Project

A sustainability transformation of the current food system is a large and ambitious endeavour. The FAIRCHAIN project addressed this challenge by focusing on the development of competitive intermediate food chain alternatives adapted to small and mid-sized actors. Building on both the advantages and drawbacks of existing short and long value chains, FAIRCHAIN aimed to:

• Foster the emergence of innovative Intermediate Food Value Chains (IVCs). These support small and mid-sized actors in scaling up, either individually or through coordinated initiatives, as alternatives to the dominant agri-food system. Together, these actors can offer a broader range and higher volume of products. Both approaches require the development of technological, organisational, and social innovations, as well as regulatory and policy adaptations, to deliver food more fairly and sustainably.
• Inspire larger actors to downscale conventional food value chains: This enables them to better address the growing consumer demand for local, high-quality, and safe products. The underlying belief is that the emergence of IVCs involving small and mid-sized actors creates pressure on dominant players, pushing them to move faster towards best practices. This shift can open opportunities for local suppliers while ensuring a fairer distribution of the costs and benefits within more sustainable, value-based food supply chains.

The goal of FAIRCHAIN was to test and demonstrate new technological, organisational, and social innovations in real conditions. By advancing them to TRL 7, it aimed to help small and mid-sized farmers and food producers scale up, deliver affordable nutritious food, and strengthen their position in fair, resilient, and sustainable IVCs.

FAIRCHAIN placed a particular emphasis on postharvest stages, such as processing, distribution, and retailing, in dairy and fruits & vegetables sectors. 

FAIRCHAIN defined the concept of Intermediate Food Value Chains (IVCs), positioned them within alternative food systems and identified their key features and challenges for transitioning from short or long value chains to IVC. The project mapped the technological, organisational, and social innovations that can support this transition. Building on these findings, it developed a co-creation process and a holistic assessment framework to monitor progress and evaluate the new business models across economic, environmental, and social dimensions. This framework was applied in 6 European case studies, where 16 innovations with potential to address the challenges of IVCs were demonstrated. In all case studies, FAIRCHAIN adopted a multi-actor co-creation approach, structured around 3 workshops: goal-setting, implementation, review. Stakeholders provided feedback to adapt innovations to the needs of IVC actors, enabling cross-fertilization between case studies and identifying opportunities for further development beyond the project. FAIRCHAIN identified unique insights and sustainability challenges for each case study using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and multicriteria methods. To support scaling, the project developed the Rapid Scaling Tool, a simple, low-resource sustainability evaluation tool, and finalised SEAMPL, a decision-making tool for small and mid-sized actors to assess returnable bottle scenarios. In addition, FAIRCHAIN applied a business model generation approach to identify innovative regional multi-actor business concepts and value-added business models.

With this framework, FAIRCHAIN delivered 16 innovations tailored to small and mid-sized actors (11 technological, 3 organizational, and 2 social) at TRL 6–8, fostering competitive IVCs. Key outcomes include: fermentation of by-products to create high-value foods (e.g., the first fermented whey-based drinks and fruit by-product vinegar as a mild, green disinfectant); a regional business model for pyrolyzing dry by-products of fruit processing and pruning into heat and biochar; and a Blockchain-based solution ensuring trustworthy information exchange, improved information flow, and enhanced consumer trust via traceability and transparency in PDO dairy production. Other innovations comprise an ICT tool for local berry mapping and collaboration, a systemic change management tool supporting sustainable regional development, and the launch of a Food Innovation Incubator. Near completion are an aseptic filling machine for (semi-)liquid foods, including a compact farm-level version, and a reward-based crowdfunding model to improve financing and community engagement.

Seven innovative regional multi-actor business concepts including more than 32 reinforced or new business models were associated to these innovations, showcasing the economic, social and environmental value of creating or strengthening IVCs.

In its final phase, FAIRCHAIN developed business, policy, and marketing recommendations to promote project results, ensure uptake, and facilitate the adoption and replication of its 6 case studies (or parts thereof) in other contexts, sectors, and countries. Dissemination activities played a key role in raising awareness, including 68 public YouTube videos (webinars included), 53 Practice Abstracts for EIP-AGRI, 3 online courses, 3 student competitions and tutorials, over 8 scientific publications, and more than 40 non-scientific publications. In addition, a Sustainable Food System Innovation Platform was co-developed with other European projects to share food system innovations.

The main progress and impacts of FAIRCHAIN are:

1. Strengthened stakeholder engagement: FAIRCHAIN implemented a co-creation approach that enhanced collaboration, expanded networks, and developed teams’ skills in multi-actor co-creation. It reinforced existing partnerships, fostered new ones, and empowered case study teams to apply these approaches in future research.
2. Advanced replicable assessment of Intermediate Value Chains (IVCs): FAIRCHAIN designed a generic framework integrating diverse stakeholders’ perspectives and capturing economic, environmental, and social sustainability challenges. The framework informs design improvements, identifies context-specific priorities, and provides actionable insights for long-term sustainability and post-project development.
3. Delivered technological, organisational and social innovations: Innovations demonstrated at TRL 6–8 have the potential to strengthen IVCs. The Sustainable Food System Innovation Platform co-developed by FAIRCHAIN facilitates dissemination of these innovations and enhances exchanges and understanding among stakeholders.
4. Developed a portfolio of innovative business concepts and models: FAIRCHAIN co-created 7 regional business concepts including over 32 new or reinforced business models relevant to IVCs, tested in real conditions. These concepts provide an overview of value chain sustainability, identify challenges and success factors for replication in other European contexts, and support SMEs and mid-sized actors in implementing resilient IVC projects while creating job opportunities along the value chains.
5. Produced guidelines, tools, and recommendations to replicate and scale sustainable IVC solutions across Europe by applying identified success factors. 

FAIRCHAIN demonstrates that IVCs offer a viable pathway for SMEs to overcome market barriers and represent a potential solution to unsustainable global food value chains.

11/2020 – 12/2024

• European Commission, H2020, call H2020-RUR-2018-2020 (rural renaissance), topic RUR-06-2020

• Institut national de recherche pour l’agriculture, l’alimentation et l’environnement (INRAE) (Coordinator)
• Research Institutes of Sweden (RISE)
• FH JOANNEUM Gesellschaft mbH Graz (JOANNEUM)
• Universiteit Gent (UGENT)
• Fraunhofer Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Angewandten Forschung e.V., Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research (Fraunhofer ISI)
• Association de Coordination Technique pour l'Industrie Agroalimentaire (ACTIA)
• PACK4FOOD
• Confederazione Generale Dell Agricoltura Italiana (Confagricoltura)
• Petrel (PETREL)
• Scaldopack (SCALDOPACK)
• Sofies Group (SOFIES)
• Synelixis Lyseis Pliroforikis Automatismou & Tilepikoinonion Anonimi Etairia (SYNELIXIS)
• Biofruits SA (BIOFRUITS)
• Cogiterre SARL (COGITERRE)
• Laboratoires Standa (STANDA)
• Stymfalia SA (STYMFALIA)
• ISEKI-Food Association (IFA)
• Fondation Make.org (Make.org)
• Société de diffusion internationale agroalimentaire (SODIAAL)
• Greenyard Prepared (GPBE)

https://www.fairchain-h2020.eu