Project overview
There’s a pressing need to transform existing food systems to address economic, social, environmental and health-related issues.
To address the shortcomings of long and short food value chains while capitalising on their advantages, FAIRCHAIN will focus on the development of intermediate food value chains.
This model displays characteristics of both short value chains (relocation and proximity between operators; shared social values and search for social cohesion; higher quality products) and long value chains (presence of several intermediaries; larger production volumes; improved logistics and distribution).
Our project is an Innovation Action funded by the Horizon 2020 framework programme that will run between November 2020 through to October 2024.
FARCHAIN is one of the three project selected within the RUR-06-2020 call (“Innovative agri-food value chains: boosting sustainability-oriented competitiveness” topic, “Empowerment of rural areas, support to policies and rural innovation” part of the work programme).
The total budget for the project is 8.036M EUR, with the European Union contributing 6.996M EUR.

Challenge & objectives
FAIRCHAIN seeks to enable small and mid-size farmers and food producers to scale up and expand production of nutritious food through competitive intermediate value chains at the local and regional levels.
Test, pilot and demonstrate technological, organisational, social innovations that have the potential to facilitate the aforementioned objective, delivering a set of proven innovations (TRL7).
Develop business models associated to these innovations and carry out environmental, economic and social impact assessment.
Formulate recommendations and produce tools and guidance documents to ensure uptake and replicability of value chains developed within FAIRCHAIN.
Our case studies
The six case studies represent a value chain in the fruit, vegetable or dairy sectors involving small and mid-sized actors facing an unsatisfactory situation. FAIRCHAIN will pilot, test and demonstrate technological, social and/or organisational innovations with the potential to bridge existing gaps.
Switzerland
Co-product valorisation and generation of additional added value for SMEs and regional stakeholders
France
Production of innovative dairy drinks based on co-products of cheese manufacturing
Sweden
Developing wild berry business to boost local economy and social cohesion
Belgium
Innovative packaging machine for small and mid-sized actors
Greece
Traceability and reliable information sharing in local dairy production
Austria
Food innovation incubator
Case Studies
Innovations Tested
Partners Involved
Countries Represented
News, Events & Publications

FAIRCHAIN tests Blockchain solution to communicate dairy product information to consumers
The FAIRCHAIN Blockchain solution is being evaluated as part of the Greek case study at the Stymphalia dairy premises. It concerns yogurt and...

FoodFactory-4-Us Competition 2023 – FINAL CONFERENCE
The 2023 FoodFactory-4-Us competition on "Increasing innovation in existing short food supply chains (SFSC) to make them stronger and more...

New e-learning course: From Short to Intermediate Food Value Chains
A new course has been designed as part of the FAIRCHAIN project for Short Food Supply Chain (SFSC) entrepreneurs interested in growing their...