European Commission launches new strategic approach to research and innovation
8 September 2026
The European Commission has launched a new strategic approach to boost research, innovation, deployment and uptake in Europe’s agri-food sector.
The European Commission adopted a Communication on a new Strategic Approach to Research and Innovation for competitive, resilient and sustainable agriculture, forestry, rural areas and food systems. This strategic document brings together two closely interlinked frameworks, to guide future research, innovation, deployment and uptake across the entire agri-food sector.
These frameworks are:
- AgRI 2040, focusing on agriculture, forestry and rural areas,
- Food 2040, focusing on food systems, including fisheries and aquaculture.
The Communication aims to strengthen the agri-food innovation ecosystem from early-stage research and innovation to deployment and market uptake, and to accelerate the uptake of knowledge and innovation across the entire sector. It puts greater emphasis on users’ challenges and needs and on the delivery of real impact on the ground by bringing together multiple actors including end users, researchers and businesses, to co-create, test and demonstrate solutions in real-world settings. This will also help startups, scaleups and SMEs to move promising innovations closer to the market.
This Communication draws on insights from the public consultations supporting AgRI 2040 and Food 2040 as summarized in the Staff Working Document.
New Strategic Approach to Research and Innovation
The European Commission’s new Strategic Approach to Research and Innovation (26 p.) places global cooperation, inclusive governance, knowledge brokerage and multi-actor innovation at the centre of future agricultural R&I.
"In 2023, EU agriculture and food systems generated more than EUR 1 trillion in added value and employed around 30 million people (15% of all jobs in the EU2). This includes 4.8 million people employed in 309 000 businesses in the food and drink industry, the EU’s largest manufacturing sector that delivered EUR 1.5 trillion in turnover and EUR 296 billion in value added. As the world’s largest agri-food exporter, the EU recorded a EUR 50 billion agri-food trade surplus in 2025." (page 2)
The Communication identifies cooperation with international partners as one of six cross-cutting priorities and specifically points to the AU–EU FNSSA Roadmap and its International Research Consortium as the framework for identifying common R&I priorities with Africa.
GFAiR as a global convening and brokerage mechanism
This creates a role for GFAiR as a global convening and brokerage mechanism: connecting the EU with Regional Fora, NARS, farmer organisations, universities, CGIAR and other innovation actors; facilitating equitable participation in research agenda-setting; and helping translate international research investments into locally relevant Collective Actions.
"The new roadmap agreed between the African Union and the EU on ‘Food and Nutrition Security and Sustainable Agriculture’ (FNSSA), together with the related International Research Consortium should provide a framework for identifying, with the African Union and related partners, common areas on which to focus. Cooperation with other partners to address similar challenges in agriculture, forestry and rural areas, such as India or the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, could be further explored." (page 12)
This is reinforced by the Communication's emphasis on governance that integrates different forms of knowledge and perspectives, inclusive stakeholder engagement, youth and gender, and stronger links between research and policymaking. In this sense, GFAiR can help ensure that international cooperation under AgRI 2040 is not simply EU research transferred to partner countries, but genuinely co-created research and innovation responding to priorities identified by national and regional actors.
The Communication is equally significant for National Agricultural Research Systems (NARS) because its proposed innovation model closely corresponds to the functions NARS must perform: linking research, farmers, extension and advisory services, education, private enterprise, policymakers and markets.
The Commission stresses that innovation must move beyond individual projects through scaling out, scaling up and scaling deep, and argues that farmers are more likely to adopt innovations when they are co-created with them, tested under real-life conditions and supported through advisory services and peer-to-peer exchange. This provides a strong rationale for engaging NARS as national innovation-system partners rather than merely research implementers. Their research stations, extension links, testing facilities, universities and relationships with producers can provide the institutional infrastructure for Living Labs, farmer-led experimentation, validation of traditional knowledge and adaptation of innovations to local conditions.
Relevance to GFAiR’s current work
Particularly relevant to GFAiR’s current work, AgRI 2040 explicitly calls for the development or reintroduction of “neglected and underutilised species” as climate-smart, resource-efficient, resilient and diverse crops.
"The potential of plant breeding, knowledge of seeds and plant varieties, biotechnology and genetic resources should be further leveraged. This includes supporting breeding activities, as well as the development or reintroduction of climate-smart, resource-efficient, resilient, resistant and diverse varieties, including neglected and underutilised species, suited to a wide range of conditions, with due consideration of the legal41 and policy context." (page 16-17)
The role of Regional Fora
GFAiR through its global coordination and network along with the six Regional Fora can contribute to Food 2040 by acting as the bridge between the EU’s global R&I ambitions and the priorities, capacities and innovation systems of their regions. Building on the Food 2030 experience, they can help co-define research agendas, connect NARS and AKIS actors, identify locally relevant food-system challenges, mobilise multi-actor partnerships, and channel evidence from farmers, researchers, advisory services, private sector and policymakers into international R&I programming.
GFAiR and Regional Fora together could help Food 2040 avoid fragmented, project-by-project cooperation by aggregating national priorities, facilitating cross-country and South–South learning, supporting regional Living Labs and Communities of Practice, and ensuring that EU-funded research is better aligned with regional strategies and more effectively taken up through NARS, extension, education and policy systems.
APAARI’s Role in Agricultural Research and Innovation
The Asia-Pacific Association of Agricultural Research Institutions (APAARI) was founded in 1990 through an initiative of FAO and governments across Asia and the Pacific. Its vision is strengthened research and innovation for sustainable agricultural development, while its mission focuses on promoting, coordinating and strengthening agrifood research and innovation systems through partnerships, capacity development and advocacy. Its strategic priorities encompass sustainable agriculture and agroecology, healthy and nutritious value chains, innovation and technology, safe agrifood trade, and climate resilience, biodiversity and environmental sustainability.
APAARI acts as a regional connector and platform for international research collaboration, linking national research organizations, CGIAR and international research centres, universities, extension services, farmers and civil society, the private sector, development partners and regional platforms. Collaboration is organized around knowledge exchange, joint research and innovation, capacity development, regional networking, policy dialogue, resource mobilization and technical cooperation. Current projects illustrate this role in practice, covering phytosanitary compliance and seed trade, plant-health research coordination, SPS modernization, skills and policy support, and agroecology and safe food systems across South and Southeast Asia.
AARINENA's Role in Agricultural Research and Innovation
The Association of Agricultural Research Institutions in the Near East and North Africa (AARINENA), established in 1985, serves as a regional hub for strengthening and transforming agricultural research and innovation across the NENA region. Its mission is to connect national, regional and international research actors through dialogue, knowledge exchange and partnerships, while strengthening capacities and influencing policy. Its priorities include building a global knowledge platform for South–South and South–North exchange, fostering open and multi-stakeholder agricultural R&I systems, transforming higher education and research, and empowering rural women, youth and smallholder farmers.
AARINENA provides a strong platform for international research collaboration through knowledge sharing, capacity building, joint resource mobilization, policy engagement, networking, technology transfer, and joint monitoring and evaluation. Its thematic networks cover areas such as plant genetic resources, water-use efficiency, date palm, olives, animal production and health, plant protection, biotechnology and Forgotten Foods, Neglected Crops and Underutilized Species (FF-NUS), providing practical structures for collaborative research and innovation. Recent examples include the Date Palm Innovation Platform (2023) and Olive Innovation Platform (2024).
The role of FORAGRO in Agricultural Research and Innovation
FORAGRO - the Forum of the Americas for Agricultural Research and Technological Development, established in 1997, is a hemispheric, open and inclusive forum connecting the main actors in agricultural research, development and innovation across the Americas. It brings together national agricultural research institutes, academia, producer and private-sector organizations, civil society, extension services, regional cooperation mechanisms and international organizations. Its role combines an internal function—promoting dialogue, coordination, investment and a shared regional R&I agenda—with an external function, connecting the Americas with global research and innovation processes through GFAiR, CGIAR and other regional and international partners.
FORAGRO’s reconceptualization is structured around three strategic axes: (1) developing a strategic and foresight roadmap for science, technology and innovation (STI) in agrifood systems; (2) creating a platform for horizontal cooperation, including AGROFOOD-TROP and AI-supported knowledge management through OPSAa; and (3) strengthening engagement with international STI spaces. The third axis positions FORAGRO as a regional voice, global foresight radar and strategic interpreter of international opportunities, enabling the Americas to formulate common priorities, anticipate emerging trends, connect regional capabilities with global initiatives, and present more coordinated regional positions internationally.
FARA's role in Agricultural Research and Innovation
The Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA) was created in 1997 and evolved by 2000 into Africa’s apex organization for agricultural research and innovation. Its establishment responded to the fragmentation of Africa’s national research systems and the need for a continental mechanism to coordinate research, strengthen capacities, facilitate partnerships and knowledge exchange, advocate for supportive policies, and represent African agricultural research internationally, including within GFAiR.
FARA’s strategic role is to connect science with agriculture at scale by improving access to regional and global knowledge, facilitating innovation-to-impact partnerships, strengthening institutional and human capacities, and supporting collective action across countries and sub-regions. The presentation highlights an evolving African agricultural research agenda shaped by digitalization, climate change, agroecology and regenerative agriculture, gender and social inclusion, a rapidly growing youth population, and the vulnerability of African food systems.
FARA positions itself as “one door” to research partnerships across 55 African countries and as a key African partner for GFAiR. The final slide identifies concrete areas of FARA–GFAiR Collective Action collaboration: Forgotten Foods, inclusive digital transformation of agriculture, agroecology/pesticides, transformation of higher education in agriculture, and land tenure and climate change.
CACAARI's Role in Agricultural Research and Innovation
CACAARI—the Central Asia and the Caucasus Association of Agricultural Research Institutions—serves as a regional forum linking national agricultural research institutions in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan with universities, advisory services, farmer organizations and international partners. Its approach is based on national ownership: countries identify research priorities and farmers’ needs, while CACAARI facilitates regional consultation, coordination and partnerships. Its main areas of shared interest include water and soil management, climate adaptation, food and rural livelihoods, with an emphasis on connecting research to practical farming and agribusiness decisions.
For 2026–2030, CACAARI proposes four priorities: climate-resilient farming; stronger research systems; innovation with farmers, particularly women and youth; and improved evidence and useful digital tools. It seeks partnerships that can translate these priorities into shared regional agendas, joint programmes, field-learning initiatives and evidence for research investment. Concrete opportunities include cross-border research on water and soils, university–farmer–advisory partnerships for women and youth, and assessments of research capacity and investment needs. CACAARI also provides a bridge to wider regional and global cooperation through GFAiR, APAARI and AARINENA, positioning Central Asian and Caucasus research institutions to contribute to—and benefit from—international agricultural research and innovation initiatives.