FULCRUM – Transforming Food Systems Through Bioeconomy

FULCRUM (Fostering Equitable, Circular Bioeconomy and Resilient Unified Models) transforms European food systems by integrating circular-bioeconomy principles across both blue (marine/aquatic) and green (terrestrial) sectors. Operating in five Living Labs (Belgium, Italy, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands), FULCRUM employs a Food Systems Approach (FSA) to diagnose policy lock-ins, engage diverse stakeholders (including marginalized communities), and co-create inclusive policy and business-model innovations.

Achieving sustainable, resilient and just European food systems requires a genuine systems-based approach. Despite major initiatives like the EU Green Deal and the Farm-to-Fork Strategy, structural barriers in market formation, innovation processes and policy formulation keep food systems operating in silos, hindering the development of circular approaches with high added value. Food insecurity, malnutrition, biodiversity loss, climate change, and social injustices persist because reforms have traditionally addressed only environmental or economic objectives while neglecting the needs of smallholders, fishers, and other marginalised groups. FULCRUM addresses these shortcomings through the lens of a Food Systems Approach that considers food systems as interlinked socio-economic, political and ecological networks that include (green) terrestrial and (blue) aquatic production, processing, distribution, consumption, and waste. A co-design process follows CBE principles with equity-centred governance.

Our Theory of Change builds on engaging key stakeholders (i.e., policymakers, farmers, fishers, industry, civil society and consumers) in developing a circular-bioeconomy lens to develop transformative strategies for sustainable and equitable food systems through human-centred, equitable, and participatory mechanisms. They are supported by a robust food-systems analysis of ecological, socio-economic, and political interdependencies. The adoption of mechanisms like co-design steering groups with reserved memberships, grants for training and facilitation for capacity building, and participatory monitoring co-developed on fair income shares and market access will allow for the co-design of actionable, inclusive strategies to address structural lock-ins (policy misalignment, governance fragmentation) and build in equity guardrails into commercial incentives (sliding-scale benefit sharing, mandatory social-impact assessments, capped market concentration), that can ultimately lead to improving the resilience, sustainability, and justice of food systems across Europe. To test and refine these principles, we establish five regional Living Labs in Belgium, Germany, Italy, Norway, and the Netherlands, co-governed by a multi-actor forum and designed around local contexts. Alongside local experimentation, FULCRUM will provide a policy innovation toolkit with guidelines for each step of the co-design process, a digital dashboard with interactive real-time data and model simulations, bundles of training and workshop templates, business model canvases for different types of actors, and monitoring & evaluation frameworks with co-created KPIs. We first focus on nutrient loops, waste valorisation and equity as areas of scientific urgency, priority for stakeholders and poor consumer policy attention, but we also note that our circular actions (e.g. reduced runoff of synthetic fertilizers) will have biodiversity and greenhouse gas mitigation benefits. By the mid-term, we anticipate at least five co-designed measures accepted within regional or EU guidance frameworks, and the Living Labs reporting reductions in food-waste streams and increases in circular input rates. Ultimately, FULCRUM will produce a fully operational, co-designed policy toolkit that promotes equitable circular-bioeconomy transitions and will ensure there will be sustainable onboarding of the toolkit and an acceleration of resilient, resource- and climate-smart food systems across Europe.