Strategic Implementation Plan of the European Innovation Partnership "Agricultural Productivity and Sustainability"

The European Innovation Partnership (EIP) 'Agricultural Productivity and Sustainability' aims to foster a competitive and sustainable agriculture and forestry that works in harmony with the environment. This objective and the general EIP conception were first stated in the Commission Communication of 29 February 2012 and have subsequently been endorsed in the Agriculture and Fisheries Council Conclusions of 18 June 2012. EIPs pursue the mission of building a bridge between research and the application of innovative approaches in practice. The Council Conclusions also invite the Commission "to undertake concrete steps toward having a strategic implementation plan of the EIP prepared with the aim of involving all stakeholders in delivering specific results and innovation in the agri-food sector". To this end, a High Level Steering Board, involving 42 key stakeholders from across the agricultural research and innovation landscape as well as Member State representatives, was nominated by the European Commission. This Strategic Implementation Plan (SIP) is the result of the work undertaken by the High Level Steering Board. With this SIP, the High Level Steering Board delivers its strategic advice and gives orientations to the EIP in terms of issues, bottlenecks, solutions and the question of how to create an innovation culture in European agriculture bridging between science and practice. The SIP should be considered as a general recommendation in order to leave sufficient room for the EIP to remain open to new insights throughout its implementation and to rely on bottom-up initiatives. In this SIP, the term agriculture includes various types of biomass based primary production, in particular agriculture, horticulture, forestry and animal husbandry. The term farmers includes all kind of owners, managers of land, and workers used in these primary production types.