unregistered farmers. The lack of registration of those vine-growing producers is due to increasing social insurance costs which demotivates them from registration. Wine tourism Krasimir Petushanov, the chairman of the Wine-growing cooperative "Brestovitsa" with more than 400 cooperative members, stressed that wine tourism is an important part of the business model. The cooperative uses the cooperative business model to produce and sell wines under the same brand. According to him, 90% of the wineries have the vision to develop a wine tourism business model, and it is not necessary to own a hotel for that purpose. There are many other options to attract tourists. Until now, they work mainly with Plovdiv municipality for wine route development. Also, It is necessary to involve such kind project as NOVASOIL to introduce some novel business models in this direction. Kiril Minchev stressed that wine tourism is not enough, and thus, only about 4-5% of the production is realized. He understands the role of advertising and emphasized that quality is important. Todorka Stoycheva stated that some of the large wineries are practicing wine tourism, but some are not interested in wine tourism and are more closed. For them, it is more interesting that wine tourism brings additional publicity and brand recognition. Medium-sized wineries are more interested in wine tourism, and they combine advertising with direct sales. Different kind of quality schemes – bio wine, PDO and PGI Kiril Minchev emphasized that the quality of grapes from organic production for winemaking purposes is very low and cannot be compared with conventional production. The presence of certain microorganisms adversely affects the wine. He commented on the use of preparations for the production of wine, emphasizing their important role. He concluded that organic production cannot successfully enter a new market. Milko Yanev expressed concern that wine could be regulated and labeled like cigarettes, which would negatively affect the market. He expressed the 21 This project has received funding from the European Union’s HORIZON-AG - HORIZON Action Grant Budget-Based research and innovation programme under grant agreement GA 101091268 opinion that small farmers are oppressed and should be supported. He emphasizes the good level of the environment and the quality of the soil. He gave the example that the grape needs fewer treatments here. Another concern is the categorization of the products. Categorizing is a cumbersome, expensive, and time-consuming process, which leads people to turn to other types of registrations and categorizations. Dinko Yanev touched on the issue of organic production and that the transition to 30% organic will be hard for the local market. He comments on the organic fertilizers and preparations. Todorka Stoicheva underlines that the transition from conventional to bio wine production takes between 4 and 6 years. In addition, it takes for PDO 3 years and for PGI it takes less than the previous two. This is the reason why most of the producers are focusing on PGI. Day 2 – 17/02/2023 The second day of the MPE was focused on the possible business models in Bulgarian CS and methodology for connecting the soil health inventory and mapping of incentives. The discussion touched on the issue of green cover as a soil conservation practice. The participants united around the conclusion that green cover is not suitable for our climate due to the low amount of precipitation (400-450 ml/sq.m.), and here there are more negatives than positives. Green cover is useful where there is more rainfall, and the wines are grown on a steep slope. The participant concluded that it is necessary to be adopted new policies (green erosion measures) for the regional climate condition. Maia Miteva from paying agencies offers to use the farm data from Integrated Administration and Control System (IACS) to identify the incentives given during the previous planning period (2014-2022). With this approach will be possible to create a map (spatial mapping) for each incentive connected with soil health by EU member state countries based on the real information from the national paying agencies. For example, with incentives – subsidies for the protection of soil erosion in vineyards. All participants in the meeting agreed that such an approach to spatial mapping of applied soil fertility incentives would inform farmers and policy makers about the use of these funds from a territorial perspective. On the other hand, this approach would help the planning process in the next planning period. List of participants 22 This project has received funding from the European Union’s HORIZON-AG - HORIZON Action Grant Budget-Based research and innovation programme under grant agreement GA 101091268 Table 1 List of participants № Name Entity Sector Gender 1 Hristina Doicheva Municipality Agricultural Service, Koprivshtitsa Public administration F 2 Dimitar Docuzanov Winery "Rumelia", Panaguriste Winery M 3 Marina Mitova Winery "Manastira", Lesichevo Winery F 4 Kiril Minchev Winery "Starosel" Winery M 5 Margarita Gospodinova Regional Agricultural Advisory Service, Plovdiv Consulting Services F 6 Todorka Stoicheva Executive Wine Agency Public administration F 7 Stanislava Panova Agricultural Credit Cooperative "Solidarnost" Private sector F 8 Eli Janakieva Agricultural Credit Cooperative "Solidarnost" Private sector F 9 Ivan Kehaiov "Solidarnost" 2006 LTD Consulting Services M 10 Aneta Valeva "Solidarnost" 2006 LTD Consulting Services F 11 Daniela Dimitrova "Solidarnost" 2006 LTD Consulting Services F 12 Dinko Janev Experimental Station, Haskovo Research M 13 Ivan Gologanov Agricultural Credit Cooperative "Solidarnost" Private sector M 14 Todor Janakiev Vocational Training Center, Plovdiv Private sector M 15 Camelia Tusheva Vocational Training Center, Plovdiv Private sector F 16 Milko Janev National Association of Bulgarian Wine growers NGO M 17 Atanas Tushev Agricultural producer Wine grower M 18 Rusko Panov "Solidarnost" 2006 LTD Consulting Services M 19 Hristina Miteva Agricultural Credit Cooperative "Solidarnost" Private sector F 20 Martin Tushev Agricultural Credit Cooperative "Solidarnost" Private sector M 21 Maia Miteva Paying Agency, State Fund "Agriculture" Public administration F 22 Darina Docheva Wine-growing cooperative "Brestovitsa" Wine grower F 23 Krasimir Patishanov Wine-growing cooperative "Brestovitsa" Wine grower M 23 This project has received funding from the European Union’s HORIZON-AG - HORIZON Action Grant Budget-Based research and innovation programme under grant agreement GA 101091268 Pictures 24 This project has received funding from the European Union’s HORIZON-AG - HORIZON Action Grant Budget-Based research and innovation programme under grant agreement GA 101091268 25 This project has received funding from the European Union’s HORIZON-AG - HORIZON Action Grant Budget-Based research and innovation programme under grant agreement GA 101091268 Denmark Organising Partner: University of Copenhagen, Denmark Venue: Online, in Zoom Time: 20 February 2023, 15:00 – 16:30 Time Activity 15:00-15:05 15:05-15:30 15:30-16:20 16:20-16:30 - Welcome and introduction (Thomas Lundhede) - Presentation of the project (Thomas Lundhede and Søren Bøye Olsen) - Discussion and feedback from participants - Conclusions and wrap up 26 This project has received funding from the European Union’s HORIZON-AG - HORIZON Action Grant Budget-Based research and innovation programme under grant agreement GA 101091268 Summary of multiplier event: The event, organized by University of Copenhagen, had nine participants representing University of Copenhagen, the Danish Ministry of Environment, the Danish Climate Council, the Danish Biodiversity council, and the expert group on withdrawal of low-lying soils from agriculture. Relevant stakeholders from several other organisations were also invited (e.g. the Danish Environmental Agency, Aarhus University, the Danish Nature Conservation Association, the Danish Agricultural Agency, The Danish Agriculture and Food Council, and Seges Innovation (private, independent, non-profit agricultural research and development organization), but could unfortunately not participate. This was likely not due to a lack of interest,(many have expressed interest in participating in future Novasoil meetings) but rather due to the meeting taking place in the national winter holiday week. The event had an overall dual purpose: 1) to inform the stakeholders about the Novasoil project, and 2) to collect their feedback of relevance to the project. The participants were generally very interested in the Novasoil project and the objectives it is targeting. They highlighted that the project is very timely since there is a lot of current initiatives and interest in relation to soil health, both nationally in Denmark and at the EU level. They did not express a particularly strong interest in any of the case areas, as they were more interested in the Danish context. Participants expressed an interest in market-based instruments, for instance in relation to carbon farming and carbon credits, but also stressed the importance of not focusing only on a single ecosystem service. While carbon capture and storage in relation to soil health is important in the Danish context, the possible trade-offs between different ecosystem services are important to consider. For instance, while (periodical) flooding of low-lying carbon-rich soils may be beneficial in terms of reducing GHG emissions from said soils, it might lead to reduced retention of phosporous, which could have adverse effects on surface water quality. It was recommended that the Novasoil project considers to construct a matrix-like mapping of where and how there are positive/negative/no trade-offs between important ecosystem services affected by soil health measures. Such a mapping could serve as a common ground (“a common language”) for the entire project, and it would be beneficial beyond the project. Another issue raised was the importance of being able to thoroughly measure and precisely quantify effects of soil health initiatives on various ecosystem services. For some ecosystem services this will likely be a challenge, e.g. for biodiversity, so it is maybe better to concentrate efforts on those ecosystem services that are more easily quantified. 33 This project has received funding from the European Union’s HORIZON-AG - HORIZON Action Grant Budget-Based research and innovation programme under grant agreement GA 101091268 Kalvi Tamm introduces NOVASOIL project on NOVASOIL multiplier event. Photo by Merili Toom. 34 This project has received funding from the European Union’s HORIZON-AG - HORIZON Action Grant Budget-Based research and innovation programme under grant agreement GA 101091268 Taavi Võsa (left) moderates the discussion about business models for soil health, on NOVASOIL multiplier event. Photo by Merili Toom. List of participants Name Entity Sector Genre Kalvi Tamm METK Researcher M Taavi Võsa METK Researcher M Merili Toom METK Researcher F Tiina Talve METK Researcher F Tiina Köster METK Researcher F Madli Linder Environment Agency Public sector F Martin Maddison Environment Agency Public sector M Andres Oopkaup KEVILI, farmer Farmer association , Farmer M Meelika SanderSõrmus EPKK, Farmer association F Elsa Putku METK Researcher F Elina Karron METK Researcher F Priit Penu METK Researcher M Iiri Raa METK Researcher F Peep Siim Environment Agency Public sector M 35 This project has received funding from the European Union’s HORIZON-AG - HORIZON Action Grant Budget-Based research and innovation programme under grant agreement GA 101091268 Stella Miil Environmental Board Public sector F Eike Lepmets Ministry of Rural Affairs Public sector F Kerli Ats ETKL (Eestimaa Talupidajate Keskliit) Farmer association F Enn Selgis Agriculture and Food Board Public sector M 36 This project has received funding from the European Union’s HORIZON-AG - HORIZON Action Grant Budget-Based research and innovation programme under grant agreement GA 101091268 France Report Aim of the Workshop The main objective of the Multiplier event titled "The NOVASOIL Project Presentation” was: • to inform about NOVASOIL research project • to involve and invite different stakeholders • to present different project activities that will be developed during the project life cycle The multiplier event was an opportunity to discuss with the participants and exchange ideas regarding the project and problems related to the soil in the fruit and vegetable sector and to foster the dissemination of the solutions by strengthening collaboration. The event was addressed to producer organizations, farmers, cooperatives, professional organizations, policymakers, regions, industries, small and medium enterprises, scientific communities and other stakeholders related to the agri-food sector. Organising Partner: P8 ASSEMBLEE DES REGIONS EUROPEENNES FRUITIERES LEGUMIERES ET HORTICOLES (AREFLH) Venue: Online Microsoft Teams (session recorded upon participant’s agreement) Time: 3rd February 2023 - 10 am to 12 pm Prepared by: Eriselda Canaj Multiplier Event Agenda: Time Activity 9:45-10:00 10:1010:15 10:15-10:45 10:45-11:00 11:00-11;30 - Connecting participants - Introduction Speaker -Eriselda Canaj (AREFLH, Bordeaux, France) - Presentation of the project Speaker – Msc. Francisco Jose Blanco Velazquez (EVENOR, Spain, Novasoil Project Coordinator) - Presentation of the Case Studies Speaker -Eriselda Canaj (AREFLH, Bordeaux, France) - Question & Discussion 37 This project has received funding from the European Union’s HORIZON-AG - HORIZON Action Grant Budget-Based research and innovation programme under grant agreement GA 101091268 11:30-11:45 11:45 – 12:00 - Evaluation & Feedback - Question & answer session Multiplier Event reporting sheet Date of the event: 03/02/2023 Responsible partners: AREFLH Number of Multiplier event Participants: 15 in total Link of the publication: https://www.areflh.org/en/euprojects-ok/novasoil-first-multiplier-event https://novasoil-project.eu/index.php/2023/01/12/the-novasoil-projectpresentation/ N° Participant Name Participants 1 Berta Baldrich Gonzalez Delegation of the Government of Catalunya 2 Christian Otol Bioengineer - Royal Horticultural Society of Gembloux 3 Marie Delion Fermes des Arches 4 Eloide Champseix European Landowners Organisations 5 Rosa Jorba Delegation of the Government of Catalunya 6 Julia Cooper Organic Research Centre 7 Liga Lips Institute of Horticultural, LatHort 8 Héléne Morat European Committee of the Regions 9 Suzanne Reynders INRAE 10 Eloy Suarez Huerta Hazelnut Company 11 Tahir Basha SV Veterinary University Speaker 12 Francisco Jose Blanco EVENOR Tech – Project Coordinator 13 Eriselda Canaj AREFLH Organisation & support 14 Laetitia Forget AREFLH 15 Pauline Panegos AREFLH 16 Luca Contrino AREFLH 38 This project has received funding from the European Union’s HORIZON-AG - HORIZON Action Grant Budget-Based research and innovation programme under grant agreement GA 101091268 Presentation delivered by consortium partners: • Introduction: Delivered by Eriselda Canaj (Project officer of AREFLH), lasted about 15 minutes. The presentation introduces, in the beginning, the association for the participants that didn't know and the introduction and the aim of the NOVASOIL project. • Presentation of the NOVASOIL project: delivered by MSC Francisco Jose Blanco /EVENOR tech, Seville, Spain, NOVASOIL Project Coordinator) Lasted 15 minutes. The presentation introduced the NOVASOIL project, the aim, the objective, the work that will be done during the lifetime of the project and the steps forward. • Case Studies: Three examples from Europe: Delivered by Eriselda Canaj (AREFLH, Bordeaux, France, Project officer) last 20 minutes. The presentation focuses on examples of case studies from across the EU and how that function. Conclusion of the event: The Multiplier events were to present to our members/wider networks the NOVASOIL project and as well the case studies that will work during the lifetime of the project. During the multiplier, the event presented the project the work packages, the next activities and the outcomes of the project. In addition, the example of case studies has been presented for example: • the CO2 Land from Germany • the Integrate Production from Estonia • the Rabo Carbon Bank from the Netherlands The aim is to strengthen the participation and to involve different stakeholders during the life of the project to implement together strategies and to be involved in the future in the different surveys to give her opinion. This multiplier event is designed as an opportunity to exchange ideas and problems in the fruit and vegetable sector and to foster the dissemination of solutions by strengthening collaboration. At the same time to provide more information tools for our members to facilitate their work and meet the upcoming challenges in agriculture. In addition to involving different stakeholders in the community of practices to work together to achieve the objective of the project Key points of the participant's discussion: Most of the discussion and questions by participants were gathered during the dedicated space at the end of the multiplier event. Clarifications about the case studies that have been presented. 39 This project has received funding from the European Union’s HORIZON-AG - HORIZON Action Grant Budget-Based research and innovation programme under grant agreement GA 101091268 Following the three presentations, participants engaged in open discussion and highlighted the following aspects: Q: Clarifying the business model of the three cases studied How is paying for these case studies who is the may coming from, and who is the market for this? A: Most of the case studies are related to the value chain like integrated production the many receive are from industry or market or came from the public administration. Depends on the country for example in Spain the farmers receive a label. Industry pays for this product's high price if you compare it with traditional products. Olive oil in Spain is the main market and integrated production was the bossiness case study with the most of farmers involved. Now we are trying to promote a new business model related to integrated production receive a label. The case studied in the organic wine the industry pays the farmers to have wine a specific way and provide and provides training support for farmers once a year. The farmers as well can decide if they want to continue with this collaboration with the industry or not. They may come from private and some cases from public administrations. Q: Rabo Carbon Bank is a log is funded scheme? A: A bank allocated in the US is a brand that is working in the carbon credit, that is the brand of the business model that is implemented in the wide world. The idea for the collaboration of the Rabo carbon bank is trying to involve them in our pull of the key actor to increase or promote the Rabo carbon bank to invest in soil health not only in the carbon credit. Maybe a payment for the eco-system services or maybe to the value chain but the value chain is more difficult because required involves entities or key actors related to the market of the specific products. Q: How will evaluate the efficiency of the develop the I business models in terms of carbo fixing? A: We need to define the effectiveness as the social condition and environmental conditions, the idea is to demonstrate the impact, for instance, the sequestration by comparing at the beginning of the implementation of the business case and during the project. The 40 This project has received funding from the European Union’s HORIZON-AG - HORIZON Action Grant Budget-Based research and innovation programme under grant agreement GA 101091268 investment in soil health needs medium and long term to see the real impact on the soil. The same case studies that we are working on in the project are a long case study "the integrated production" working from 2005 and have a lot of data collected is easy to demonstrate the impact on soil health. In other cases studied is not possible to demonstrate if they have a positive impact or not. The idea of the multi-disciplinary consortium is to monitor other taps of variables in terms of the job involved, and social perceptions because is very important to implement. Serval indicators will be monitoring this project. II Part Discussion: Q: Existing different cases studied in other countries? A: Yes, in the US (promotion of carbon credit) and Australia, and Chine the market is more complex to develop a business case to prompt soil health. Q: Can you explain what was meant by the collective implementation of the business model? A: in this case, the collective implementation is not excluding the other type of business case because the collective implementation required several actors involved in this business case. For instance, 15 farms work in the same line to promote or improve the landscape. Q: Questions about outcomes during the life of the project the toolbox will be developed for the research for the public administrations to analyse the potential business case or the best way to promote soil health involving the key actors. Would like to know if this kind of toolbox you are interested or not for daily work? A: could be nice but that depends on how it will be developed and how it will be looked at, is difficult to predict now. The idea is good because the project is interesting in collecting the existing knowledge not so much introducing the research knowledge but mostly managing and collecting and disseminating them so is very valuable because quite often the researcher obtains data and we are promoting them in research articles, conferences but brooder audience is not reached by the communication. The project is good because it promotes existing knowledge. Q: What kind of future could be involved in this toolbox to be useful for you? A: the local knowledge will be more valuable, to see more particular regions, particular methods more efficient not only for the carbon sequestration but 41 This project has received funding from the European Union’s HORIZON-AG - HORIZON Action Grant Budget-Based research and innovation programme under grant agreement GA 101091268 also for healing, for farmers only healed is important, at this moment, not all the farmers are understanding these environmental issues of course they know and they are aware of that and they would like to cooperate and to be in the carbon sequestrations. In conclusion: The participants have commented that the NOVASOIL project is very interesting. Some of the participants have expressed an interest to collaborate with another initiative on the soil. Others have expressed the desire to participate in the Community of Practice. In addition, interest was shown regarding the evolution of the project and the next events providing room for further participation and discussion. Attachment: Signature sheet Venue: Online Microsoft Teams Name Surname Organisation Berta Baldrich Gonzalez Delegation of the Government of Catalunya Christian Otoul Bioengineer - Royal Horticultural Society of Gembloux Marie Delion Fermes des Arches Eloide Champseix European Landowners Organisations Rosa Jorba Delegation of the Government of Catalunya Julia Cooper Organic Research Centre Liga Lips Institute of Horticultural, LatHort Héléne Morat European Committee of the Regions Suzanne Reynders INRAE Eloy Suarez Huerta Hazelnut Company Tahir Basha SV Veterinary University Francisco Jose Blanco EVENOR Tech Eriselda Canaj AREFLH Laetitia Forget AREFLH Pauline Panegos AREFLH Luca Contrino AREFLH 42 This project has received funding from the European Union’s HORIZON-AG - HORIZON Action Grant Budget-Based research and innovation programme under grant agreement GA 101091268 Photo Events: 49 This project has received funding from the European Union’s HORIZON-AG - HORIZON Action Grant Budget-Based research and innovation programme under grant agreement GA 101091268 dependency in farming on external factors (e.g., weather). For example, the influence of dry years make the result-based model vulnerable – and this problem does not improve with current and future climatic changes. • Definition of soil health Participants agreed that it is necessary to have a clear definition of soil health. It was mentioned that this is also discussed in the context of the EU’s Soil Health Law. The definition of soil health translates into the soil parameters focused on. It was expressed that the view on soil health should not be narrowed down to carbon content. Soil physics might be disregarded in the project to some extent. • Challenge of provability and measurement of soil health Furthermore, one participant mentioned that a main challenge of the project lies in determining how soil health improvement can be measured. For example, changes in organic carbon contents are reliable only with long time frames and with robust measurement methods that take into account heterogeneity within fields. Representatives of the CO2-Land initiative indicated that there are solutions to this concern. In order to measure the improvement in soil health while also capturing heterogeneity as best as possible, only the entire farm is recorded in the CO2 Land initiative, not individual plots. Mixed samples are taken from 1-3 ha plots to measure the humus build-up. The earliest measurements are conducted 4 years after implementing new practices. By this, the initiative strives for viable proofs at reasonable costs. • Fairness The question was raised whether farmers who already work in humus conserving ways are disadvantaged if a general increase of the humus content is applied. This is also pronounced given the natural annual fluctuations in humus content. For example, if fixed rates of humus build-up decide over rewards for farmers, this would disregard that regional differences make building up humus more difficult for some farmers than others. Representatives of the CO2Land initiative commented that a possible solution consists in mixed remuneration models, which reward both the status quo and improvements in soil health. 50 This project has received funding from the European Union’s HORIZON-AG - HORIZON Action Grant Budget-Based research and innovation programme under grant agreement GA 101091268 • Regulatory framework It was mentioned by one participant that regulatory laws act as barriers for private initiatives and some regulations can act counterproductive. One participant shared her impression that EU policy focuses on regulatory law rather than creating incentives, which contradicts other efforts to foster business models. • Appreciation by society Private funding can be seen as an opportunity for consumers to show appreciation toward the topic of soil health since consumers in general want their food to be produced sustainably. Pictures 51 This project has received funding from the European Union’s HORIZON-AG - HORIZON Action Grant Budget-Based research and innovation programme under grant agreement GA 101091268 52 This project has received funding from the European Union’s HORIZON-AG - HORIZON Action Grant Budget-Based research and innovation programme under grant agreement GA 101091268 Signature sheet Name Surname Organisation Email Signature Fabian Frick TUM Carina Obergröbner TUM Cheng Chen ZALF Katrin Lück ZALF Martin Borchert AgoraNatura Margarethe Reichenspurn er AgoraNatura Michael Schwegler CO2-Land e.V. Paul Schwegler CO2-Land e.V. Karl MüllerSämann CO2-Land e.V. Sebastian Funk Syngenta AG Thomas Sixt TUM (plant sciences) Alois Heißenhuber TUM / VWU Lukas Bayer ZALF LUC Martin Wiesmeier Landesanstalt für Landwirtschaft Mareike Söder Thünen Institut Chris Bamminger LANUV NRW Arne Hanssen SchleswigHolstein State Ministry of Energy Transition, Climate Protection, Environment and Nature Kurt Herbinger BayWa Group Lisa Fischer Cordula Sonne 53 This project has received funding from the European Union’s HORIZON-AG - HORIZON Action Grant Budget-Based research and innovation programme under grant agreement GA 101091268 Italy Report Organising Partner: UNIPI, UNIFE and IDECO Venue: Online, in Microsoft Teams. (8 February 2023) Time: 11:00 – 13:00 Time Activity 11:00-11:15 11:15-11:45 11:45-12:00 12:00-12:30 12:30-13:35 13:30 - Welcome and introduction and roundtable (Luciana Angelini – UNIPI) - Presentation of the project (Fabio Bartolini– UNIFE) - Question and discussion first round - Case studies presentation (Silvia Tavarini – UNIPI; Daniele Antichi – UNIPI; Gloria Minarelli - IDECO) - Questions and discussion – second round - Conclusions and closure QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS This section is to note all interesting discussion, comments and feedback received by stakeholders during the event. This will feed the Report for Deliverable 5.2 To steer the direction of discussion -first round: 1. What are your initial thoughts about the Project? 2. Are you interested by the projects work packages, the expected results? 3. Are there interesting Case Studies consisted with the soil health business typologies in the region? Second round after case studies presentations 4. What are the forms of incentive that you think are most effective for soil health? 5. What are the main barriers that make the current incentives ineffective? 6. What incentives should be adopted in the future to improve soil health? 54 This project has received funding from the European Union’s HORIZON-AG - HORIZON Action Grant Budget-Based research and innovation programme under grant agreement GA 101091268 The event organized by UNIPI, UNIFE and IDECO brought together about 39 participants, from different sectors. Figure 1. Participant share and their main sector The multiplier event was structured as two-ways dialogue between NOVASOIL researchers and other key stakeholders. To pursue such objectives, we plan two rounds of discussions. In the first one we introduced the NOVASOIL project, its objectives, structure and research activities (WPs and planned activities) in order to receive feedbacks from participants. In the second one we delivered the case studies presentation (two from UNIPI and one from UNIFE and IDECO) and we concluded with a discussion on the potential for incentives and other type of economic instruments to pursue soil health objectives. The large participation (37 participants) in the multiplier event shows a very high stakeholder’s willingness to be involved in the project activities. For some participants, there is a lot of interest in the next evolutions in terms of soil policies. In Italy, there is much anticipation for the new CAP Strategic Plan (PSP) 2023-2027, and above all at the EU level after the launching of a soil strategy for 2030, there is interest towards a potential common directive on the soil. The attendees agree on the saliency and timely of the project considering the relevant contribution of soil health to ecosystem services and the changes in soil health regulation in the coming years. The participants emphasise the need to coordinate efforts to increase the rural actors’ willingness to invest in soil health. Some participants declared an interest in the project about 5% 2% 33% 8% 23% 26% 3% Foundation NGO Private sector Public administration Researcher Researcher Service Sector 55 This project has received funding from the European Union’s HORIZON-AG - HORIZON Action Grant Budget-Based research and innovation programme under grant agreement GA 101091268 possible organizational solutions, about their effectiveness and implementability. There is also interest in the project's proposed toolkit. The participants agree on the need to focus better on incentives to facilitate the diffusion of available knowledge and practices in each case study. “What I perceive as the biggest problem is to find the tools to get farmers to adopt these techniques, because all in all we know them, they could have been a little different, certainly new thing could come out, but what is missing here is to convince farmers to change and therefore the whole part of the project that concerns incentives is very important” [Researcher] The toolkit (WP3) and coherence analysis (WP4) are the activities that have captured the most attention. Some converged on the need for analysis about the recovery of what today is considered waste from agricultural processes, and how these new resources can fit with the concept of soil health (e.g. the use of livestock manure to improve soil fertility). Key for several participants will be the role of information and how this should be reorganized in a more capillary way to guide farmers in the transition. For the participants, the objective of an active exchange of knowledge, collaborations, strategies between companies and territorial management subjects is fundamental to improve the overall knowledge of this sector, after all, the soil belongs to everyone. 56 This project has received funding from the European Union’s HORIZON-AG - HORIZON Action Grant Budget-Based research and innovation programme under grant agreement GA 101091268 Pictures from the Meeting 57 This project has received funding from the European Union’s HORIZON-AG - HORIZON Action Grant Budget-Based research and innovation programme under grant agreement GA 101091268 List of participants Name Entity Sector Genre 1 Fabio Bartolini UNIFE Researcher Male 2 Silvia Rita Stazi UNIFE Researcher Female 3 Enrica Allevato UNIFE Researcher Female 4 Massimo Coltorti UNIFE Researcher Male 5 Giacomo Ferretti UNIFE Researcher Male 6 Greta Winkler UNIFE Researcher Female 7 Francesco Riccioli UNIPI Researcher Male 8 Roberta Moruzzo UNIPI Researcher Female 9 Luciana G. Angelini UNIPI Researcher Female 10 Silvia Tavarini UNIPI Researcher Female 11 Daniele Antichi UNIPI Researcher Male 12 Daniele Vergamini UNIPI Researcher Male 58 This project has received funding from the European Union’s HORIZON-AG - HORIZON Action Grant Budget-Based research and innovation programme under grant agreement GA 101091268 13 Marco Mazzoncini Accademia dei Georgofili Researcher Male 14 Mario Rosario Rizzi FLORA srl. Aromatic plants and essential oil organic production Private sector Male 15 Sofia Mannelli Chimica Verde Bionet NGO Female 16 Claudia Di Bene CREA-AA; Soil Hub Researcher Female 17 Valentina La Sorella CREA-PB; EIP soil Researcher Female 18 Marco Locatelli Tuscany Region, Direttore Gestioni Agricole Public administration Male 19 Dario Fantechi Consultant Service Sector Male 20 Sara Turchetti IRPET-Tuscany Region Researcher Female 21 Chiara Ferronato Emila-Romagna Region Public administration Female 22 Dania Baldoni IDECO Researcher Female 23 Lorenzo Davino CREA-AA Researcher Male 24 Filippo Zanella Biokw consultant Private sector Male 25 Gino Ghirardello Farmer Private sector Male 26 Maddalena Andreoli Confcooperative Ferrara Private sector Female 27 Carlo Ragazzi Consorzio degli Uomini di Massenzatica Private Sector Male 28 Federica Bigongiali Fondazione Seminare il Futuro (SIF) Breeding bio Foundation Female 29 Mattia Bernardi Terre dell'Etruria, Società Cooperativa Agricola tra Produttori Private Sector Male 30 Gloria Minarelli IDECO Researcher Female 31 Monica Pettirossi Dondi S.p.A., Farm Machinery Company Private Sector Female 32 Andrea de Angeli Soc. agricola de Angeli Private Sector Male 33 Remo Magnani Pro.Pa.R. Private Sector Male 34 Tomaso Bertoli BioKW Private Sector Male 35 Marco Rivaroli Fondazione per l'agricoltura F.lli Navarra Foundation Male 65 This project has received funding from the European Union’s HORIZON-AG - HORIZON Action Grant Budget-Based research and innovation programme under grant agreement GA 101091268 66 This project has received funding from the European Union’s HORIZON-AG - HORIZON Action Grant Budget-Based research and innovation programme under grant agreement GA 101091268 Netherlands Report on the Dutch Multiplier Event Organising Partner: WU Venue: hybrid (in person at Wageningen University (WU) and online (MS Teams )) Date: 09 February 2023 Time: 9:00 – 12:30 The multiplier event was held together with projects that aim to improve the provision of public goods through contracts. Public goods were considered from a broader perspective than only soil health, to increase the interest and participation of stakeholders. The workshop featured contributions of NOVASOIL, EFFECT, CONSOLE, and contracts 2.0. Discussions with stakeholders were an integral part of the workshop. The workshop was organized in different modules, each with a specific topic. The agenda of the workshop is presented below. The presentations in the different modules highlighted elements that are important to consider for the design of contracts aiming to promote soil health and carbon farming in particular. NOVASOIL was introduced at the end of the meeting. The tasks that Wageningen University is leading were discussed in more detail than other aspects of the project because these are most relevant to the participants in the workshop: • Work package 2, task 2.2: Identification of successful business models (literature review, identification of promising business models) • Work package 4, task 4.3: Testing of selected policy options, incentive mechanisms (Discrete Choice Experiments) • The case-study ‘Rabo Carbon Bank’. Time Activity 9.00 – 9.15 9.15 – 9.30 9.30 – 10.00 10.00 – 10.30 10.30 – 10.50 10.50 – 11.20 11.20 – 12.00 12.00-12.30 • Welcome • Introduction • Module 1: What are existing types of contracts for public goods? • Module 2: What do we know about the effectiveness of contracts for public goods? • Coffee break • Module 3: What can be improved? • Module 4: Upcoming activities – Introducing NOVASOIL • Panel discussion and conclusions 67 This project has received funding from the European Union’s HORIZON-AG - HORIZON Action Grant Budget-Based research and innovation programme under grant agreement GA 101091268 QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS RELEVANT FOR THE NOVASOIL PROJECT This section holds comments and feedback received from stakeholders during the event. These remarks will be considered when designing a Discrete Choice Experiment for the case study in the Netherlands and when developing possible policy innovations (WP 4, task 4.3) Overall, the project was perceived positively as participants highlighted that farmers need alternative income models that allow them to benefit from public goods (or ecosystem services other than food production). However, they also highlighted that the current system needs to be changed in order to make these business models successful. Currently, farmers are still focused on improvements of efficiency (higher milking yields per cow / more tons of wheat per hectare), and a less intensive production is often not valued by the market (highlights the relevance of WP2). Especially when determining carbon emissions at the farm level it might be difficult to achieve the extensification that NOVASOIL aims for. This is because if the overall carbon footprint of a farm is determined per kg of produce, this most likely results in intensification rather than extensification. (policy, therefore, needs to carefully determine where savings are measured (WP4)). The stakeholders also highlighted that farmers in agricultural collectives are highly engaged and willing to provide public goods. However, they also displayed doubts about whether society is willing to pay for them. One stakeholder stated ‘we are willing to engage now, but if they do not value it (conservation efforts) they should never ask again when we need to stop (when they do not value it)’. Because of the voluntary nature of participation in carbon farming this requires engaged farmers, and the social context and social norms should be included in the analyses (WP2, WP4). An alternative option to private consumers buying credits and agri-environmental schemes that reward the provision of ecosystem services might be to consider new, large buyers (and other alternative contract parties). Contracts with food suppliers were perceived as an interesting option. This applied to already existing contracts between, for instance, dairies that pay producers for implementing biodiversity measures and might also apply for carbon farming (Rabo Carbon Bank case study). Considering the doubts about consumers’ willingness-to-pay, policy might be an important additional option to support the implementation of carbon farming. One farmer highlighted that upcoming policies should not only include tightening but also grant nonmonetary rewards in the form of relaxation of existing regulations when carbon farming is introduced (WP4, for instance, if farmers apply more catch crops they are allowed to reduce the distance towards water bodies again). Considering project results on contracts and farmers’ preferences for contract attributes, it became apparent that farmers highly value flexibility. In terms of agri-environmental schemes, they highlighted that a free choice of measures and the ability to renegotiate contracts regularly are important. Researchers engaged in nature conservation highlighted that for beneficial effects on the environment, long-term commitment seems 68 This project has received funding from the European Union’s HORIZON-AG - HORIZON Action Grant Budget-Based research and innovation programme under grant agreement GA 101091268 essential. This, for instance, applies to permanent pastures where beneficial effects mostly appear in the long run. This most likely also applies to carbon farming, where one could potentially argue that lower levels of farming intensity for one year do not really have an effect and long-term measures are expected to have more impact (agrienvironmental schemes could foster more permanent conservation measures such as agroforestry, grassland conversion, switches towards organic – WP4). Considering current agri-environmental schemes, it became apparent that data about their effectiveness are missing (for instance, whether bird conservation is more or less successful in different settings).This most likely also applies to soil conservation measures. For actual decisions on which business models and which policy incentives to promote, the effectiveness will be a crucial point of information (a general observation that relates to different WPs). Type of entities: Altogether, 17 persons participated in the workshop, 14 participated in person and three joined online. The majority of participants belonged to universities or research organisations. In addition, the workshop was attended by policy advisors; a business developer and representatives of farmer collectives. In contrast to other EU countries, farmers in the Netherlands cannot apply directly for participation in agri-environmental schemes. Dutch farmers are part of agricultural collectives. These collectives organise nature conservation activities in their areas and set up contracts with farmers. Their participation, therefore, allows collecting valuable input on the objectives and farmers’ interests. Venue (Wageningen University): 69 This project has received funding from the European Union’s HORIZON-AG - HORIZON Action Grant Budget-Based research and innovation programme under grant agreement GA 101091268 Workshop (Notes on what is interesting about existing contracts): 70 This project has received funding from the European Union’s HORIZON-AG - HORIZON Action Grant Budget-Based research and innovation programme under grant agreement GA 101091268 Spain Report Organising Partner: EVENOR, ASAJA and UPM Venue: Online, in Google Meet. (10 February 2023) Time: 10:00 – 12:00 Time Activity 10:00-10:15 10:15-10:45 10:45-11:05 11:05-11:35 11:35-11:45 11:45-12:00 - Welcome and introduction (María Anaya– EVENOR) - Presentation of the project (Francisco José Blanco– EVENOR) - Case studies (José Fernando Robles – ASAJA ; Ana Iglesias – UPM) - Questions and discussion - Monitoring indicators for soil health business models (Francisco José Blanco -EVENOR) - Conclusions and closure QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS This section is to note all interesting discussion, comments and feedback received by stakeholders during the event. This will feed the Report for Deliverable 5.2 The event organized by EVENOR, ASAJA and UPM brought together more than 25 participants from different type of entities representing the academic, industrial, farmers and other sectors, with entities such as GMV, SEO-Birdlife, CTA, ULPG, TEPRO, etc. To steer the direction of discussion: 7. What are your initial thoughts about the Project? 8. Are you interested by the projects work packages, the expected results? 9. Are there interesting Case Studies consisted with the soil health business typologies in the region? 71 This project has received funding from the European Union’s HORIZON-AG - HORIZON Action Grant Budget-Based research and innovation programme under grant agreement GA 101091268 The multiplier event focused on showing the main project’ objectives and provide an overview of WPs and expected outcomes and collect feedback about project perception, but also about interest in case studies and expected results. In order to promote the discussion, a roundtable was initiated and a survey was circulated. Figure 1. Type of entities distribution According to the audience, 40% belong to private sector, meanwhile 20% were farmers and other 20% were researchers. Regarding project interests and perception, the participants highlighted that the project is ambitious but aligned with SDGS 2030 and European Commission objectives and current challenges for the society and the environment. The project is very interesting for all the participants and highlighted the need of involvement key actors to convince them about the benefits on soil health investment. About WPs, the most interesting was WP2 and WP4 related to models and policies innovation respectively. 20% 27%40% 6%7% Sector type Researcher Farmer or landowners Private sector Consulting services NGO 72 This project has received funding from the European Union’s HORIZON-AG - HORIZON Action Grant Budget-Based research and innovation programme under grant agreement GA 101091268 Some expected outcomes were discussed and explained. According to WPs interests, business models (33,33%) and policies innovation (26,7%) were selected as more interesting by the participants. Finally, the case studies more interesting were those related to carbon credits but in a standardized and certified by third parties. Collective implementation by involvement of key actors is other interested features of business model. These case studies with a positive impact on other ecosystem services were highlighted too and their impact on fauna. Other remarks received were the potentiality to include additional CS about agricultural lands and cattle raising and the check and monitoring of carbon sequestration rate. On the other hand, the relevance of check environmental and socio-economic benefits was discusses as key message to promote investment. For that, a good communication and dissemination strategy is required to have successful results about investment’ promotion. 5 10 8 9 8 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 WP1: DEVELOPMENT OF END-USERS-LED SOIL HEALTH BUSINESS CASES … WP2: ANALYSIS AND DEVELOPMENT OF BUSINESS MODELS TO PROMOTE SOIL … WP3: TESTING AND DEVELOPMENT OF A TOOLBOX FOR INCENTIVES WP4: ENVISIONING INCENTIVES & POLICIES SOLUTIONS WP5: BUILDING A COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE AND DISSEMINATION … What WP is considered more interesting? 20% 33% 13% 27% 7% Expected outcomes' interests Framework and concepts about soil health business Business model innovation Tool-box Policy innovations MRV 73 This project has received funding from the European Union’s HORIZON-AG - HORIZON Action Grant Budget-Based research and innovation programme under grant agreement GA 101091268 Venue: 74 This project has received funding from the European Union’s HORIZON-AG - HORIZON Action Grant Budget-Based research and innovation programme under grant agreement GA 101091268 81 This project has received funding from the European Union’s HORIZON-AG - HORIZON Action Grant Budget-Based research and innovation programme under grant agreement GA 101091268 82 This project has received funding from the European Union’s HORIZON-AG - HORIZON Action Grant Budget-Based research and innovation programme under grant agreement GA 101091268 List of participants Name Entity Sector Genre Guy Ziv University of Leeds Academic M Lisette Phelan University of Leeds Academic F Alan Sargent 3Keel Sustainability Consulting Firm M Matthew Ryan Nestlé Private sector M Richard Jenner Open Field Private sector M James Airton United Utilities PLC. Private sector M Richard Reynolds Anglian Water Private sector M Chris Hewis Anglian Water Private sector M Alice Midmer Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust Civil society actor F Jenny Phelps Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group South West Civil society actor F Ben Barnett Yorkshire Agricultural Society Civil society actor M 83 This project has received funding from the European Union’s HORIZON-AG - HORIZON Action Grant Budget-Based research and innovation programme under grant agreement GA 101091268 Guideline NOVASOIL INNOVATIVE BUSINESS MODELS FOR SOIL HEALTH Grant agreement ID: 101091268 Guidelines for Multiplier Events Project NOVASOIL Project title INNOVATIVE BUSINESS MODELS FOR SOIL HEALTH Work Package 5 Deliverable 5.2 Report on first round of multiplier events Period covered M1-M4 Publication date Dissemination level Organisation name of lead beneficiary for this report EVENOR Authors Contributors 84 This project has received funding from the European Union’s HORIZON-AG - HORIZON Action Grant Budget-Based research and innovation programme under grant agreement GA 101091268 Summary The current document is focused to support in the development of multiplier events. At the end, a report template can be found. Guideline Multiplier Events The goal of a multiplier event is to strengthen the links and involvement of key stakeholders, to implement strategies for information flow and co-working, as well as supporting successful surveys and questionnaires, and to launch invitations for further participation in project activities. It is important to reach people outside the Consortium. During the project life time, Partners will organize two Multiplier Events in their country: 1. At the beginning of the project to engage stakeholders 2. At the end of the project to disseminate project results Partners involved: ALL Each partner will be responsible for organizing a Multiplier Event, and inviting relevant actors and stakeholders (5-10), in collaboration with relevant partners. This task is due before mid-February 2023 The aim is to attract attention and receive input from participants. It should take the form of a workshop (2/3 hours) and should describe the overall project to potential stakeholders (policy makers, local government and public procurement authorities, private stakeholders, such as companies, industry, interested in Project results, ICT industry from big ICT players to SMEs providing hardware and software solutions including AI, research community such as universities and scientific institutes, standardization bodies and relevant harmonization organisms, multi-stakeholder networks or initiatives, NGO, general public, etc) Within this document you will find: Template Agenda; to be filled out by the organising partner Signature Sheet; to be signed by participants Summary of discussion, comments and questions; to be filled in by organising partner All documents should be filled in and sent back to EVENOR: [email protected] / [email protected] / fj.blanc[email protected] 85 This project has received funding from the European Union’s HORIZON-AG - HORIZON Action Grant Budget-Based research and innovation programme under grant agreement GA 101091268 This document will feed into to the overall report which will be Deliverable 5.2 (Report on first round of multiplier events.) 86 This project has received funding from the European Union’s HORIZON-AG - HORIZON Action Grant Budget-Based research and innovation programme under grant agreement GA 101091268 Report Organising Partner: Venue: Time: Time Activity xx-xx xx-xx xx-xx xx-xx xx-xx xx-xx - Registration - Welcome and introduction – organization - Presentation of the project – organization - Discussion: Key Questions - Evaluation and Feedback - Conclusions and wrap up 87 This project has received funding from the European Union’s HORIZON-AG - HORIZON Action Grant Budget-Based research and innovation programme under grant agreement GA 101091268 QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS This section is to note all interesting discussion, comments and feedback received by stakeholders during the event. This will feed the Report for Deliverable 5.2 To steer the direction of discussion: 10. What are your initial thoughts about the Project? 11. Are you interested by the projects work packages, the expected results? 12. Are there interesting Case Studies consisted with the soil health business typologies in the region? 88 This project has received funding from the European Union’s HORIZON-AG - HORIZON Action Grant Budget-Based research and innovation programme under grant agreement GA 101091268 Signature sheet Venue: Name Surname Organisation Email Signature