Green shoots of hope

The good news it, that makes it ripe with opportunity for change. 

The EU-funded BEATLES project recognises this and is pioneering novel approaches to accelerate the transition to climate-smart agriculture (CSA). By combining environmental, social and economic insights, they’re aiming to shed light on the knowledge gaps, barriers and opportunities for more sustainable farming. 

To find out more, we caught up with BEATLE’s Dissemination and Communication Manager, Alexandra Gkouma.

Transitioning to climate-smart farming brings many benefits for the environment, society, and the economy. For instance, it can help reduce harmful emissions, improve soil and water use and support nature by using more sustainable farming methods. 

For society, it can lead to healthier food, stronger rural communities and better cooperation between farmers, businesses and governments. Economically, it can make farms more productive, reduce risks from extreme weather and help farmers access new markets. 

BEATLES explores and highlights how our systems-thinking approach–including policy, business strategies and stakeholder engagement–can drive a fair and sustainable transformation of the agri-food sector across Europe.

We’ve identified several key barriers that are slowing the transition to climate-smart agriculture. These include a lack of training and technical knowledge among farmers, limited consumer interest or willingness to pay more for sustainable products, unclear policy support and insufficient financial incentives.

These barriers appear to be consistent across the different countries and farming systems we are working on in BEATLES. For example, wheat in Lithuania, organic dairy in Germany, apples in Spain, the pig sector in Denmark and onions and potatoes in the Netherlands.

Despite these challenges, validation exercises across all five countries have shown strong stakeholder support for business models that promote transparency, shared responsibility and collaborative innovation. However, persistent obstacles remain, including limited funding, unclear data governance, complex certification systems, cultural resistance and a lack of a common understanding of what CSA actually means.

To overcome these barriers, a combination of targeted financial incentives, cooperative business models, stronger policy alignment and tailored communication strategies are essential. Building capacity through training and advisory services, fostering peer learning and creating governance structures that support multi-stakeholder collaboration are also critical. These measures can help turn barriers into levers for change, supporting a fair and inclusive shift toward more sustainable food systems.

We will provide a clear and practical overview of behavioural insights, focusing on the full range of “lock-ins” and levers that hold back or encourage behavioural change. These insights will be used to shape pathways for real change–through business strategies and policy recommendations–to support a fair, healthy and environmentally-friendly food system. 

In addition, we will develop policy recommendations and tools to support the design and implementation of policies that are informed by how people actually behave.

Moreover, we use targeted dissemination and communication efforts that raise awareness, build capacity and foster engagement across the agri-food value chain. We do this through webinars, workshops and podcasts. 

By spreading the word about behavioural insights, climate-smart practices, and co-created solutions, we aim to empower stakeholders with accessible and actionable knowledge. We are also actively building synergies with other EU-funded projects and initiatives to amplify impact, avoid duplication and ensure coherent messaging.

Through co-creation workshops that allow people to actively contribute to the development of solutions. This helps ensure their needs, knowledge and perspectives are fully integrated. In addition, we run a series of webinars and workshops which promote open dialogue and foster mutual learning. Additionally, we plan to produce practice abstracts-concise, accessible summaries that translate research outcomes into practical insights tailored for farmers, foresters and rural stakeholders. 

This combined approach not only facilitates knowledge exchange but also helps ensure that project results are widely disseminated.

Over the past three years, we’ve reached over 30,000 stakeholders–mainly in Europe–to share our vision for sustainable agriculture. Co-creation activities across Lithuania, Germany, Spain, Denmark and the Netherlands have successfully brought together farmers, traders and advisors to collaboratively address key challenges in sustainable agriculture.

Key outcomes also include the publication of six academic papers and a book chapter covering topics such as technology adoption, business strategies for CSA, farmer behaviour, smart farming innovations and regional economic considerations.

A key component of the project has been a series of interactive workshops. These sessions have provided a platform to test, refine and validate research findings and policy recommendations with external experts and policymakers. This inclusive approach ensures that our results are grounded in real-world perspectives and have the potential to inform actionable policy at the EU level.

Finally, through our outreach and communication efforts, we have built strong partnerships with other initiatives, demonstrating a growing network and alignment across projects. 

As we move into the final year of the BEATLES project, we remain committed to accelerating the systemic and systematic behavioural shift toward climate-smart agriculture and smart farming technologies.

Disclaimer

Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the granting authority. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.

The information and documentation in this section are published with permission from their respective sources. While the MAIA Project strives to ensure the accuracy and completeness of the content, we make no guarantees or warranties of any kind, express or implied, about the validity, reliability, or accuracy of the information. The original sources are solely responsible for the content they provide. We disclaim any liability for any errors, omissions, or inaccuracies in the information and for any actions taken in reliance on the information contained on this website.