Erasmus + project, made by a consortium of six partners from five different countries
FrontAg Nexus is a project co-funded by the EU program PRIMA. Starting in May 2023, it will focus on sustainable agri-food practices, and will address the pressing challenges of climate change, natural resource scarcity, and food insecurity in the Mediterranean region, particularly in Israel, Italy, Morocco, Tunisia, Turkey, and Jordan.
The Mediterranean region, a climate change hotspot, is facing numerous difficulties within its food systems. FrontAg Nexus aims to help shape the food production by incorporating climate-smart and water-saving technologies, such as hydroponics, aquaponics, recirculating aquaculture, vermiculture, and insect farming for feed and fertilizer.
The project's expected impacts include increased resilience to climate change and improved socio-economic conditions for vulnerable populations. FrontAg Nexus will introduce renewable energy sources, promote climate neutrality, control harmful substances, and increase the availability of nutritious and safe foods. With the adoption of a water, energy, food, and ecosystem (WEFE) Nexus thinking and a participatory multi-actor and multi-contextual approach, the project will contribute to food and nutrition security through year-round production of fish protein, vegetables, and fruits.
“We know about the toxic challenges our global food system is facing, among others climate change, natural resource scarcity and degradation, a growing and more urban population and food waste, all leading to food and nutrition insecurity and pressure on our precious natural resources. Frontier agriculture can contribute to addressing these challenges by promoting climate smart and water saving technologies such as hydroponics, recirculating aquaculture, or insect farming,” said Prof. Gertrud Buchenrieder, Project Coordinator. “FrontAg Nexus will address these challenges in the Mediterranean Region, which is one of the climate change hotspots in the world thus contributing to the community of practice”.
By utilizing hydroponics, aquaponics, insect farming and vermiculture, and fostering collaboration among all relevant stakeholders along the supply and value chain, including refugees, women and young adults, start-ups, and small and medium enterprises (SMEs), FrontAg Nexus strives to address the challenges within the European food systems.
To learn more about the FrontAg Nexus project and stay up to date, visit https://frontagnexus.eu and follow us on social media:
This is a Horizon Europe project that aims to identify ways in which effective nature-based therapy (NBT) and a broader green care framework can be scaled-up to improve adult mental health and wellbeing equity while contributing to multiple socio-ecological co-benefits.
Green care is a three-scale continuum from nature-in-everyday-life (e.g., the existence of green and blue infrastructure for viewing and walks) to nature-based health promotion (the promotion of active interaction with nature such as gardening and conservation) to nature-based therapy (the provision of treatment for individual patients).
There is burgeoning evidence that green care (i.e., the provision of health and social services via contact with nature) can be used to promote mental health and wellbeing for the general population and particularly for underprivileged populations with greater risk for mental health disorders.
Specific objectives:
1. Understanding of the current state of NBT and green care
2. Evidence on how NBT benefits mental health
3. Correlation between exposure to nature-in-every-day-life and wellbeing
4. Empowerment of green care actors
5. Dissemination of project’s results
To learn more about the GreenME project and stay up-to-date, visit: https://greenme-project.eu/
This is a European Union-funded initiative, has been working since January 2023 with a focus on sustainable agri-food practices. A number of African countries are involved in this project, including Kenya, Ghana, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Cameroon, and Gabon, which focuses on food security and the environmental impacts of food production.
By fostering collaboration and co-creation, INCiTiS-FOOD seeks to develop advanced circular agri-food technologies, practices, and business models. Its ultimate goal is to establish an inclusive and sustainable food system that is accessible to all. With the establishment of 8 living labs spread across 6 countries, and a strong emphasis on user engagement, the project adopts a Lean Start-up Methodology to introduce innovative technologies, services, practices, and products. This approach empowers stakeholders to actively participate in shaping the future of food and nutrition in Africa.
The general aim is to contribute the EU’s policy on harnessing the potential of digital technologies for teaching and learning; and to develop digital skills of small scale Local Food Producers (LFPs) by engaging them into the path of digital transformation.
LOFT also aims at providing innovative VET tools for both decreasing the negative impacts of the pandemic on food consumers as well as taking advantage of the growth opportunities for local food producers.
VFARM
The project Sustainable Vertical Farming (VFarm) aims to implement a virtual process for enabling the environment for the rapid growth of vertical farming inItaly. Such aim will be targeted by interdisciplinary research that combines strategies for crop diversification (encompassing optimisation of vegetable crops and herbs cultivation protocols, but also targeting microgreens,edible flowers, spices, berries, mushrooms and aquaponic products), altogether with applied research on technologies for vertical farming (including growing systems, pest control strategies, LED lighting and climatecontrol management). Experimental data will be used to feed sustainability indicators (through life cycle thinking approaches, encompassing environmental, economic and social impacts), and will enable to designtypologies (e.g. container-type and warehouse-type vertical farms) and strategic tools (e.g. a sensor-based Decision Support System) specifically adapted to the Italian context. A strong link between research andinnovation is foreseen, thanks to the establishment of strong bounds between academy and private enterprises for a rapid uptake of the developed technologies. Accordingly, VFarm will promote the Italian scientific excellence, cooperation between research, business and the civil society, the creation of policy guidelines for a sustainable society, promotion of gender equality in science, and the recruitment of young researchers, in linewith EU strategies and toward the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals.
