Agriculture is under increasing pressure to reduce emissions while maintaining productivity, protecting biodiversity and ensuring farmers remain economically resilient. At the same time, renewable energy offers new opportunities for farms to diversify their income and contribute to Europe’s energy transition.

HarvRESt is a Horizon Europe project that helps bridge these two worlds. By combining renewable energy integration, artificial intelligence, digital decision-support tools and stakeholder co-creation, the project develops practical solutions that enable farms to become active players in a climate-neutral energy system while strengthening agricultural competitiveness.

Why it matters

The energy transition and food production increasingly compete for the same land and resources. While renewable energy technologies can create significant value for agricultural businesses, their deployment often faces technical, economic, regulatory and social barriers.

Many existing initiatives address only part of the challenge. Farmers need reliable evidence, practical business models and decision-making tools that consider the complexity of agricultural operations, local conditions and community needs.

HarvRESt addresses this gap by demonstrating how renewable energy can be integrated into farming systems without compromising food production. Instead, renewable energy becomes an additional asset that improves resource efficiency, strengthens farm resilience and creates new economic opportunities for rural communities.

What the project does

HarvRESt develops an integrated framework to support renewable energy deployment across different agricultural contexts.

The project combines:

• an Agricultural Virtual Power Plant capable of simulating multiple renewable energy scenarios and farm configurations;
• AI-powered decision support tools that help farmers and policymakers evaluate trade-offs and identify the most suitable renewable energy solutions;
• innovative cooperative business models that encourage collaboration within agricultural communities;
• stakeholder engagement and co-creation activities that ensure solutions reflect real operational needs;
• training materials and capacity-building programmes to support farmers throughout the transition.

The approach is validated across four demonstration cases representing different farm typologies, geographical conditions, organisational structures and renewable energy technologies, creating a knowledge hub that can be replicated across Europe.

Expected impact

HarvRESt contributes to a future where farms are not only food producers, but also active participants in Europe’s clean energy system.

By integrating renewable energy into agricultural operations, the project aims to:

• reduce greenhouse gas emissions from farming;
• improve the efficient use of natural resources;
• diversify farmers’ revenues through renewable energy services;
• support climate-neutral and resilient agricultural businesses;
• strengthen rural communities through cooperative energy models;
• provide policymakers with evidence-based tools for future agricultural and energy policies.

Ultimately, HarvRESt demonstrates how renewable energy can reinforce—not compete with—sustainable food production.

Engreen’s role

Within HarvRESt, Engreen leads the stakeholder engagement strategy that supports the development of new cooperative business models for renewable energy integration in agriculture.

Working closely with farmers, agricultural organisations and local stakeholders, Engreen facilitates co-creation activities that ensure technical innovation is aligned with real operational needs and community priorities. The company contributes to designing engagement methodologies that encourage collaboration between the energy and agricultural sectors, helping build scalable governance and business models that can accelerate renewable energy adoption across European farms.

Consortium

Coordinator

• Fundación CIRCE – Centro de Investigación de Recursos y Consumos Energéticos (Spain)

Partners

• Fundació Universitària Balmes (UVic-UCC) (Spain)
• NORCE Norwegian Research Centre AS (Norway)
• Tecnoalimenti SCPA (Italy)
• White Research SRL (Belgium)
• Suite5 Data Intelligence Solutions Ltd (Cyprus)
• Engreen SRL (Italy)
• ConTerra APS (Denmark)
• Confederazione Generale dell’Agricoltura Italiana – Confagricoltura (Italy)
• Viñas del Vero SA (Spain)
• ACSA Obras e Infraestructuras SAU (Spain)
• Grønn Gardsenergi AS (Norway)
• FBCD AS (Denmark)
• Climate-KIC Holding BV (Netherlands)

Official website: https://www.harvrest.eu/

Funded by the European Union under Grant Agreement No. 101136904. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Research Executive Agency (REA). Neither the European Union nor REA can be held responsible for them.