Contexte

The European Union aims to have 25% of agricultural land in organic production by 2030, as outlined in its Green Deal and Farm to Fork strategy. Achieving this goal will require doubling the current growth rate of organic agriculture, making the transition a complex but urgent process. 
Transitioning to organic farming is a complex decision-making process for farmers. It requires major changes in farm management, investment, and skills development, which may conflict with traditional farming practices. Therefore, the creation of multi-stakeholder knowledge-sharing networks that foster innovation and facilitate knowledge generation is particularly important while incorporating economic, social, and environmental indicators and adopting a bottom-up approach that prioritizes stakeholders' perspectives. This is essential if we are to move towards more sustainable agriculture.

Objectives

Organic farming relies heavily on knowledge. However, there remains an urgent need to deepen this knowledge to make organic farming both more sustainable and more productive. Aiming to establish a pan-European Organic Farming Learning Community, OH-FINE will bring together experts, resources, technology, learning culture, and strategy to foster the integration and sharing of organic farming knowledge across diverse European regions. This framework will incorporate economic, social, and environmental indicators while adopting a bottom-up approach that prioritizes stakeholders' perspectives.
OH-FINE will help to facilitate and promote the transition to organic farming, while at the same time supporting capacity building for farmers in the post-conversion phase. A new Decision Support System (DSS) ICT tool will be developed to maximize the use and transfer of the project results. OH-FINE will provide valuable insights into the transition from conventional to organic farming, focusing on essential regulatory, technical, and economic considerations. This forward-thinking approach will not only tackle present challenges but also help shape the future of sustainable agriculture across cereals, oilseeds, protein crops, and livestock.

Activities

OH-FINE aims to support and advance organic farming through a comprehensive and collaborative approach. The initiative focuses on assessing the needs of farmers both during the conversion to organic agriculture and in the post-conversion phase. It seeks to gather and analyze existing knowledge on organic farming practices while identifying the knowledge requirements of various stakeholders in the sector.

To facilitate this, OH-FINE will establish a Pan-European Organic Farming Learning Community, supported by a Decision Support System, regional knowledge hubs, cross-visits, forums, knowledge generation through co-creative field experiments, development of practical materials such as videos and technical documents, and cross-fertilization with operational groups and other European projects. The emphasis will be on promoting knowledge sharing through a bottom-up approach.

The project will also conduct case studies to test innovative techniques, technologies, and farming strategies. Additionally, it will offer training and capacity-building programs, including workshops, seminars, farmer exchange programs, and advisory services for farmers.

Lastly, OH-FINE will carry out impact assessments to evaluate how the proposed methodologies enhance competitiveness in the organic farming sector, foster knowledge exchange, and accelerate the adoption of innovations and best practices.