GroundWork Open Call: co-creating solutions for soil health in Living Labs
Horizon Europe · HORIZON-MISS-2024-SOIL-01-01
Funding for farms in Portugal, Germany, Belgium, Sweden and Serbia to test regenerative livestock grazing over a 36-month programme.
What is this call about?
The call funds farms that join GroundWork Living Labs to test regenerative livestock grazing practices over a 36-month programme. Farmers and farming entities in the Living Lab countries can receive up to €27,000 each, together with mentoring and monitoring support.
What does this call fund?
Scope
GroundWork runs a 3-year Regenerative Grazing Programme for farmers who want to improve soil and the wider environment by changing how their animals graze the land (adaptive livestock management). Selected farms join a local network of farmers and experts in one of the project's Living Labs to share ideas, compare results and learn from each other.
Activities
- The main activity is implementing Regenerative Livestock Grazing Practices (RLGPs) adapted to regional farming realities.
- Soil health assessment and continuous soil monitoring with sensors.
- Animal welfare, environmental life cycle and social impact assessments.
- Exchange of expertise and co-design of grazing practices.
- Indicatively, experimental plots should cover between 3 and 10 hectares, split into grazed (regenerative) treatment areas and non-grazed (conventional) control areas.
Programme structure and payments
The programme has three main stages over 36 months, and grants are paid in instalments after each stage is completed successfully. In the first month, each selected farmer co-defines a Custom Farm Evolution Plan with a Living Lab mentor, setting the budget, objectives, activity schedule and deliverables used for later reviews and payments.
Distribution of projects
Up to 33 farming projects will be supported through this open call: up to 7 each in the Portuguese, Belgian, Serbian and Swedish Living Labs and up to 5 in the German Living Lab.
Selection
Proposals go through an eligibility check, independent expert evaluation and a consensus meeting. They are assessed on excellence, impact (including contribution to the soil mission objectives) and implementation.
What are the key facts?
- Topic budget
- €891,000
- Call code
- HORIZON-MISS-2024-SOIL-01-01
- Programme
- Horizon Europe
- Funder
- GroundWork project (Horizon Europe Soil Mission), through financial support to third parties
- Eligible applicants
- farmers and individual entities engaged in farming, regardless of legal form
- Funding per project
- up to €27,000 per farm
- Duration
- 36 months
- Expected number of projects
- up to 33
Who can apply for this call?
- Farmers and individual entities engaged in farming activities, regardless of their legal form.
- Applicants located in the Living Lab countries: Portugal, Germany, Belgium, Sweden and Serbia.
- In special, justified cases, participants registered in EU Member States, their Overseas Countries and Territories or Horizon Europe Associated Countries outside the Living Lab areas.
- The applicant must own the farm or hold a lease covering the full project duration, and the farm must stay in active agricultural use.
- The farming entity must own and manage livestock (such as cattle, sheep or goats) integrated into its land use, and the farm must engage in livestock grazing.
- The farmer must be willing to use the field as an experimental site and follow the project's requirements continuously for three years.
- The farmer must show clear interest in and availability to implement RLGPs and the experimental design, and selected farmers must commit to co-defining the Custom Farm Evolution Plan.
- The farmer must be willing to fully implement the study protocol: soil quality and animal welfare assessments, installation of IoT sensors, sharing of historical farm data and use of project data in scientific publications.
- The farmer must be available to host project events on the farm and take part in workshops, in-person events, webinars and peer learning activities.
- All application questions must be answered in English.
Check your eligibility and how your project fits
In your free account, we check the eligibility conditions against the call documents for your organisation and assess how well your project fits this call.
When is the deadline?
19 November 2026 (14 days)
19 November 2026 according to the call details; the application section gives 19 November 2025 at 15:00 Brussels time, which conflicts with that date.
Interested in this call? Summary written with AI from the official call documents. Details can differ, so check the official call page before you apply. Read the official call documents before you decide. The official text is always binding.
Source: the official call page and the official call documents. Always check them before you apply. Official call page Last updated 16 October 2026.