GroundWork Open Call
Horizon Europe · Cascade funding
Summary
Not an R&D or investment call a Polish company can use, by Scindu's rule.
Funds farming entities implementing regenerative livestock grazing, soil monitoring and environmental assessments through a three-year support programme.
- Who can apply
- Companies cannot apply: farmer.
- Amount
- €27K per projectTotal budget €891,000
- Deadline
- 19 Nov 2026 16:00 CETin 26 days
- Status
- Openopened 1 Sept 2026
Machine-classified from the call text; check eligibility at the source.
Description
Our 3-year Regenerative Grazing Programme is designed to help farmers improve their farm's soil and environment by changing how their animals feed on the land (so-called "adaptive livestock management"). By joining this Regenerative Grazing Programme, farmers will become part of a local network of farmers and experts where they can share ideas, compare results, and learn from each other's experiences.
The overall objective of the Programme is to encourage Farmers to actively engage in regenerative farming, through simplicity, continuous guidance, access to finance & business consultation and data-driven communication.
The main activity expected from the Farming Projects is the implementation of Regenerative Livestock Grazing Practices based on regional farming realities and contexts.
Other activities:
• Soil health assessment.
• Pervasive soil health monitoring using sensors.
• Animal welfare assessment.
• Environmental performance assessment (Environmental Life Cycle AssessmentELCA).
• Social impact assessment.
• Sharing expertise, ideas exchange, and RLGPs co-design.
The Programme is divided into 3 main stages over the 36 months. Farmers will receive their grant in installments upon the successful completion of each stage.
The GroundWork Project "Regenerative living labs to improve soil ecosystem functions by adapting agricultural land use with livestock integration" addresses a critical environmental and economic challenge: currently, 60-70% of soils in the EU are degraded due to climate change and unsustainable agricultural practices, costing the EU an estimated €50 billion annually. Because intensive livestock farming is a major driver of this degradation, GroundWork aims to catalyse the transformation of the European livestock and agricultural sector.
A central pillar of GroundWork's strategy is the use of Financial Support to Third Parties (FSTP), which is designed to directly involve farmers in the Living Labs and minimize the economic risks of dedicating their land to experimentation. The project will distribute FSTP funding to 75 regenerative farming projects in total. 42 initial experimental sites have been pre-selected to immediately launch the LLs operations, while up to 33 additional farming projects will be engaged through the GroundWork Open Call.
Find more information at:
https://opportunities.getonepass.eu/open-opportunities/groundwork-farms
https://groundwork-project.eu/
GroundWork will support up to 33 Farming Projects in this Open Call, distributed:
●PT LL – up to 7 Farming Projects
●DE LL – up to 5 Farming Projects
●BE LL – up to 7 Farming Projects
●RS LL – up to 7 Farming Projects
●SE LL – up to 7 Farming Projects
The total budget available for this Open Call is EUR 891.000,00 (EUR 27.000,00 per Farming Project).
Who can apply, in detail
- Applicant types
- Farmer
- Purpose
- Energy, environment, infrastructure
- R&D relevance
- 0 of 3
- Poland eligible
- Unclear
- Country limit
- Portugal, Germany, Belgium, Sweden and Serbia; applicants outside Living Lab areas may exceptionally be considered.
- Region
- Any
- Consortium
- Single applicant
- Readiness level (TRL)
- —
- Per project
- €27K
- Topics
- Regenerative grazing
- Soil health monitoring
- Animal welfare
- Environmental assessment
Machine-classified from the call text; check eligibility at the source. 23 Oct 2026
Conditions
Typed facts extracted from the source documents by Scindu's grant-data review. Each value keeps its own conditions. Unknown means unstated, not zero or unlimited.
- Applicant type
- Farmers and individual entities engaged in farming activities, regardless of legal form.
- Application restriction
- The Open Call opened 1 September 2026 at 09:00 Brussels time and closes 19 November 2026 at 15:00 Brussels time.
- Eligible geography
- Living Lab countries: Portugal, Germany, Belgium, Sweden and Serbia; applicants outside the Living Lab areas may be considered only in special, justified cases.
- Eligible project scope
- Main activity: implement Regenerative Livestock Grazing Practices. Other listed activities: soil-health assessment and monitoring, animal-welfare assessment, environmental life-cycle assessment, social-impact assessment, and sharing expertise and co-design.
- Other condition
- Selected farmers must commit an experimental site for three years, own or lease the farm for that period, and own/manage livestock as part of the land use. These are beneficiary participation requirements, not job qualifications.
- Other condition
- Lump-sum payments are contingent on successful and timely completion of the Custom Farm Evolution Plan milestones: up to EUR 3,000 at M1, EUR 6,000 at M12, EUR 9,000 at M24, and EUR 9,000 at M36. The call states that payments follow agreed deliverables rather than receipts.
- Expected project duration
- 36 month
The call defines a 36-month Regenerative Grazing Programme; this is the programme duration, not a staff contract duration.
Amounts and costs
- Indicative budget
- €891,000
Topic budget as stated in the portal's budget table. Lump-sum and per-project limits are in the call conditions.
- Funding per beneficiary, maximum
- €27,000
Maximum lump-sum support for one selected Farming Entity over the 36-month programme.
- Call allocation
- €891,000
The official terms allocate up to 33 projects across five Living Labs; individual project grants are capped separately.
Call facts
- Opens
- 1 Sept 2026
- Deadline model
- Single-stage
- Programme
- Horizon Europe · 2021 - 2027
- Call
- GroundWork Open Call
- Types of action
- —
- Source
- ec.europa.eu
- Checked
- 23 Oct 2026
- Portal updated
- 31 Aug 2026
- Review status
- Partial review
- Reviewed
- 23 Oct 2026
This is a summary of the source page, not the official text. Eligibility, conditions and the submission system are at the source.