Sustainable food production is a key priority worldwide. Nevertheless, Slovenia as a small economy with lack of financial and human resources, dispersed along different research institutions, will not easy achieve this goal. However, a new EU project, coordinated by the Agricultural Institute of Slovenia (KIS) and with Aarhus University and the French National Institute for Agricultural Research INRA as partners, aims at getting a new CoE in agricultural studies off the ground in Slovenia (SLO-ACE). The project, that runs from September 1, 2017 to August 31, 2018, has been granted 399,650 euros from the Horizon 2020 Widespread Teaming Phase 1 programme.
Project will aim to increase the Slovenian scientific capabilities, improve research and innovation performance of KIS and Slovene agriculture sector, establish links with innovative clusters, provide access to foreign knowledge flanked with technological modernizations and increased mobility of qualified scientists.
The three main areas of focus are field crops and grassland production, animal production, and fruit production, viticulture and oenology. Namely, in the structure of the value of agricultural production in Slovenia, viticulture represents more than 10%. There are almost 16,000 ha of vineyards and more than 30,000 growers. Due to the fragmentation of production and with aim to increase competitiveness of the industry, the Slovenian wine-growing sector needs the knowledge and experience that the researchers from INRA and ISVV could bring to the SLO-ACE. Certainly, France wine industry has already challenged sustainable wine production and technological innovation. INRA, UMR Sciences for Oenology (Montpellier) and University of Bordeaux Institut des Sciences de la Vigne et du Vin (Institute of Vine & Wine Science) will contribute knowledge with regard to the wine microbiology, wine chemistry, wine sensory analysis, technology and wine&health.
Link to the official web page of the project:
Link to the notice at the web page of Aarhus University:
