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SCALE-it project kicks off with its first 3-day meeting

A group of around 50 people on a sunny roof with green hills in the background.

SCALE-it project partners gathered in Frick, Switzerland, for the first in-person kick-off meeting, held from 11 to 13 June 2025. (Photo: FiBL, Andreas Basler)

Three women in front of a leavy background.

SCALE-it project coordination team: Giulia Moretto (project coordinator), Veronika Maurer and Joëlle Herforth-Rahmé (scientific coordinators). (Photo: FiBL, Andreas Basler)

Project logo.

In mid-June, the project consortium gathered at FiBL Switzerland in Frick for its first in-person meeting. FiBL Switzerland and FiBL Europe coordinate the project that brings together 36 partners from 12 EU Member States, along with institutions from Switzerland, the UK, Turkey, and Australia. SCALE-it focuses on making organic farming systems more resilient and aligned with EU sustainability goals.

SCALE-it (upSCALing Efficient alternatives for contentious InpuTs in organic farming) is a four-year Horizon Europe Innovation Action officially launched on 1 May 2025. The project aims to reduce reliance on contentious inputs in organic farming – such as copper, mineral oil, fertilisers from conventional sources, antibiotics, antiparasitic drugs, Spinosad, and GMO-based or synthetic vitamins – by developing, demonstrating, and promoting cost-effective, scalable alternatives.

Project scope and impact

SCALE-it will help scale up the production and adoption promising alternatives through a systems-based approach. The project combines scientific validation with practical application, advancing promising solutions from Technology Readiness Levels (TRL) 4-6 to demonstration and adoption (TRL 7-9).

Through Living Labs and participatory methods, the project will:

  • Demonstrate and validate application and efficacy of non-contentious alternatives in real organic farm environments
  • Provide data for environmental, economic, and social impact assessments
  • Explore market acceptance and user behaviour of farmers and consumers
  • Support companies with roadmaps for upscaling, registration, and protection of intellectual property
  • Facilitate policy co-creation and regulatory dialogue

By integrating non-contentious natural products, decision support systems, and technical solutions with preventive management practices, SCALE-it aims to reduce dependency on contentious inputs, contributing to a fair, healthy, and climate-smart food system.

Demonstration trials

A cornerstone of SCALE-it is its network of over 65 on-farm demonstration trials, taking place across 13 countries. These trials are led by Local Ambassador – regional partners with strong ties to organic communities – who will organise local events, share best practices, and collect data for assessing environmental and economic impacts.

The trials will test and validate the proposed alternatives, ensuring practical relevance and supporting broader adoption among farmers.

Kick-off meeting at FiBL

The SCALE-it consortium gathered at the FiBL campus in Frick, Switzerland, from 11-13 June 2025 for its first in-person meeting, hosted by FiBL, the project coordinator. Around 60 participants representing research institutes, universities, farmer organisations, farmers, control bodies, and industry came together to align project goals and next steps.

Key activities included:

  • Defining timelines and activities across the work packages
  • Planning over 65 on-farm demonstration trials in collaboration with local ambassadors and commodity responsible persons
  • Sharing strategies for stakeholder engagement and data collection
  • Conducting field visits to FiBL's organic orchards and Stone Ranch's organic beef farm
  • Launching the project's visual identity and exploring tools for effective science communication

FiBL's role in SCALE-it

FiBL Switzerland provides scientific coordination for the project, with Veronika Maurer serving as Scientific Coordinator and Joëlle Herforth as her support. FiBL Switzerland will:

  • Lead the work package responsible for managing and coordinating the demonstration trials, including workflows, data collection, and reporting
  • Co-lead work on animal nutrition - helping reduce dependency on synthetic vitamins A, D, and E, and fostering GMO-free vitamin B2 supply
  • Lead tasks to develop alternative solutions in plant protection, reducing the dependency on copper
  • Lead a task to further develop a clear and implementable multicriteria decision support system to evaluate external nutrient inputs for plant nutrition
  • Lead tasks to reduce antibiotics in dairy ruminants with a new advisory tool and to reduce anthelmintic use in small ruminants and poultry with a biocontrol agent and a targeted treatment scheme.

FiBL Europe coordinates the overall project, with Giulia Moretto as Project Coordinator. It also leads the communication and dissemination work, ensuring the project's results are accessible to policymakers, practitioners and the public. Selene Capalbo is responsible for the communication activities. FiBL France carries out a demonstration trial to showcase alternatives to anthelmintics in sheep.

About the project

SCALE-it runs for 48 months and is funded under the European Union's Horizon Europe programme (2021-2027), with co-funding from the Swiss State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI). The project is coordinated by FiBL Europe, with scientific leadership from FiBL Switzerland.

The official SCALE-it website will be launched soon and will provide updates, news, and access to project findings and resources.

Further information

Contacts

Link

fibl.org: SCALE-it in the FiBL project database

Project partners

  • FiBL Europe (FiBL EU)
  • FiBL France (FiBL FR)
  • The Hungarian Research Institute for Organic Agriculture (ÖMKi)
  • Julius Kühn-Institut Bundesforschungsinstitut für Kulturpflanzen (JKI)
  • Centro Internazionale di Alti Studi Agronomici Mediterranei (IAMB)
  • Fondazione Edmund Mach (FEM)
  • Università degli Studi di Trento (UNITN)
  • SRUC (SRUC)
  • International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements European Union Regional Group (IFOAM EU)
  • Innovationscenter for Økologisk Landbrug (ICOEL)
  • Naturland e.V. (Naturland)
  • Öko-Obstbau Norddeutschland (ÖON)
  • BioSelena (BioSelena)
  • Estonian Organic Farming Foundation (EOFF)
  • Trifolio-M GmbH (TM)
  • Københavns Universitet (UCPH)
  • Szkoła Główna Gospodarstwa Wiejskiego (SGGW)
  • Aarhus Universitet (AU)
  • Coventry University (CU)
  • Universität Hohenheim (UHOH)
  • Universidad de Jaén (UJA)
  • Ekolojik Tarım Organizasyonu Derneği (ETO)
  • Instytut Ogrodnictwa - Państwowy Instytut Badawczy (InHort)
  • Agencia Estatal Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
  • Fundacja Imienia Stanisława Karłowskiego (Juchowo)
  • O.P. Ortofrutticola Jonica S.A.C.A.R.L. (OP Jonica)
  • Ελληνικό Μεσογειακό Πανεπιστήμιο (HMU)
  • SaluVet GmbH (SaluVet)
  • Instytut Zootechniki Państwowy Instytut Badawczy (NRIAP)
  • Institut Technique de l'Agriculture Biologique (ITAB)
  • A Cert Ευρωπαϊκός Οργανισμός Πιστοποίησης Ανώνυμη Εταιρεία (A-CERT)
  • Perleuve SRL (Perleuve)
  • FiBL Switzerland (FiBL CH)
  • SubstainTech (SBT)
  • Agroscope (WBF-AGS)
  • International Animal Health Products (IAHP)

Funding

  • Horizon Europe, the European Union's Research and Innovation Programme 2021-2027 under the call HORIZON-CL6-2024-FARM2FORK-02
  • SERI - Swiss Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation, Switzerland