NEW LIFE INNOCERAL EU project fiche
Europe produces around 280 million tonnes of cereals annually, with wheat representing almost half of that volume. Agriculture still accounts for a significant share of greenhouse gas emissions, and cereal systems face climate pressures, rising input costs and fragmentation across the value chain. LIFE Innocereal EU addresses these systemic challenges by promoting sustainable practices and strengthening connections across the cereal value chain, while supporting the EU’s 2030 climate change mitigation and adaptation objectives, including the European Green Deal and Farm to Fork Strategy goals on carbon neutrality and sustainable food systems.
The project develops an integrated ecosystem linking farmers, processors and distributors along the cereal value chain, from production to market in Spain, Portugal, France, Italy and Greece. It demonstrates how sustainable practices, digital tools and targeted agricultural techniques can improve environmental performance, economic returns and competitiveness across the value chain.
The initiative delivers a low-emission cereal certification and a sustainability label, named “Innocereal EU”, to identify bread, pasta and beer produced under high environmental standards, helping actors capture added value and support food security.
LIFE INNOCEREAL EU’s objectives:
- Connect all links of the cereal value chain to facilitate the adoption of innovative and sustainable practices
- Develop a quality and sustainability certification scheme to improve the competitiveness of low-emission cereal producers
- Mitigate the carbon footprint of cereal production by promoting sustainable agricultural systems that increase soil carbon sequestration and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions
- Improve farmers’ economic profitability through digital agriculture and sustainable management practices
- Generate knowledge and policy guidance to support replication and enabling EU agricultural strategies
Expected results:
- Certification and launch of the “Innocereal EU” sustainability label
- At least eight model contracts between food industry actors
- Up to 30% reduction in production costs
- 10% increase in cereal quality
- 25% increase in cereal production (~500 kg/ha)*
- Selection of at least nine certified seed varieties
- Creation of new qualified jobs in rural areas
- Organisation of at least 22 dissemination events, including policy engagement activities, reaching over 1 million people
LIFE Innocereal EU, supported by the LIFE Close-to-Market (C2M) initiative, helps European cereal farmers cut emissions, reduce costs by over 10%, and boost profitability through digital farming, low-carbon practices and market-ready certification.
Quote from the Coordinating Beneficiary:
Francisco Márquez, Project Co-coordinator
"We believe the C2M support is extremely valuable because it enables much faster and more focused market entry. It aligns developments with the real needs of farmers and end users.”
- Project locations
- Spain