Inside Europe’s Shift to Climate- Neutral Farming

Climate KIC role in reshaping the future of farming in Europe.

Rising temperatures, longer droughts and erratic rainfall are testing even the most resilient food systems. At the same time, farmers across the continent are proving that transformation is both necessary and already underway.

Since 2022, Climate KIC has played a key role in ClieNFarms, a project funded under the EU’s Farm to Fork Strategy, which forms part of the European Green Deal and aims to make Europe’s food systems fair, healthy, and environmentally sustainable. Bringing together partners from across Europe and beyond, including one in New Zealand, ClieNFarms tests and scales practical solutions for climate-neutral and climate-resilient agriculture in a wide range of farming systems, from Mediterranean arable crops to Oceanic dairy and beef farms.

As it prepares for its final conference in Brussels this November, the project is sharing what three years of fieldwork have revealed: that systemic, farm-level innovation can drive meaningful change across the entire food system.

A network for transformation

The project’s demonstration approach, known as the Innovative Systemic Solution Space (I3S), brings together demonstration farms, advisors, researchers, financial actors and supply-chain partners to co-develop and test new approaches in real conditions. Each I3S operates as a ‘living lab’, where farmers and local stakeholders experiment with solutions tailored to their specific context. The aim is simple but ambitious: to connect technical, organisational and financial innovation so that climate-smart farming becomes economically viable and widely replicable.

Cutting emissions in practice

Across twenty demonstration sites, farmers have been testing a range of practices that together point the way to lower-carbon, more resilient food systems. 

• In Portugal’s Alentejo region, trials at the Outeiro demonstration farm are sowing biodiverse strips of legumes and grasses between olive-tree rows. The aim is to revive tired soils that have been compacted by machinery and to bring back pollinators that keep orchards productive. Early results point to richer vegetation, better rainwater infiltration and fewer erosion losses, gains that make groves more resilient to both drought and heavy rain.
• Further north, in south-west France’s Lauragais plain, farmers are experimenting with almost permanent soil cover between cash crops. Rotations of summer grasses and winter legumes are expected to cut fertiliser use and build organic matter, locking carbon in the ground instead of the air. The approach also avoids herbicides such as glyphosate by destroying cover crops mechanically, which shows that low-input farming can still be efficient.
• In the United Kingdom, researchers at the GWCT Allerton Project are testing biochar made from farm residues. When added to soil, this carbon-rich material could store atmospheric carbon for centuries while improving water retention and fertility, turning hedge cuttings and crop waste into a long-term climate asset.

Each practice is modest on its own, but together they provide a blueprint for farms that emit less, store more carbon and remain productive in the face of climate change. 

Circularity and resource efficiency

The project has also explored circular uses of waste streams and renewable energy. 

• In the United Kingdom, the University of Leeds is testing the N₂ slurry processor, which uses electricity to turn animal manure into a more stable, nutrient-rich fertiliser called Nitrogen Enriched Organic (NEO). The process traps nitrogen that would otherwise escape as ammonia or methane, cutting odours and greenhouse-gas emissions while reducing the need for synthetic fertiliser. Its full climate benefit depends on using renewable power to run the system.
• While in Romania, researchers at the National Institute for Animal Biology and Nutrition (IBNA) are exploring how local oilseed by-products, known as oilseed cakes, can be used as a natural feed supplement for small ruminants. These high-lipid residues could cut methane emissions from digestion by up to 15 per cent while improving milk quality. And because the material is locally sourced, it also supports circular farming and reduces reliance on imported feed.

These solutions contribute to climate neutrality by reducing imported inputs, closing nutrient loops and valuing by-products that would otherwise go to waste.

Scaling trust, as well as tools

ClieNFarms is not only about testing techniques. Its strength lies in showing how innovations can spread. Through its Scaling Toolbox, developed by Climate KIC alongside project partners, a framework has been designed to help farmers, investors, advisors and policymakers turn local success into wider transformation.

The toolbox brings together methods for analysing barriers, building value chains and developing roadmaps for change – all grounded in three essentials: value, risk and trust. For farmers, it means instilling the confidence that new practices will pay off. For financial institutions, it means credible pathways to invest in transition. And for regional authorities, it means policy instruments that enable collaboration rather than fragmentation.

Alongside the toolbox sits the Solutions Catalogue, an open repository of farm-tested measures from across Europe, and new business models co-developed with companies such as Nestlé and Friesland Campina. These models explore how the food industry can reward climate-smart practices within supply chains, linking farm-level mitigation to market incentives.

Join the movement for resilient, regenerative food systems

Climate KIC building a movement for resilient, regenerative food systems by bridging the gap between policy, innovation and practice. From supporting farmers in adopting climate-smart agriculture and renewable-energy solutions, to facilitating dialogue between policymakers and practitioners at the European Carbon Farming Summit, Climate KIC is demonstrating that sustainable agriculture is practical, scalable and economically viable.

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