Driving EU Agricultural Policy Forward: ACT4CAP27, BrightSpace, and LAMASUS Collaborate

Land Management for Sustainability

Working retreat, January 22-23, 2025, Laxenburg, Austria

Following an online kick-off discussion in December 2024, colleagues from the ACT4CAP27, BrightSpace, and LAMASUS projects convened in Laxenburg, Austria on 22-23 January 2025, for an in-person working retreat for reinforcing joint efforts to align EU agricultural competitiveness with sustainability goals through innovative policy modelling. Alan Matthews (LAMASUS) and Tassos Haniotis (BrightSpace, ACT4CAP27), as key members of Project Advisory Groups, offered invaluable guidance and inputs to shape the discussion and outcomes.

Aligning Goals for Impact

We worked toward developing a joint paper, synthesizing insights from the three projects to provide actionable recommendations for EU agricultural policy. The meeting aimed to identify and reach consensus on the key messages for the joint paper, ensuring coherence across the participating projects. We worked to finalize the outline and timeline of the paper, assigning responsibilities for drafting its various sections. The scenario frameworks proposed by ACT4CAP27, BrightSpace, and LAMASUSwere reviewed and aligned to maximize their complementarity and synergies, thereby enhancing the collective impact of the projects.

Collaboration as a Catalyst for Change

This retreat highlights the importance of partnership in tackling complex challenges of modern agriculture. By pooling expertise and integrating diverse perspectives of the participating projects we aim to deliver a comprehensive framework that balances agricultural competitiveness with sustainable practices. This collaborative effort is to contribute meaningfully to the discourse on the future of EU agricultural policy.

We are grateful to our colleagues at IIASA for their role in initiating, organizing and ensuring the very positive and productive ambience of this retreat.

The outcomes of this retreat will be reflected in a joint paper, which will present strategic recommendations and actionable insights to guide EU agricultural policy. Stay tuned for updates as this important work progresses.