Agricultural landscapes play a key role in addressing biodiversity loss, climate change, and food security in Europe. With the EU Nature Restoration Regulation, Member States are now required to restore ecosystems, including agricultural ecosystems, while ensuring that restoration is practical, socially grounded and compatible with viable farming systems. The Horizon Europe project BALANCE supports this challenge by demonstrating how farming systems can be nature-positive while remaining economically viable and embedded in local realities.

Across six European regions, BALANCE brings together farmers, policymakers, researchers and societal partners to develop integrated pathways towards nature-positive farming. Rather than focusing on isolated measures, the project takes a systemic approach: it examines how agricultural landscapes can be transformed in ways that combine food production, biodiversity recovery, soil health, pollinator protection, landscape diversity and integrity and farm viability. The project will develop practical tools, evidence-based guidance and policy recommendations to support the implementation of the EU Nature Restoration Regulation and the transition towards resilient, nature-positive agricultural systems.

Ecologic Institute’s role in BALANCE

Ecologic Institute leads and contributes to BALANCE with expertise on nature restoration policy, agricultural biodiversity, governance, policy instruments and implementation pathways. Ecologic Institute leads several key tasks that connect scientific evidence, policy design and practical implementation.

In Work Package 2, Ecologic Institute co-leads the assessment of nature restoration targets, agricultural landscape types and restoration measures. This includes reviewing restoration measures proposed in Member States’ draft National Restoration Plans, assessing their feasibility and ambition, and supporting the development of a landscape typology that can guide context-specific restoration approaches.

In Work Package 5, Ecologic Institute leads work on an effective policy mix for upscaling nature-positive farming systems. This task will assess policy gaps and needs and develop recommendations for comprehensive policy approaches that combine regulatory, financial, economic and communicative instruments. The recommendations will also consider the role of public and private actors and will be refined through stakeholder consultation and an EU-level workshop.

Ecologic Institute also leads Work Package 6 on implementation pathways. This work synthesises findings from across the project to identify how nature-positive farming can support nature restoration, food security and farm viability. Building on insights from the project’s case studies, economic assessments, biodiversity analyses and policy work, Ecologic Institute will coordinate the development of practical implementation pathways for different target groups. The outputs will include a practice brief for farmers and land managers and a policy brief for public and private decision-makers.

Through these activities, Ecologic Institute helps ensure that BALANCE delivers policy-relevant, practice-oriented and scientifically grounded results. Its role is to connect EU nature restoration policy with the realities of agricultural landscapes and to support pathways that enable farmers, land managers and policymakers to advance biodiversity restoration while maintaining viable farming systems.