How can agriculture significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions while remaining productive, resilient, and economically viable?
Climate Smart Research, together with its sister projects Climate Farm Demo and Climate Smart Advisors, joined the EU AgRI 2040 Conference in Brussels to showcase how research, demonstration and advisory networks can work together to accelerate the transition towards climate-smart agriculture across Europe.
Held on 24-25 September 2026, the EU AgRI 2040 Conference brought together policymakers, researchers, farmers, advisors, businesses, innovators and other stakeholders to discuss priorities for the next generation of EU research and innovation in agriculture, forestry and rural areas. The conference also introduced the European Commission’s new strategic approach to research and innovation for competitive, resilient and sustainable agri-food systems.
Farming with Climate: Creating Impact Together
Under the joint Farming with Climate initiative, CSR, CFD and CSA delivered the presentation “Farming with Climate: Creating Impact Together – Connecting Demo-farmers, Advisors and Researchers to Accelerate Climate Smart Agriculture across Europe”, presented by Herman Schoorlemmer, Climate Smart Research project coordinator.
The presentation highlighted a central message: Lasting change depends on a connected system that generates scientific evidence, tests solutions under real farming conditions, translates knowledge into actionable advice, and creates the conditions for widespread adoption across Europe.
“Climate action in agriculture demands more than innovation alone. It requires coordinated activities across farming, science, industry and policy to align practical solutions, market incentives and policy frameworks, enabling lasting change across the agri-food system.” Herman Schoorlemmer, Wageningen University & Research
The three projects contribute complementary elements to this process. Climate Smart Research generates and scientifically validates evidence on climate-smart farming systems and practices through 29 Experimental Research Stations. Climate Farm Demo tests and demonstrates adaptation and mitigation solutions on 1500 farms, while Climate Smart Advisors strengthens advisory services and Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation Systems (AKIS).
Together, three sister projects also work to accelerate the adoption and scaling of climate-smart solutions and support wider transformation across policy, finance, industry and knowledge systems.
What does climate-smart agriculture need from future research and innovation?
The joint presentation also contributed to the wider EU AgRI 2040 discussion by highlighting several priorities for future agricultural research and innovation.
Among them is the need to move from isolated innovations towards whole-farm system approaches and generate whole farm evidence, taking into account interactions, synergies and trade-offs between different practices. Other priorities include more robust monitoring, evaluation and measurement frameworks; coordinated research across different pedo-climatic zones and farming sectors; and stronger assessment of economic, social and environmental impacts.
At the same time, generating evidence is only part of the challenge. Turning research into changes on farms requires continuous exchange between researchers, advisors and farmers. The presentation therefore emphasised the importance of strengthening the research–advisor–farmer knowledge loop. It’s about an ongoing two-way knowledge exchange with farmer and advisor feedback on research agenda’s. Another needs are supporting advisory services as facilitators of the climate transition, expanding demonstration and peer-to-peer learning, translating research into practical decision-support tools, and creating economic incentives that support adoption.
Climate Smart Research, Climate Farm Demo and Climate Smart Advisors also shared a joint booth at the conference exhibition, providing another opportunity to introduce participants to their activities and demonstrate how the three projects complement one another. A joint Farming with Climate animation was displayed throughout the event, visually presenting how the three projects contribute to a common objective: making climate-smart solutions more accessible, practical and scalable.
