AGROECOLOGY EUROPE

Their core work

Agroecology Europe is the pan-European association dedicated to advancing agroecological practice, research, and policy across the continent. Based in Brussels, they serve as a bridge between scientific communities, farming practitioners, educators, and EU policymakers — bringing network reach and institutional legitimacy that academic partners cannot replicate. In H2020 projects, they contribute multi-actor facilitation, policy engagement, dissemination to practitioner communities, and access to their Europe-wide membership network. Their core value to a consortium is not laboratory research but the ability to mobilize real-world actors around agroecological transitions.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

Their first project (AGROMIX, 2020) was methodologically oriented — focused on participatory research design, transdisciplinarity, reflexive innovative design, and even location-based serious games as engagement tools, alongside GHG measurement. Their second project (AE4EU, 2021) pivoted clearly toward policy delivery, education and training, and building multi-actor research infrastructure across Europe. The shift is from co-designing research methods to institutionalizing agroecology at the European policy and education level — a natural progression for a sector association gaining EU recognition.

They are moving toward becoming a permanent institutional anchor for European agroecology — building policy frameworks, research infrastructure, and practitioner education systems rather than running individual research projects.

How they like to work

Agroecology Europe has never led an H2020 project — they participate exclusively as consortium partners, contributing their network and advocacy capacity rather than scientific coordination. Despite only two projects, they have connected with 39 unique partners across 17 countries, suggesting they are brought in specifically for their broad reach across the European agroecology community. They are not a recurring partner within tight subgroups but a network amplifier brought in when consortia need practitioner and policy access.

Their 39 unique partners across 17 countries — achieved in just two projects — reflects the breadth of their pre-existing European membership network rather than project-built relationships. The geographic spread is genuinely pan-European, consistent with a Brussels-based sector association serving members across EU member states.

What sets them apart

As the dedicated European association for agroecology, they offer something no research institute can replicate: a standing network of practitioners, researchers, and policymakers already mobilized around agroecological transition, plus direct proximity to EU institutions from their Brussels base. Consortia building projects on sustainable agriculture, farming systems transition, or food policy should consider them a legitimacy and dissemination asset — they open doors to farming communities and policy bodies that academic partners cannot reach. Their NGO status also strengthens the societal impact credentials of any consortium they join.

Highlights from their portfolio

• AE4EU
  Directly aligned with the organization's core mission — 'Agroecology for Europe' — and targets policy delivery and research infrastructure, making it the clearest expression of their institutional role in the EU research landscape.
• AGROMIX
  Combines agroforestry, mixed farming systems, serious games-based engagement, and GHG accounting in a single participatory RIA — an unusually broad methodological scope that demonstrates their ability to contribute to technically complex multi-actor projects.