GreenGrocer WP4

Innovation in Sustainable Food Production

A portfolio of case studies for novel foods and technologies that outlines credible pathways to reduce pollution from food production in Europe.

Objectives

This WP aims to address SO1, SO2 and SO6. We do this by identifying and mapping opportunities and innovative solutions, including existing good practices that address the identified impacts and promote the uptake of sustainable food production and food supply practices, including consumption practices, with minimum impact through case studies. The portfolio of case studies executed in this WP outline credible pathways to reduce pollution from food production in Europe.

SO-1 Filling in the incomplete foundations of food footprint data by filling key blindspots

To increase knowledge of the environmental and climate impacts stemming from the food systems, we:

Fill food footprint blind spots of eutrophication, deforestation, marine foods, and antibiotic use.
Increase temporal, regional, subnational and product coverage and specificity of food impact databases.
Standardise production stressor accounts for multi-model application: Material Flow Analyses (MFAs)/ Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs)/Multi-regional Input-output models (MRIOs) and derive a Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) compliant database.
Advance footprinting tools for use in industry and regulation monitoring and goal-setting.

SO-2 Locate and measure socio-economic trade-offs and synergies of a sustainable EU food transition

To identify trade-offs and synergies between environmental considerations and social and economic considerations which are also a major factor along the food supply chain, we:

Evaluate economic trade-offs of sustainable farming in farm-level field trials and tools (~1,000 EU farms).
Conduct deep dives to study and scale innovative food solutions (e.g.cellular agriculture, seaweed).
Assess nutrition of consumer sub-groups in 242 NUTS-2 regions, currently and for future food scenarios.
Conduct workshops and farm trials to assess industry readiness for food production innovations

SO-6 Accelerate uptake of new scientific knowledge and tools by key food system actors

To support to actors across the food systems through new available knowledge, shared existing data on environmental and climate impacts of food systems and identification of innovative solution we:

Increase dissemination and uptake of data via an specialist AI agent (also meeting SO-3).
Deploy new food impact data to ~20,000 EU farms to guide sustainability appraisal of farm techniques.
Improve the scientific basis of the CoolFarm Tool — a platform used by 10,000+ farmers / 150+ companies
Identify key barriers to use of existing food footprinting tools across the EU's food and beverage sector

Tasks

T1:Case study preparation and coordination

T2:Exploring Solutions

T3:Exploring Solutions: Efficient cold chains

T4:Testing the causative effects of giving farmers information on their environmental impacts

T5:Quantify the opportunity for gains from novel food solutions

Deliverables

2026

D1:Case study planningLink
A coordinated plan defining the scope, system boundaries and implementation framework for case studies assessing pathways to reduce pollution from food production.

2027

D2:Food system innovations (Task 4.2 results)
A report assessing environmental improvement opportunities and implementation challenges across case studies on spices, seaweed, insect-based foods and cellular agriculture.

D4:Cold Chains case study
A case study evaluating the carbon footprint of fish exports from East Africa to the EU and identifying cold chain designs and business models that reduce emissions and support local development.

2029

D3:Randomised control trial analysis and findings
An analysis of randomised controlled trial findings assessing how environmental footprint information, peer benchmarking and tailored advice affect farmers' perceptions, practices and environmental outcomes.

D5:Opportunity for gains from novel food solutions
A quantified assessment of the environmental reduction potential of case-study food solutions, including barriers and enabling factors affecting their implementation.