European agriculture and food systems are strongly impacted by many challenges such as soil erosion and degradation, water quality, loss of biodiversity, food insecurity, access to land and other productive resources, farmers' indebtedness, loss of farms, and climate change. Agroecology, as a way to design, develop, and promote the transition towards biodiversity-friendly, low environmental influencing, and socially and economically just farming and food systems, appear to be a fundamental approach to face these challenges.

Building a European network on agroecology to accelerate the transition towards sustainable agriculture and food systems (AE4EU) is a three-year project in January 2021. AE4EU aims to enable a successful transition to agroecology through joint actions at the European level in research, innovation, network training, and education. The overall goal of AE4EU is through reinforced network development and connection of a large diversity of relevant actors across Europe to accelerate the transition to sustainable agriculture and food systems. The project will analyze agroecology through its different pillars: a science, a set of practices, and a social movement.

The consortium consists of 12 European partners, including universities, multi-actor organizations, NGOs, and research institutes. The AE4EU covers six main objectives:

• Increase connections between relevant actors;
• Develop skills and methods for developing research infrastructure and living labs;
• Prepare funders for increased and complementary funding of agroecology;
• Improve human and social capital;
• Improve capacity to tailor policy interventions to specific situations;
• Provide a road map and a stakeholder network framework for a European partnership in agroecology.