Call: Resource-efficient and profitable industrial crops on marginal land

• Health, demographic change and wellbeing;
• Food security, sustainable agriculture and forestry, marine and maritime and inland water research, and the Bioeconomy;
• Secure, clean and efficient energy;
• Smart, green and integrated transport;
• Climate action, environment, resource efficiency and raw materials;
• Europe in a changing world - inclusive, innovative and reflective societies;
• Secure societies - protecting freedom and security of Europe and its citizens.

This Programme aims to promote the transition towards an optimal and renewable use of biological resources and towards sustainable primary production and processing systems. These systems will need to produce more food, fibre and other bio-based products with minimised inputs, environmental impact and greenhouse gas emissions, and with enhanced ecosystem services, zero waste and adequate societal value.

Industrial crops can contribute to the diversification of farmers' income and to the supply of renewable raw materials for industrial applications fostering the bio-based economy and climate-change mitigation. To avoid land-use competition with food, it is important to promote the development of resource-efficient varieties that can grow on marginal land.

Proposals should provide an up-to-date database of existing resource-efficient industrial crops (species and varieties) with their characteristics, needs, performance and end-use applications;  should test, validate and disseminate this tool with the involvement of end-users;  should map marginal land in Europe that is most suitable for industrial crops; should analyse best-practice cases of industrial crop cultivation and address technical, social, cultural, environmental and economic barriers to and drivers of the use of marginal land for industrial cropping. Proposals should produce policy recommendations and best-practices guides to promote the appropriate sourcing of renewable materials from marginal land at local/regional level.

At least three legal entities. Each of the three must be established in a different EU Member State or Horizon 2020 associated country. All three legal entities must be independent of each other.

The Commission considers that proposals requesting a contribution from the EU of up to 6 million € would allow this specific challenge to be addressed appropriately. Nonetheless, this does not preclude the submission and selection of proposals requesting other amounts. Funding rate: 100%