Call for Expert Advisors in Regenerative Agriculture in South of Europe

EIT Food is Europe’s leading food innovation initiative working to make the food system more sustainable, healthy and trusted. We work with over 200 of Europe’s leading businesses, universities and research centers to help them bring about this change. Our activities cover the entire food chain from farm production to consumer eating habits to waste treatment, and we focus on 4 main areas: innovation, education, consumer engagement and entrepreneurship.

As part of its mission to make food systems more sustainable and healthier, EIT Food created the Regenerative Agriculture Programme, one of whose main aims is to help farmers in Southern Europe learn about and transition to more sustainable methods of agriculture. We have focused on the Mediterranean because farmers in this region have been disproportionately hurt by climate change and conventional agricultural practices and are suffering from impoverished soils, water scarcity, erosion, lack of biodiversity and lower yields. These environmental problems have been aggravated by the high cost of agriculture inputs, low food prices and increased debt, all of which have left farmers struggling for their financial survival.

To revert these trends and help bring about the The Regenerative Agriculture Program, we are focusing our efforts in four key areas:

1. Supporting European farmers to transition to regenerative agriculture. EIT Food offers innovative farmers in Southern Europe a comprehensive training program that helps them learn about and then apply the principles of regenerative agriculture on their farms. The most promising farmers on the training courses are welcomed to a 3-year regenerative agriculture transition programme, guided by our regenerative advisors.
2. Monitoring ecosystem improvements. We are measuring over diverse parameters on the farms in our program in order to better understand the impact of regenerative farming practices on soil health, biodiversity and farmer income. By tracking these parameters over time we hope to prove that regenerative agriculture is not only good for farmers, but that it can contribute to mitigating climate change and its effects on the environment.
3. Helping the public see the health and environmental benefits of regenerative agriculture. For farmers to adopt regenerative agriculture it is essential that the European public understand and appreciate what they are doing and how it benefits the environment and our health. Through compelling research and powerful storytelling, we are explaining the connection between soil, health and human health.
4. Working with agrifood companies to transition their supply to regenerative agriculture. The full potential of regenerative agriculture will be achieved when agrifood companies change their food sourcing strategies. EIT Food is working closely with its partners and other agrifood business to help train producers in their supply networks and design procurement strategies that encourage the adoption of regenerative farming practices.

To carry out the first activity we are looking for experts in regenerative agriculture and animal husbandry to train and advise producers in Spain, Portugal, Greece, Turkey and Italy interested in learning how to farm more sustainably.