ACT4CAP27 Horizon EU project: Advancing Capacity and analytical Tools for supporting Common Agricultural Policies post 2027

In a joint effort to promote more sustainable agricultural policies, a new Horizon Europe-funded project called ACT4CAP27 has had its first kick-off meeting in The Hague, the Netherlands. The project will provide innovative tools to quantitatively assess the impact of climate, agricultural and forestry policies, in order to guide decision-making towards a more sustainable future from 2027 onwards.

The project will have a total duration of 5 years (from March 1, 2024 to February 28, 2029) and brings together the collaboration of 13 institutions and research centres from eight EU countries, Ukraine and the United Kingdom.

María Blanco, CEIGRAM researcher and Professor at ETSIAAB in the Department of Agricultural Economics, Statistics and Business Management is leading the UPM-CEIGRAM team, which will have to play an important role in the following tasks:

• Quantitative analysis of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) in the medium and long-term, particularly addressing the ongoing crises and disruptions in Europe and globally.
• Clarification of value chains in food systems through the perspective of complex networks, with the aim of being able to provide greater detail on the stages between primary production and final consumption.
• Capacity building, through increased transparency and consistency in the use of models to support future evidence-based policies, improved documentation of analytical approaches and promotion of activities to provide training in model-based research.

The project not only proposes modelling and analytical tools but will also develop an interactive roadmap aimed at guiding the European Union and national and regional policy makers towards more sustainable policies. This initiative aligns recognizes the central role of the Common Agricultural Policy in the sustainable transformation of European agri-food systems.

With a holistic approach addressing economic, social, environmental and climate sustainability of food systems, the ACT4CAP27 project seeks to assess the short- and long-term impacts of regulatory policies on European agricultural systems. The results of this evidence-based assessment will be crucial for designing post-2027 policies to foster a more sustainable and resilient agriculture in the face of future challenges.

This project represents a fundamental step towards a more sustainable agriculture in Europe. We invite you to follow its progress closely. CEIGRAM will keep you informed of the progress and new tools developed in this project.