VISIONARY is a network of scientists, NGOs, and practitioners spread across Europe who have come together to steer Europe’s food system toward a more sustainable future.
The importance of reconsidering European food systems in a global context has been highlighted by the COVID-19 pandemic; it has it made evident that the global food supply chain—highly concentrated and operating on a just-in-time supply basis—is prone to falter in the face of shocks. Climate change and the resulting transformation pressures are an additional key challenge for agriculture. Our current food system also suffers from the overuse of chemicals in food production, monoculture cropping systems, and adverse environmental impacts of intensive animal farming on land and at sea, resulting in soil degradation and a negative impact on water and biodiversity. The Green Deal, notably the Farm to Fork (F2F) and Biodiversity strategies, climate action, zero pollution ambition, and the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) are policy responses to tackle these challenges.
There is an urgent need for a substantial shift in the food system to make agriculture more sustainable in economic, environmental, and social terms.
VISIONARY aims to improve the sustainability of agriculture by promoting those practices in food production systems that are more environmentally friendly, economically viable, and socio-culturally appropriate, and helping to remove the barriers to their adoption.
VISIONARY is a HE research project (2022-2026). Its final aim is to improve the sustainability of agriculture by promoting those practices in food production systems that are more environmentally friendly, economically viable, and socio-culturally appropriate, and helping to remove the barriers to their adoption.