A major new EU-funded research and innovation project, Climate Smart Research (CSR), has launched. Over the next five years, the project will develop, test, and promote solutions for Climate Smart Farming (CSF) to accelerate the transition toward climate-neutral agriculture in Europe.
Coordinated by Wageningen Research (The Netherlands), CSR links 29 Experimental Research Stations (ERS) with universities, applied research institutions, advisory services, NGOs, and SMEs. Funded under Horizon Europe, CSR focuses on practical, science-based innovation in agriculture.
The project opened with a three-day meeting from 10–12 September 2025 in Lelystad, the Netherlands, where partners aligned on goals and kicked off joint activities.
CSR will study how adaptation and mitigation interact, including synergies and trade-offs, with a focus on technology, productivity, resilience, and sustainability.
Over five years, CSR will:
- Develop and test climate-smart farming approaches at 10 Pioneering Experimental Research Stations (PioneERS) across four European climate zones.
- Validate and compare climate tools and services—such as emissions monitoring and decision-support tools—on 19 Innovative Experimental Research Stations (InnovatERS).
- Engage farmers, advisors, policymakers, and citizens to co-develop and test solutions in real-world settings for scalable adoption.
- Build long-term knowledge networks among research institutions and strengthen links with national Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation Systems (AKIS).
- Deliver actionable results including a knowledge repository, business models, policy recommendations, and more than 150 practice abstracts.
CSR collaborates with sister initiatives such as Climate Farm Demo and ClimateSmartAdvisors to support broad uptake of validated solutions.
