Filenews 15 August 2023 - by Dora Christodoulou
Carbon farming is an important new area of the new EU Farm to Fork Strategy and has already started to attract huge interest from European farmers, as it is considered that in the near future it will be able to provide an additional income to those farmers who apply sustainable farming practices aiming at removing carbon from the atmosphere and sequestering carbon in the soil.
This is what the head of the Eratosthenes Center of Excellence of CUT, Professor Diophantos Hatzimitsis, points out to "F". The Centre of Excellence acts as coordinator of this program for Cyprus in which the Cyprus University of Technology, the Agricultural Research Institute of the Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment, the Panagrotiki Association of Cyprus and the company CELLOCKLtd also participate.
It is important to mention, says Professor Hatzimitsis, that the European Commission is already working on plans to promote the reduction of the carbon footprint through a set of practices aimed at sequestering carbon in the soils of cultivated farmland by creating carbon sinks.
Reducing the carbon footprint, he explains, has been embraced by the majority of farmers for whom it is a great opportunity, as it offers an additional source of income in the form of a reward for implementing good agricultural practices for carbon sequestration. The Commission, through the Agriculture Council, has already started discussions on a regulation that will reward farmers who deliver environmental and climate benefits by implementing agricultural practices through a regulatory framework for the certification of carbon removals. Through the proposed regulation, there will be a potential contribution to achieving the EU's climate objectives as well as an opportunity to boost farmers' incomes.
In the context of the European Green Deal, one of the targets set in the EU climate law is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 55% by 2030 compared to 1990 levels, in order to achieve climate neutrality at EU level by 2050.
The Carbonica project, says Diophantus Hatzimitsis, aims to provide the knowledge and tools that will ensure access to innovative agricultural practices aimed at reducing carbon in the atmosphere. The project aims to prepare all participants when the legal framework is ready, to start implementing carbon farming on the right foundations.
"Carbon farming," he explains, "is an alternative form of agriculture where carbon sequestration or carbon release reduction practices are implemented through green activities related to land management, aiming at simultaneous economic and environmental sustainability." Carbon farming also includes carbon offsets in which carbon releasers will be able to buy carbon capture units from so-called carbon capture creditors.
CUT and the Eratosthenes Center of Excellence participate in the creation of a multi-stakeholder platform under the coordination of the Interbalkan Environment Center. Also, CUT will coordinate the capacity building action of stakeholders aiming to plan the implementation of training activities to broaden the knowledge, competences and skills of stakeholders in coal agriculture.
The Carbonica Academy will be created, which will focus on the creation of an interactive e-learning platform with educational content on carbon farming solutions, certification protocols, business development and policy design, the organization of training series consisting of open access webinars and training workshops to showcase the project results, and the training activities will be addressed to farmers, advisors, businesses and policy makers.
The main objective of the project is to establish the Carbonica Hub of Excellence, connecting the Innovation Ecosystems of Greece, Cyprus and North Macedonia, while enhancing their technological readiness as service providers based on cutting-edge technologies such as space technology, Earth observation, UAVs, field measurement data and digital agriculture in carbon farming.
Achieving these goals requires a multidisciplinary approach to integrate the know-how and experience of all relevant stakeholders, location- and needs-based design of carbon farming solutions, and rigorous policies to drive change towards climate-resilient agriculture. Carbonica aspires, among other things, to provide the knowledge and tools that will ensure access to innovative carbon capture farming practices.
Participants and scientists in the Carbonica project
The project "Carbon Initiative for Climate-Resilient Agriculture" (Carbonica), is funded by the Horizon Europe 2021-2027 Program under the Horizon Europe Excellence Hubs program. The project consortium consists of 14 partners from Greece, Cyprus and North Macedonia, representing academia, industry, NGOs and policy makers.
The total funding of the project is almost five million euros. Carbonica is coordinated by FoodscaleHub and coordinated by Grigoris Hatzikostas, while the scientific coordinator of the project is the Interbalkan Environment Center in Thessaloniki headed by Professor of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki Dr. George Zalidis.
The Carbonica research project officially started in January 2023 and its implementation period is 48 months. Professor Diophantus Hatzimitsis is the scientific coordinator of the project from CUT with participants Dr. Michalaki Christoforou and Dr. Argyro Nisantzis. On behalf of the Eratosthenes Center of Excellence of CUT participate Dr. Marios Tzouvaras, Research Coordinator of the Eratosthenes Center of Excellence, Dr. Christiana Papoutsa, Head of the Department of Agriculture, Dr. Ioannis Varvaris, deputy research coordinator.
Dr.. George Papadavid is the scientific coordinator of the project from the Institute of Agricultural Research (Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment). Dr.. Haris Zacharatos is the scientific coordinator of the project from CELLOCKLtd and Tassos Yiapanis is the scientific coordinator of the project on behalf of the Panagrotiki Association of Cyprus.
