D4.3 - Policy needs in the countries with demonstration fields

CARINA is a cross-national 4-year long Innovation Action (01/11/2022-31/10/2026), supported by the European Union within the framework of the Horizon Europe programme. The project focuses on new sustainable and diversified farming systems including 2 new intermediate oilseed crops, camelina and carinata, able to provide multiple low iLUC feedstocks for the bio-based economy. CARINA aims to demonstrate that increasing the diversification of cropping systems by adopting a well-thought and effective crop combination can enhance yield stability, farmers’ revenue and the overall sustainability of farming systems, and, at the same time, to supplement the bioeconomy sector. To facilitate the deployment of innovative systems, through the activities of Work Package 4 (WP4), the project will also aim to develop policy recommendations and unveil synergies in sectoral strategies for the provision of certified low iLUC feedstock for bio-based value chains. Task 4.3 includes the organisation of 10 Policy Innovation Labs (PILs) in the project’s countries with demonstration fields to engage stakeholders in the identification of policy gaps and opportunities, ensuring that the recommendations are practical, relevant, and aligned with sector needs, both upstream – farmers, seed producers, cooperatives – and downstream – transformation industry. PILs were identified as key tools for the codesign of a supportive EU policy framework for the adoption of camelina and carinata with all the relevant stakeholders. Deliverable 4.3 (D4.3) aims to present the main results emerged from the implementation of this task contributing to the development of country policy factsheets and recommendations for the promotion of camelina and carinata as strategic low-iLUC feedstock. The following chapter provides an overview of the European policy landscape in the context of the CARINA project, with a specific focus on barriers and solutions which have been identified in relation to the adoption of camelina and carinata. In Section 3 the methodology used in the PIL is described, both for what concerns the implementation of the workshops and the framework to interpret results. In Section 4, the results for the 10 target countries are presented, focusing on the country-specific policy context, challenges and solutions. At last, Section 5 discusses findings by identifying common trends, trade-offs and lock-ins to inform the development of overarching policy recommendations.