ECO-READY: Living Lab PROBIO

Proving organic works in Czech conditions (and scaling it)

May 2024 – May 2026

Czech Organics coordinates the PROBIO Living Lab, part of the EU-funded Horizon Europe

project ECO-READY. The Living Lab brings together farmers, researchers, policymakers, and

industry actors to co-create and test solutions that strengthen the resilience of the

European food system to climate change and external shocks.

The Challenge

South Moravia is one of the Czech Republic’s most drought- and erosion-prone farming regions, and climate extremes are making yields and soil fertility less predictable for farmers. 

Our mission is to show—through real on-farm demonstrations and evidence—that organic farming can work in Czech conditions, and to identify what’s needed to scale it up.

What we did

We ran the PROBIO Living Lab as a hands-on “test and learn” platform with farmers, advisors, researchers, policymakers, and value-chain actors—focused on practical measures that can be replicated.

On Ekofarma PROBIO, we implemented five real-life test cases (spelt, buckwheat, alfalfa, crimson clover, and organic pig production) and linked them to concrete resilience measures such as cover crops, composting, improved rotations, and anti-erosion practices.

To make results measurable and transferable, we combined on-farm records with local monitoring (IoT/weather stations) and broader datasets such as climate projections and yield mapping—building a regional evidence base that supports better decisions and easier replication.

Outcomes & Impact

We demonstrated that organic farming can be productive and resilient in Czech conditions—including in drought-prone regions—when the right agronomy, monitoring, and farmer learning are in place.

We now have clear, replicable building blocks for scale-up, grounded in field demonstrations and data: tested practices by product type, a draft catalogue of resilience measures, and practical “what to do next” contingency planning.The Living Lab also sharpened the next step for impact at scale: designing fair remuneration for ecosystem services, so farmers are rewarded for outcomes society needs (healthy soil, biodiversity, water retention, and climate resilience). You can find the follow-up project here (link to regionalwert project

Partners

Czech Organics • Ekofarma PROBIO • PRO-BIO • WiderECO-READY consortium (18 partners in 11 European countries, plus a network of 10 Living Labs across Europe)