Healthy Environmental-Friendly and Resilient Farm to Fork (HE-FARM)
- Type Project
- Status In progress
- Execution 2022 -2026
- Assigned Budget 4.999.895,00 €
- Scope Europeo
- Autonomous community Madrid, Comunidad de
- Main source of financing Horizon Europe 2021-2027
- Project website https://hefarm.eu/
HE-FARM aims to develop and validate a methodology based on experimental trials and tests in both laboratory and operational environments, to assess and predict biosafety at the transport channel level, while advancing several novel and innovative technologies.
How do pathogens and diseases reach a farm? Scientists are discovering methods to track and monitor the transport of microorganisms to understand transmission channels and the microbes themselves. In this context, the EU-funded HE-FARM project team will develop a new method based on laboratory and field testing. The aim is to predict the biosecurity of the transport channel and accelerate the maturity of several novel and groundbreaking technologies. Prototypes of novel biosecurity technologies will also be created and validated for operational environments such as cattle, pig, and poultry farms, a slaughterhouse and meat processing plant, and trucks. The project aligns with the European Union's Farm to Fork strategy to achieve a fair and healthy food system.
- Biosecurity risk analysis for selected F2F facilities. This analysis has been carried out at several FarmtoFork facilities, including various farms and a slaughterhouse, as a basis for the next task.
- Development of procedures and software for biosafety assessment in F2F. A new quantitative procedure and associated software have been developed.
- Review of existing and developing standards regarding biosecurity on farms. This has included standards under development.
- Experimental evaluation of microorganisms present in selected fomites (air and fomites, surfaces, animal skin and intestines, food, water, and waste). Pig, poultry, cattle, sheep, and snail farms, as well as a slaughterhouse, were selected. Several thousand species were shown to be present in aerosols.
- Experimental evaluation of microorganisms present in selected F2F farms. Pig, poultry, cow, sheep and snail farms, as well as a slaughterhouse, have been selected.
- Experimental characterization of the disease exposure history of animals using multiplexed serology
Despite the large number of pathogens and diseases, the number of transmission channels or transport routes through which microorganisms enter a farm or any other Farm2Fork facility is limited to just nine. Tracking or monitoring the transport of one or more microorganisms through a specific channel will provide valuable information about that channel and, therefore, about the transport efficiency for the entire group of microorganisms using it.
HE-FARM will develop and validate a methodology, based on trials and experimental tests in laboratory and operational environments, to evaluate and predict the biosafety resolved by the transport channel and, at the same time, increase the maturity of various innovative technologies.
- A software/app will be created to facilitate these procedures and will be proposed as a draft for a future EN standard.
- Prototypes of new biosecurity technologies will be further developed and validated in operational environments - including extensive and intensive farms of cattle, pigs, chickens, turkeys, sheep and snails, a slaughter and meat preparation plant and trucks
- Integrated smart detector of fast airborne viruses (PRRS and avian flu but easily extendable to other viruses with a huge impact such as African swine fever, whose early detection in the air in minutes will have a huge impact)
- Sanitization by low toxicity biocides and dynamic aggregation.
- Low toxicity insecticides and repellents, dynamic aggregation application, and environmentally friendly insect and arachnid prevention barriers and technologies.
- Rapid vehicle decontamination station.
- Biosecure and environmentally friendly pavilion with ventilation and heat cooling.
- Low-cost portable testing device for rapid measurement of microbiological metabolism.
- Farm water sanitization with cold plasma.
- Procedures and user manuals, training and performance evaluation method.
- Project Coordinator: José Luis Pérez Díaz
- Contact: jlperez@uah.es
- Universidad de Alcalá de Henares
- Instituto Madrileño de Investigación y Desarrollo Rural, Agrario y Alimentario (IMIDRA)
- CF- COUNTERFOG S.L.
- Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
- IP- INSTITUT PASTEUR
- UNIVET- ALLATORVOSTUDOMANYI EGYETEM
- IRD- INSTITUT DE RECHERCHE POUR LE DÉVELOPPEMENT
- NOVAP- NOVAPTECH
- SJT- SAN JORGE TECNOLÓGICAS S.L.
- CIOP- CENTRALNY INSTYTUT OCHRONY PRACY- PANSTWOWY INSTYTUT BADAWCZY
- ASRO- ASOCIATIA DE STANDARDIZARE DIN ROMANIA
- CATAL- ASSOCIAZIONE CLUSTER ALTA TECNOLOGIA AGRIFOOD LOMBARDIA
- INCAR- INDUSTRIAS CARNICAS LORIENTE PIQUERAS, S.A.U
- ICPOR- ICPOR CASTILLA LA MANCHA S.L.
- INRAE- INSTITUT NATIONAL DE RECHERCHE POUR L'AGRICULTURE, L'ALIMENTATION ET L'ENVIRONNEMENT