iof2020 From farm to fork
Making The EU’s Foodsystem a driving force for sustainability
As IoF2020 nears its closing event, attention turns to the project’s legacy and impact. In this special issue, we look at one initiative that builds the bridge between IoF2020 and the EU Farm 2 Fork strategy to create an outlook for future calls under Horizon Europe: The IoF2020 Farm to Fork Bootcamp
We must move forward and make the EU’s food system a driving force for sustainability. The farm to fork strategy will make a positive difference across the board in how we produce, buy and consume our food that will benefit the health of our citizens, societies and the environment
Stella Kyriakiddes
Commissioner for Health and Food safety
The Bootcamp had been designed to help IoF2020 Use Cases align their initiatives with the EU Farm to Fork Strategy by using the Sustainable Development Goals as a proxy.
But the framework is not limited to IoF2020. Anyone can use it, and this publication will also provide the tools to do so.
Learn more →
But first - Why have we developed this content?
The EU Farm 2 Fork strategy is an integral part of the EU Green Deal that the commission put forward in 2019.
This makes sense: Agriculture is one of the largest sources of greenhouse gases (GHG) in the world, and as such, is playing a significant contributor to climate change.
Info
The European Green Deal sets out how to make Europe the first climate-neutral continent by 2050. It maps a new, sustainable and inclusive growth strategy to boost the economy..
Agriculture has far more wide-reaching impacts. According to the FAO - a large set of the SDGs are related to the agricultural sector, either by the provision of labour (SDG 1), Responsible food production methods and the issue of food waste & consumption (SDG 12), Climate Change (13), life underwater (14) or life on land (15). Without achieving sustainable agriculture it is simply not possible to achieve the 2030 Agenda, as our food system is deeply linked to other development challenges.
Recognizing the role that food systems play in the achievement (or not) of the 2030 Agenda, the UN is organizing a summit dedicated to that subject later in 2021: The UN Food Systems Summit.
It’s fair to say that the focus on sustainable food systems will intensify over the next years, and that progress has been slower than needed. Accelerating the uptake and implementation of the EU Farm to Fork Strategy is, therefore, a must.
Over the last years, IoF2020 partners worked on 33 IoT use cases to digitise the agricultural industry, - many of which have a sustainable impact, without measuring or addressing the opportunity actively.
We wanted to help change this and create with the knowledge necessary to help align future activities with the Farm to Fork Strategy
The European greendeal
The European Green Deal sets out how to make Europe the first climate-neutral continent by 2050. It maps a new, sustainable and inclusive growth strategy to boost the economy, improve people's health and quality of life, care for nature, and leave no one behind.
The Farm to Fork Strategy is at the heart of the Green Deal. It addresses comprehensively the challenges of sustainable food systems and recognises the inextricable links between healthy people, healthy societies and a healthy planet. The strategy is also central to the Commission’s agenda to achieve the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). All citizens and operators across value chains, in the EU and elsewhere, should benefit from a just transition, especially in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic downturn. A shift to a sustainable food system can bring environmental, health and social benefits, offer economic gains and ensure that the recovery from the crisis puts us onto a sustainable path. Ensuring a sustainable livelihood for primary producers, who still lag behind in terms of income, is essential for the success of the recovery and the transition.
The European greendeal
The European Green Deal sets out how to make Europe the first climate-neutral continent by 2050. It maps a new, sustainable and inclusive growth strategy to boost the economy, improve people's health and quality of life, care for nature, and leave no one behind.
The Farm to Fork Strategy is at the heart of the Green Deal. It addresses comprehensively the challenges of sustainable food systems and recognises the inextricable links between healthy people, healthy societies and a healthy planet. The strategy is also central to the Commission’s agenda to achieve the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). All citizens and operators across value chains, in the EU and elsewhere, should benefit from a just transition, especially in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic downturn. A shift to a sustainable food system can bring environmental, health and social benefits, offer economic gains and ensure that the recovery from the crisis puts us onto a sustainable path. Ensuring a sustainable livelihood for primary producers, who still lag behind in terms of income, is essential for the success of the recovery and the transition.
Farm to fork
The European Green Deal sets out how to make Europe the first climate-neutral continent by 2050. It maps a new, sustainable and inclusive growth strategy to boost the economy, improve people's health and quality of life, care for nature, and leave no one behind.
The Farm to Fork Strategy is at the heart of the Green Deal. It addresses comprehensively the challenges of sustainable food systems and recognises the inextricable links between healthy people, healthy societies and a healthy planet. The strategy is also central to the Commission’s agenda to achieve the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). All citizens and operators across value chains, in the EU and elsewhere, should benefit from a just transition, especially in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic downturn. A shift to a sustainable food system can bring environmental, health and social benefits, offer economic gains and ensure that the recovery from the crisis puts us onto a sustainable path. Ensuring a sustainable livelihood for primary producers, who still lag behind in terms of income, is essential for the success of the recovery and the transition.
Box 2
Example of an iterative Value Sensitive Design process
making a mobility app for blind people
Conceptual research
In the conceptual research the researchers identified the key stakeholders – both direct and indirect stakeholders - related to applications that support blind and deafblind people in using public transport. Then researchers made a first identification of values at stake in the domain. For this, the researchers used the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities. They also found other values that play a role such as security, trust and privacy. Safety turned out to be very important for the potential users.
Empirical study (1): identifying values
In this phase the researchers conducted 30- to 45-minutes semi-structured interviews with 6 blind adults (2 men and 4 women). The 6 participants gave the highest priority to the values ‘independence’ and ‘trust’. They expressed great concern about ‘safety’. The participants often asked other people for information about their environment, but people who give reliable information are not always present. They preferred to access information on their iPhone or GPS system (in accordance with the importance of independence). But getting the information by speech can be distracting and unsafe or difficult to hear when they are in the bus or train. The present professional specialized supporting technology was expensive and inconvenient to carry.
The researchers also conducted 30-minute semi-structured interviews with 7 deafblind adults (4 men, 3 women) and an instructor who provides orientation and mobility training to deafblind people. As with the blind participants, the values of independence, trust and security were prioritized/highlighted in the interviews. All deafblind participants and the instructor associated access to information with the values security and trust. This information is about a person's physical environment (e.g. trees in the middle of sidewalks), bus arrival times, upcoming bus stops and communication with the driver.
The researchers also included bus drivers in the conceptual study because they are the main indirect stakeholders for the technology application. The bus drivers who accidentally transport the blind and deafblind are responsible for the safe arrival at their destination. The researchers sent a survey on drivers' opinions and values to 500 bus drivers. The surveys were completed anonymously. The response was 47%. The survey mainly focused on real-time switching information tools. Part of the survey included questions about passengers who are blind or deafblind. The researchers coded the answers by grouping them into positive, neutral and negative feelings about the carriage of blind or deaf-blind passengers. With few exceptions, responses were very positive.
Technical investigation
Assess current technology
Already in the former empirical research phase, the researchers described current technology, including GPS systems, Braille annotation devices and wearable communication devices especially for deafblind people. These technologies give access to information that provides a certain degree of independence for blind and deafblind people. Other values that were important to the participants were not yet supported by current technology, such as affordability and comfort. Blind participants said that information in Braille had several advantages over information in speech. But deafblind participants have no speech and therefore need Braille devices.
The MoBraille Framework
To better support the identified values, the researchers designed a system that allows blind and deafblind people to access information via Braille on a small, regular smartphone. The system was called MoBraille ("mobile braille").
GoBraille for the blind in public transport
The researchers also developed a MoBraille application (called GoBraille) for the blind that enabled them to get information about (1) the nearest intersection and address, (2) real-time bus arrival for nearby stops and (3) non-visual landmarks and specific location information about nearby stops. In addition, the researchers have also developed a version of GoBraille for deafblind people that gives them real-time information about the bus arrival at his or her current stop. Based on iterative feedback from a deafblind participant, the researchers simplified the interface for deafblind people.
Empirical study (2): evaluating the designed technology applications
Evaluation of GoBraille for the blind
The researchers had GoBraille assessed by 10 blind adults who regularly rode the public transport bus. The evaluation focused on the new aspects of the GoBraille. The evaluation was conducted on a sidewalk of a busy street and near several bus stops. After the researchers explained how the GoBraille application worked, the 10 blind participants were given several tasks to perform using the application. When the tasks were completed the researchers conducted a 20-minute semi-structured interview with the 10 participants. The aim of the interview was to determine how the access to GoBraille’s various information sources would affect a participant's sense of independence and security when using public transportation. The researchers wanted to know how the input and output in Braille interacted with the system. It turned out that the participants were very satisfied with the system.
Co-design with a blind-deaf person
The researchers developed a version of GoBraille for deafblind people by working with a deafblind person who used the bus regularly. This happened in 3 sessions of 1.5 hours each. In each design session several problems emerged. The lessons the researchers learned from this co-design process have been translated into three general guidelines that can be used for designing such applications.
Source: Azenkot, S., S. Prasian, A. Borning, E. Fortuna, R.E. Ladner, J.O. Wobbrock, 2011. Enhancing Independence and Safety for Blind and Deaf-Blind Public Transit Riders. CHI 2011. Vancouver, BC, Canada.