Improving analytical capacity for sustainable competitiveness of the agricultural sector

Apie kvietimą

Expected Outcome: Project results are expected to contribute to all of the following expected outcomes: farmers and other decision makers of the agri-food supply chains have a better understanding of the determinants of competitiveness, and the interactions with the sustainability dimensions (economic, social, environmental, including biodiversity protection and climate change mitigation and adaptation); farmers, policy makers and other decision makers of the agri-food supply chains benefit from improved collection and access to data and analytical tools, enabling better-informed decisions conciliating competitiveness, sustainability and resilience objectives; policy makers are better equipped to develop evidence-based policies. Scope: The agri-food sector is an important pillar to EU competitiveness. It is composed of diversified businesses representing around 15% of total EU employment and contributes to provide essential services and secure a stable and affordable supply of food to EU citizens. The concept of agricultural competitiveness is complex and approached with different perspectives and methodologies in the scientific literature. EU policies aim at addressing a growing number of objectives in a challenging and evolving context (e.g., climate change, biodiversity loss, geopolitical tensions, fast digitalisation). There is a need to update knowledge and tools on agricultural competitiveness. This should contribute to improve our capacity to design and implement agricultural policies, effective in navigating and addressing multiple objectives while enabling green and digital transitions without undermining our competitiveness over time. Successful proposals under this topic should support the EU Vision for Agriculture and Food, the Competitiveness Compass, the Common Agricultural Policy, the sustainability objectives (including on climate and biodiversity) of the Green Deal, and the SDGs. Proposals should: address analytical gaps on competitiveness to better account for their various drivers, inputs (including land, labour, capital), components (e.g., costs, price, innovation capacity, investment capacity, market share, market position, resilience, knowledge, skills, productivity, product quality, differentiation) and impacts (economic, environmental and social). Consider various value chains and farming systems in different regions, one of which should be organic farming. This activity should integrate knowledge from different disciplines (e.g., economics, management, agronomy, environmental sciences); improve the capacity to analyse agriculture-related policies supporting and recognising sustainable practices (such as supporting climate, biodiversity, and sustainable development goals) across the value chain (e.g., due diligence, deforestation-free products) and in trade agreements, in particular their capacity to support competitiveness and resilience objectives, and to mitigate leakage effects; provide evidence on the social…