STICHTING AERES GROEP

Their core work

Aeres Groep is a Dutch agricultural higher education institution that contributes applied research expertise in sustainable food systems, farming practices, and rural development. Their work spans from grassland productivity in Europe to food security in Africa, reflecting a strong focus on participatory, multi-actor approaches that bridge academic knowledge with on-the-ground farming realities. They bring educational and practice-oriented perspectives to EU research consortia, particularly around food quality, farm sustainability, and livestock systems transitions.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

Their early H2020 work (2017-2020) centred on grassland management and international food security, with a strong development-oriented angle including smallholder farming, gender, and livelihoods in Africa. From 2021 onward, the focus shifted decisively toward European consumer-driven food quality, farm-to-fork assessment, livestock sustainability, and Green Deal alignment. This evolution shows a move from broad agricultural development toward the EU's specific policy priorities around sustainable food production and circular economy in farming.

Aeres is aligning increasingly with EU Green Deal and Farm-to-Fork Strategy priorities, making them a relevant partner for projects addressing consumer-driven food system transformation and livestock sustainability.

How they like to work

Aeres exclusively participates as a partner — they have never coordinated an H2020 project, which is typical for applied higher education institutions that contribute domain expertise rather than lead large research programmes. With 100 unique partners across 27 countries in just 5 projects, they join large, diverse consortia and bring their agricultural education perspective to multi-actor settings. This makes them an accessible, low-friction partner who integrates well into existing teams without competing for leadership.

Despite only 5 projects, Aeres has built a remarkably wide network of 100 partners across 27 countries, indicating involvement in large pan-European and international consortia. Their reach extends beyond Europe into Africa through the HealthyFoodAfrica project.

What sets them apart

As an agricultural higher education institution rather than a traditional research university, Aeres brings a practice-oriented, educational perspective that many consortia lack. Their combination of European farming systems expertise with developing-world food security experience is uncommon for a Dutch HES. They are particularly well-suited for projects needing living lab approaches, multi-actor engagement, and the translation of research into practical farming applications.

Highlights from their portfolio

• PATHWAYS
  Their largest funded project (EUR 408K) addressing livestock and food system transitions — directly aligned with EU Green Deal priorities and running until 2026.
• HealthyFoodAfrica
  Extends Aeres' reach to Africa with a focus on nutrition, smallholder farming, and food system resilience — unusual scope for a Dutch agricultural college.
• Code Re-farm
  Positions Aeres at the intersection of consumer demand and farming practice through farm-to-fork quality assessment and product lifecycle monitoring.