GSS EU Science Funding Gateway

Proposals should investigate farmers’ decision-making (behaviour) and the broader food systems in which they have to operate, so as to uncover what locks them into unsustainable practices and what incentivises them to move to and stay in sustainable production systems. Attention should be paid to the full range of decision-making factors and food systems’ structures, mechanisms and dynamics. Proposals should analyse behaviour (decision-making) of other food system actors and their role in/influence on hindering or incentivising farmers’ decisions as to whether to adopt and maintain sustainable practices in the long-term. Also, they should analyse consumers’ preferences, decision-making and shopping behaviour, in particular looking at market segmentation and willingness to pay versus buying acts, in various contexts. This knowledge should be shared broadly with farmers. In addition, proposals should explore the behaviour and actions of downstream and upstream operators in agri-food value chains and other relevant food system actors that lock farmers in unsustainable practices or enable/encourage them to adopt sustainable practices and stimulate or hinder consumer demand for more sustainable food. Proposals should also consider the ‘whole-systems’ in which farmers operate and analyse the systemic mechanisms, structures and dynamics that lock farmers into unsustainable states. Concurrent research should be conducted using the same methods in a variety of settings representative of the diversity in agri-food systems and conditions in the EU and Associated Countries various agroecological approaches and organic farming, sectors/value chains, collective actions, regions and communities, etc.