H2020 MED-GOLD Project: Converting climate information into added value for traditional Mediterranean food systems based on grapes, olives, and durum wheat

Climate service prototypes were co-produced, tested, and validated with key industrial actors in the global food system, using MED-GOLD-linked methods for user engagement and data processing and visualization in the cloud (i.e., the ICT platform). This enabled unprecedented replicability and scalability across regions, sectors, and users, as demonstrated in Colombia with coffee, the world's leading agricultural commodity. Through online surveys and participatory workshops in five languages, the services' usability and scalability potential were assessed with a broader community of users not involved in their development.

An ICT platform was developed as a scalable, modular, cloud-based computing system that enables services such as: running traditional cropping system models; displaying customized visualization dashboards; connecting existing decision support tools and simulation models with state-of-the-art climate data sources (e.g., https://cds.climate.copernicus.eu/). (opens in new window) Processing seasonal climate forecast data with on-the-fly bias correction. The platform was released as open source (see https://github.com/medgold-ict-platform). Colombian coffee provided a case study to test the replicability of MED-GOLD climate services, showing high potential benefits in terms of informing regional crop management and policymaking. The analysis of the EU market for climate services and the development of a business plan provided a solid basis for the commercialization of the prototype services, by describing the value creation and service delivery processes.

The project built better-informed and connected communities of end-users and policymakers for the global olive oil, wine, and pasta food systems by presenting at over 50 international events; organizing 12 participatory workshops, including eight; hosting two online training events and four webinars; and publishing fact sheets, user guides, infographics, videos, a policy brief, and a glossary, all in six languages (English, Greek, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and Italian). This was in addition to the multimedia and multilingual communication implemented throughout the project and 25 published scientific articles, in addition to a special project issue that will appear in the journal Climate Services.

The COVID-19 emergency significantly impacted the project. Considerable effort was devoted to converting planned in-person activities into online activities. A notable outcome was the final MED-GOLD presentation event, with over 300 registered contacts from around the world and speakers from industry, NGOs, international institutions, and the policy community. Industry users in the MED-GOLD consortium shared success stories, and the event allowed participants to share and exchange ideas on the potential for applying and using MED-GOLD pilot services in their own cross-sectoral decision-making contexts. Key dissemination materials produced by the project are available through the MED-GOLD Horizon 2020 Project Community on Zenodo (https://zenodo.org/communities/med-gold/).