UNDERSTANDING THE CHALLENGES
Many organic farmers experience income variability, which may be linked to market fluctuations, limited value chain structures or support mechanisms. In some cases, overproduction and a lack of market coordination can contribute to economic uncertainty.
Extensive research and practical experience in organic farming exist across Europe. However, this knowledge is often fragmented, difficult to access, or not presented in ways that support day-to-day decision-making. Improving how knowledge is shared and applied remains an important task.
Younger generations may face barriers in entering or remaining in the sector. These can include limited access to land, financing, or long-term support systems.
At the policy level, challenges such as dispersed data, diverse local conditions and limited communication can make it harder to design and implement effective support measures. Addressing these barriers may help strengthen the development of sustainable farming systems.
UNDERSTANDING THE CHALLENGES
The OrganicYieldsUP Horizon Europe project was developed in response to these interlinked challenges. Its main goal is to support organic and agroecological farming systems in improving and stabilising yields — not to replicate conventional outputs, but to strengthen resilience, environmental sustainability and the ability of farmers to make informed decisions.
The project is grounded in two key areas of work:
Recollecting and adding value to decades of research on organic cropping systems across the EU.
Mobilising lighthouse farms and multi-actor groups to assess, demonstrate, and co-design best practices and strategies in the field.
To this end, OrganicYieldsUP adopts a multi-actor approach, engaging farmers, advisors, researchers, policymakers and civil society in collaborative processes. The project combines the analysis of large datasets with practical insights from long-term field trials and innovative demonstration farms.
Central to this approach are the Multi-Stakeholder Practice Peer Groups (MSPGs), Local groups where people from different backgrounds share knowledge, test ideas and adapt solutions together, ensuring they are relevant and effective for all actors in the agricultural system.
The project’s Push–Pull–Enabler methodology enables successful local innovations—developed in response to specific territorial needs—to be scaled and adapted across different EU contexts. This approach prioritises bottom-up, farmer-driven solutions that are both practical and transformative, supporting the structural changes needed to make sustainable farming more viable and competitive.
OrganicYieldsUP aims to support yield improvement in organic farming, not by copying conventional models, but by focusing on context-specific solutions. This includes looking at how to maintain stable production while meeting environmental goals and supporting long-term system resilience.
Push–Pull–Enabler model is a method that connects:
Farmers’ needs (Pull)
Existing tools and innovations (Push)
The right conditions to make things work (Enablers)
This helps spread successful solutions across Europe.
OrganicYieldsUP was created to support organic and agroecological farming by improving yield stability and resilience — not by copying conventional systems, but by building smarter, more sustainable solutions that work in the real world.
OrganicYieldsUP responds to several connected challenges in organic farming today:
Many organic farmers face income instability, due to market fluctuations, weak value chains, or lack of coordination.
A lot of useful knowledge already exists, but it is often scattered or not easy to use in practice.
Young farmers struggle with access to land, funding, and long-term support.
Policy development is held back by fragmented data and poor coordination across regions.
Gain access to tools, data and peer learning designed to support practical decision-making and improve farm resilience.
Farmers and farm advisors participating in our project have the opportunity to exchange knowledge and experiences with other practitioners in their region. Through a collaborative approach, they will co-create practical solutions together with lighthouse farms—pioneering farms that are already successfully implementing strategies to improve yields in organic agriculture. This peer-to-peer learning and innovation process is designed to foster locally adapted, effective practices that respond to real challenges faced on the ground.
Use evidence and regional collaboration models to shape more effective support for sustainable organic systems.
Our project provides policymakers with evidence-based insights drawn from regional collaborations among farmers and value chain actors, combined with data analysis and modeling results. This integrated approach supports the development of more effective policies and support measures for sustainable organic farming systems. By understanding what works in practice, policymakers can help make organic farming more accessible, scalable, and impactful across diverse agricultural contexts.
Gain access to a structured, EU-wide database and long-term field data to support research and the development of indicators for assessing organic farming performance and resilience.
Gain access to a robust, harmonised framework for capturing experimental data across Europe—from plot-level trials to farm-scale monitoring— to support research and the development of strategies to improve organic farming performance and resilience.
Both organic and conventional agricultural organisations, gain from shared, evidence-based approaches that can support transitions towards more resilient and sustainable farming systems.
Both organic and conventional agricultural organisations can benefit from shared, evidence-based approaches that support the transition toward more resilient and sustainable farming systems.
