The EU has set itself ambitious targets for agriculture and food: fewer pesticides, more organic farming, significantly lower emissions. But how can these goals be implemented effectively? Two EU research projects will provide answers at their joint final conference on June 16 in Brussels.
Radolfzell, 28.04.2026: Under the motto “From Research to Action”, the EU projects VISIONARY and ENFASYS present the most important findings from four years of research. The focus was on the question of which measures are effective along the entire food chain – from production to trade to consumption – and which incentives actually promote sustainable behavior.
The challenge is enormous: around a third of global greenhouse gas emissions are linked to food production – at the same time, it has a significant impact on biodiversity, soil and water resources. Despite ambitious targets, research shows that many political instruments have only had a limited impact in practice to date.
Research meets politics
In a mixture of presentations, panel discussions and interactive breakout sessions, the conference offers evidence-based recommendations for action for politics and trade as well as insights into concrete, cross-EU interventions of the projects – for example on the design of effective CO₂ pricing, the effect of climate labels on biodiversity or the question of how consumers can make greater use of plant-based alternatives in the supermarket.
The conference sees itself as a platform to close the gap between research and political implementation and to provide concrete impetus for the further development of European sustainability policy.
- Invitation
- Date: June 2026, 9 a.m. – 6:30 p.m.
- Location: Vlaamse Overheid – Herman Teirlinck Building, Brussels and online
- Participation in the conference is free of charge.
Further information on the program and registration:
https://visionary-project.eu/events/from-research-to-action-visionary-enfasys-final-conference/
About VISIONARY
VISIONARY is an EU-funded research project that has spent four years investigating how sustainable transformations along the food chain can be designed. Twelve research institutions and NGOs from eight European countries were involved. The German project partners are FiBL (Research Institute of Organic Agriculture), ZALF (Leibniz Center for Agricultural Landscape Research) and the Global Nature Fund.
About ENFASYS
ENFASYS is an EU-funded research project on the transformation of food systems towards greater sustainability. The focus is on the development and evaluation of political measures that promote sustainable consumption and production patterns. The aim is to provide evidence-based recommendations for policy makers and accelerate the implementation of sustainable food systems in Europe.
Funding information:
Funded by the European Union under grant agreement No 101060538. The work of the UK project participants was funded by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) under the UK Government’s Horizon Europe funding guarantee [funding reference 10037976 (University of Aberdeen) and 10044788 (University of Exeter)].
