The PATHWAYS project will deliver co-developed transition pathways that directly address societal demands for increased resilience in the provision of safe, nutritious, affordable livestock-based food, whilst reducing environmental impacts, and supporting the economic sustainability of the European livestock sector. Visions, scenarios and transition pathways will be co-developed through an ambitious participatory approach based on innovative practice hubs, living labs and interaction within a European multi-actor platform and a wider community of practice. Existing and future, co-designed livestock systems will be characterised and assessed within a scientifically robust, holistic sustainability assessment framework, comprising refined key performance indicators and cutting-edge models, to enhance understanding of productivity, biodiversity, health and welfare, greenhouse gas emissions, human nutrition, trade and economics, and ecosystem service impacts. Living labs and practice hubs will identify bottom-up interventions and adoption routes that will drive a transition to improved livestock system development. Consumer preferences, diet choices and willingness to pay will be supported by consequential LCA and economic analysis of trade and supply chain impacts, addressed through stakeholder input and modelling. The participatory development and application of a holistic sustainability assessment will deliver a scientifically robust analysis for the co-development of scenarios and transition pathways to inform key stakeholders throughout livestock-based food systems, driving a transition to greater sustainability. PATHWAYS will improve the role of livestock in supporting a circular bioeconomy and the place of animal products in future diets through an interactive online platform and policy toolkit to provide user-friendly instruments for a range of stakeholders.

Ensuring a sustainable food system requires, above all other factors, re-entrusting our primary production to the guardians of our territory, the owners of small- and medium-sized farms and farm structures in rural areas. GUARDIANS focuses on understanding their challenges and empowering them with a set of digital innovative solutions that will help them to bridge the current technological gap between small and large farms. GUARDIANS will put in place a set of cost-effective and human-centric digital solutions, which aim to support and empower the penetration, sustainability and resilience of more agroecological farming models, like regenerative agriculture, natural grazing, alternative managed grazing strategies, and the promotion of pollinators in different farm structures. To do this, a multi-actor co-creation methodology, a set of adoption pathways and 9 different technologies, combining software and hardware (i.e. drones, sensors), will be customized to cover the farmers' needs. These digital solutions will be tested through a total of 24 small- and medium-sized farms and farm structures with a wide range of production types (arable crops, woody crops, grassland and livestock production) in 6 pilots represented by farming cooperatives (acting as one stop shops) from 5 different countries with diverse environmental, climatic and socio-economic conditions. As a result, GUARDIANS will increase the uptake of innovative digital technologies by farmers, guaranteed by the use of a multi-actor approach, integrating farmers and agricultural stakeholders at all stages of the project, as well as scientists, technicians and SMEs. Cascade funding and connections to specific stakeholders (agricultural cooperatives, agrifood hubs, DIHs, OGs) will be used as multipliers to allow GUARDIANS to roll up its impact throughout Europe. It is expected to roll-out and replicate GUARDIANS results up to 92 farms around Europe during the project duration.