EU food research must deliver greater societal value, new joint call urges

2 October, 2026

Institution

Heidelberg University

EU food research must deliver greater societal value, new joint call urges

FEAST and EuroHealthNet call for health, equity and societal impact to be placed at the heart of Europe’s future food-systems research and innovation.

Brussels, 23 September 2026 – Europe must ensure that public investment in agricultural and food-systems research delivers value not only through innovation and economic growth, but also for people, communities and the environment, according to a new joint call led by the EuroHealthNet as part of the FEAST Project.
The statement, Healthy, fair and resilient food systems, brings together organisations working across public health, food systems, nutrition, sustainability, environmental health, animal welfare, economics and social equity. It calls for public health, equity, societal value and the One Health approach to be embedded in the design, funding and evaluation of Europe’s future agricultural and food-systems research programmes.
The call comes as the European Union moves ahead with AgRI 2040 and Food 2040, two interlinked frameworks guiding future research and innovation across agriculture and food systems. The European Commission says these new frameworks are intended to strengthen the translation of research into practical solutions and accelerate deployment and uptake.

From research to implementation

Europe has already generated extensive evidence and tested new approaches to healthier, fairer and more sustainable food systems. The joint call argues that greater priority must now be given to implementation, policy experimentation, scaling successful approaches, governance reform, knowledge exchange and capacity building.
It also argues that publicly funded research should not be assessed only by the technologies, productivity gains or markets it creates, but also by the impact it delivers for people, communities and the environment.

“Europe has built a strong evidence base on how to create healthier and more sustainable food systems. The next challenge is turning that knowledge into action. Public research and innovation must deliver measurable benefits for people, communities, the environment as well as the economy. We must avoid zero sum situations where only the economy benefits, but does so at the expense of all other stakeholders because of a narrow focus on competitiveness and profit maximisation for a limited number of large corporates.”

Dr. Anant Jani

Six priorities for Europe’s future food-systems research

The joint statement identifies six priorities:

Put societal value at the heart of research and innovation, supporting One Health approaches, climate mitigation and adaptation, resilience and community well-being, and equity explicit criteria in priority-setting, project selection and evaluation.
Strengthen food security and the right to food, healthy, safe, affordable, sustainable and culturally appropriate diets
Embed health and equity throughout the food system, with particular attention to populations facing barriers to healthy diets and workers exposed to health and livelihood risks or unequal power relations within food supply chains.
Embrace a whole food systems perspective, extending beyond agricultural production to processing, retail, marketing, consumption, working conditions and waste.
Strengthen governance and safeguard the public interest through participation, transparency and cross-sector collaboration.
Measure societal impact, including who benefits from investment, who bears risks and what wider public value is created.

The statement also highlights EU-funded projects including FEAST, PLAN’EAT and SWITCH as examples of how Living Labs, multi-actor research and social innovation can bring communities, policymakers and food-system actors together to co-create practical solutions.

A shared opportunity

FEAST, EuroHealthNet and the organisations supporting the statement are calling on the European Commission, European Parliament, Member States and research and funding bodies to use the six priorities to inform the implementation of AgRI 2040 and Food 2040 and the design of future European research and investment programmes.

Read the full joint call policy statement: EuroHealthNet – Joint Call