LIFE: future-proofing Europe’s agri-food industry

With agri-food exports of more than EUR 235 billion in 2024, and imports topping EUR 171 billion, the agri-food sector is one of Europe's biggest and most important industries. So how to ensure an innovative, resilient, sustainable and competitive agri-food sector in the future?

The recent 2-day LIFE Platform Meeting in Bologna, Italy, on future-proofing the agri-food sector brought together some 85 participants from 15 countries representing 45 LIFE and other projects. Co-organised by CINEA and DG Climate Action, and hosted byIMAGE LIFE , the meeting saw agronomists, farmers, farming associations, researchers, non-profits, public authorities, companies and consultancies exchange knowledge and insights in support of the EU Vision for Agriculture and Food.

'The EU Agrifood Vision was built not for the farmers, but with the farmers,' DG Agriculture and Rural Development's economist Barthélemy Lanos told the meeting. 'It will ensure that Europe's agrifood systems remain attractive, competitive, resilient, fair and sustainable.'

IMAGE LIFE aims to do exactly that by creating a sustainable future for Italy's famous Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, which is particularly vulnerable to climate change. The project laid on field visits to 2 sites piloting climate-resilient cheese production: the Ozzano experimental barn where different animal feeds made from sorghum, millet, wheat and sunflowers are tested, and the Bio Sant'Anna dairy company which specialises in organic, low-emission Parmigiano Reggiano.

In a hard-hitting keynote speech from 2025 LIFE Awards winner LIFE DESERT ADAPT , project manager Simona Castaldi warned that climate change is happening, and it's happening now. 'It is not possible to keep the situation as it is,' she said. 'The only sustainable way forward is to protect and nurture the environment and its mosaic of functionalities: economic, environmental and social.' LIFE DESERT ADAPT, she added, represented the 'true essence' of the LIFE Programme: 'real engagement, real-scale results and a Europe shaped by the people who take part in it.'

Castaldi's plea for an inclusive, democratic approach was echoed by Jacopo Goracci of Slow Food . 'Mixed, diversified and biodiverse farming systems, linked with local communities, are the basis for food security,' he said. 'This is the way to obtain socially just food, which will also maintain population on marginal land.'

Panel discussions focused on strengthening resilience in the agri-food sector, positioning the agri-food sector in the EU competitiveness compass, and scaling close-to-nature solutions and ecosystem services. Among those contributing were LIFE Co-Clima, LIFE ACLIMA , LIFE Olivares Vivos +, LIFE MARONESA, TERRAFORMING-LIFE, LIFE Responsible Sourcing, LIFE All4Biodiversity and LIFE BIODIVFr.

Building on these discussions, 3 workshops gave participants a chance to dive deeper into sustainable agricultural practices for climate resilience; agri-tech innovations for sustainable competitiveness; and stakeholder engagement for more sustainable food systems. The workshops featured presentations by LIFE Olivares Vivos +, LIFE CLIMATE SMART CHEFS , FoodChoices4LIFE and Agroecology Europe . As Gianmarco Italia from DG Climate Action put it, 'LIFE plays a strategic role by supporting priority actions for climate mitigation and adaptation, helping farmers and rural communities respond to accelerating environmental pressures.'

LIFE projects working in the agri-food sector support the EU Vision for Agriculture and Food, EU Sustainable Competitiveness Strategy, Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), Green Deal, 2050 long-term climate strategy and the Farm to Fork strategy.