The EU-FarmBook is now available to all practitioners and advisory services. This free, open-access and multilingual online platform collects and shares agricultural and forestry knowledge generated by EU-funded projects across Europe. The official launch of the EU-FarmBook on 16 December 2025 in Brussels received strong support by high-level European institutions and sector representatives.
Europe’s farms and forests are under pressure from global competition, climate change and generational challenges. Their competitiveness depends on how quickly effective solutions reach everyday practice. The EU-FarmBook platform ensures that practical tools, guidance materials, videos and research-based insights from EU-funded projects in agriculture, forestry and rural development are accessible to the practitioners and advisors who can apply them. This allows proven ideas to be shared, adapted and scaled across Europe.
Diego Canga Fano, Acting Deputy Director-General at the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Agriculture (DG AGRI), said he was glad that EU-FarmBook could now disseminate EU-funded research and innovation results with a clear mission as a one stop shop for farmers, foresters and advisors. Fano also highlighted the need for multilingual support to reach non-English speakers. “Digitalization gives us a unique opportunity to share knowledge faster, learn from each other and connect people across European borders,” he added. Therefore this EU platform had to be linked with national platforms to foster exchange and integration, creating bridges, not silos. Looking ahead, he was hoping that the new platform could become a gateway also for SME’s and startups seeking to invest in and scale up innovations emerging from EU-funded projects. “This is exactly the logic of the Commission’s proposal for the next international framework supporting the full innovation journey from research to investment to market uptake”, he said.
Paul Webb, Head of the “Green Europe” Research Department at the European Research Executive Agency (REA), thanked the Horizon projects that have already contributed to the platform. He stressed the importance of synergies between projects and expressed his hope that EU-FarmBook would help to bridge the gap between research and practice. “We need to turn this knowledge into action for more sustainable and resilient agricultural practices”.
Professor Pieter Spanoghe of Ghent University and coordinator of EU-FarmBook, highlighted its strong network-based approach, bringing together contributions from 18 EU Member States. “We want to build up a research community, we want to connect projects, we want to link people, we want to share contacts, we want to give access to people that know what you want to know and that can give you the answer”, he explained. The focus was on practical information, not on scientific literature. “That stuff has to be reliable because it is funded by government projects and not based on commercial activities”, Spanoghe pointed out.
The launch event also featured a high-level panel discussion entitled “Competitiveness through Knowledge”. Participants included Rūdolfs Pulkstenis, Vice President of the European Council of Young Farmers (CEJA); André Laperrière, Former Executive Director of Global Open Data for Agriculture and Nutrition (GODAN); Lauren Dietemann, Communications and Project Manager at the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL); and Professor Margarida Tomé, Board Vice Chair at the European Forest Institute (EFI). The discussion addressed the importance of sustainable practices, true cost accounting, and the challenges of engaging small farmers. Building relationships with CAP networks and promoting data sharing were key objectives, with a focus on reaching farmers and foresters through in-person contact and associations. The panelists underscored the importance of collaboration, with a clear emphasis on stakeholder engagement.
In the concluding session, Marion Picot, Secretary General of CEJA, emphasised that the agricultural sector could contribute to the EU’s major objectives, such as competitiveness, innovation, security, cohesion and social inclusion, through EU-FarmBook. “We believe that EU-FarmBook must fill the gap between practice, science and decision-makers,” she explained. Regarding the upcoming CAP reform, Picot noted that it would present significant challenges, particularly for young farmers, but also for the wider agricultural community. In this context, she underlined the importance of ensuring that agricultural knowledge and innovation systems (AKIS) under the CAP are adequately funded in all Member States.
Official Launch Video
Fonte: EU-FarmBook
