GEORGIA
Green dEal cOmpliant iRriGation
Increasing Europe’s Agriculture resilience to drought
| GEORGIA Basic Info | |
| Call: | HORIZON-CL6-2024-CLIMATE-01 |
| Topic: | HORIZON-CL6-2024-CLIMATE-01-1 |
| Type of action: | HORIZON Innovation Actions |
| GA No. | 101181572 |
| Starting Date: | 01/02/2025 |
| Duration: | 36 Months |
Ambition:
The GEORGIA project is dedicated to turn water management and soil health challenges into opportunities for sustainable growth and innovation. Aligned with Europe’s Green Deal objectives, GEORGIA is driving an agricultural transformation that is environmentally sound, socially equitable and economically viable. By combining agricultural expertise with AI-powered digital tools and technologies, GEORGIA advances water management and irrigation practices, while utilizing alternative and recycled water sources. The project promotes sustainable crop production and improved soil health, building resilience to climate change. Through holistic agricultural approaches and the integration of advanced technologies, GEORGIA empowers farmers with enhanced competitiveness and fair income opportunities.
GEORGIA’s partners envision a future where resource efficiency, ecological balance, and societal well-being come together to create a resilient and prosperous European agriculture.
16 Partners / 9 Countries
Austria
Poland
Luxembug
Belgium
Serbia
Bulgaria
Greece
Italy
Cyprus
Challenges
Water scarcity in agriculture.
- Over 70% of available drinking water is used for crop irrigation.
- More than 60% of irrigation water is lost to overirrigation
Soil degradation
- Overirrigation depletes natural soil nutrients, hindering healthy crop growth
- More than 220,000 tonnes of chemical fertilizers and pesticides used annually in the EU, contaminating aquifers, threatening fragile ecosystems and driving up the cost of crop production
GEORGIA Objectives
1
Explore societal, regulatory, and technological needs, drivers, and barriers for new irrigation practices; design and develop models through multi-actor, co-creation processes to increase the uptake in practice
2
Develop insight and mechanisms for safe and environmentally – responsible usage of sewage sludge and other biowaste streams as well as their nutrients
3
Upscale of the on-farm water management practices and results at the catchment level, optimizing catchment- based agricultural production as well as reduction of runoff patterns and changes in hydrological cycles
4
Introduce novel tools for efficient combined use of water and fertilizers via irrigation for different agricultural systems and types of productions, including agroecology; Improve practices and solutions in small and large-scale farms to deal with the effects of water abundance (rapid showers, floods) and/or water scarcity
5
Demonstrate and validate innovative irrigation schemes including forms of alternative water for agriculture and climate change, evaluating their socio-economic, environmental and health impacts
6
Maximize impact to the agricultural community and policy level through Dissemination, Exploitation and Commercialization, provide recommendations for incentives and policies at regional, national and EU-level and create a Culture of Sustainability
Target groups of GEORGIA project
- Agriculture, forestry, and wetland actors: Owners of small and large scale farms, forestry actors, farmers’ and forestry cooperatives and associations, actors involved in grassland, cropland and wetland management
- Industry, private companies and Supply Chain Partners and Retailers: SMEs, Biowaste Management Companies in collection and management of biowaste, companies involved in the agricultural supply chain and retail of agricultural products
- Technology providers: ICT/high tech companies (R&I, AI, IoT), technology clusters working on irrigation technologies and innovations on sustainable farming systems
- Academia and research institutions: Universities, research institutes of relevant scientific disciplines (agriculture, water management, climate change)
- Policy Makers & Public Authorities: Policy makers and regulators on regional, national, european or international level, Public administration bodies, Water Management Authorities supporting innovative irrigation technologies
- Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs): focused on sustainable agriculture and environmental conservation interested in supporting and advocating for the adoption of eco-friendly irrigation practices
- Civil society: Citizens and citizens groups, consumers
English 
German 
Greek 
Bulgarian 
Italian 
Dutch 
Serbian 
Polish