The FOLOU Twinning Regions Programme (TWRP) is designed to support European regions in tackling food loss challenges in primary production. Through this initiative, FOLOU is partnering with at least five regions committed to reducing food losses, offering tailored support to help them detect, quantify, and report food losses.

Key aspects of the Twinning Regions Programme include:

  • Quantifying Food Losses: A robust methodology to measure food losses at multiple levels, from individual plots to regional scales, tailored to specific crops.
  • Innovative Solutions: Regions will gain access to innovative technologies first tested at FOLOU’s pilot sites, aimed at reducing food losses.
  • Digital Food Loss Reporting: A digitalized system, the Food Loss Registry, will be introduced to help regions report and monitor food losses.
  • Sustainability Tool: Participants will test FOLOU’s Sustainability Tool to foster long-term food loss prevention strategies.

Regions participating in the Twinning Programme also benefit from certified training courses provided by the University of Reading and the FOLOU Learning Centre, ensuring they have the knowledge and tools to successfully implement food loss prevention practices.

With regulatory changes and increasing focus on reducing food losses to meet climate goals, regions will have the opportunity to lead efforts in this area, contributing to more sustainable agri-food systems. The Twinning Regions Programme will run from 2025 to 2026, with FOLOU partners providing expert guidance and support throughout the process.

If you represent a regional authority, food cluster, research institution, or farmer organization interested in joining, we encourage you to explore the opportunities. A digital brochure has been created where you can find all the relevant information, including:

  • Objectives of the FOLOU project
  • Details on the Twinning Regions Programme
  • Practical information on participation
  • Reasons to join the TWRP

Twinning Regions Profiles

The FOLOU Twinning Programme brings together 8 organisations from across Europe, each contributing unique expertise to address food loss. The Institute for Albanian Municipalities (Albania) is a civil society organisation focused on strengthening local governance, decentralisation, and regional development, actively supporting municipalities and promoting inter-municipal cooperation. YPARD Albania (Albania) is a youth-led network empowering young professionals in agriculture and rural development, fostering innovation, capacity building, and knowledge exchange. 

From Italy, the University of Pisa combines academic excellence and applied socio-economic research in agriculture, food systems, and sustainability, while Cà Colonna srl, an innovative organic farm in Ravenna, integrates production, processing, and research to pioneer circular and sustainable agro-food practices. ILVO (Belgium) and Wageningen Food & Biobased Research (The Netherlands) are leading applied research institutes advancing methods for monitoring, modelling, and reducing food loss and waste across the value chain. The Wielkopolska Region (Poland) contributes as a proactive regional authority implementing large-scale programmes to prevent food waste, and NEIKER (Spain), the Basque Institute for Agricultural Research, provides applied innovation and data-driven expertise in quantifying food losses and improving sustainability in primary production. 

These regions are spread out across Europe and are included in the following map:

You can find more information about each twinning region and their profile by clicking on the logos below:

Read our digital brochure on the FOLOU Twinning Regions Programme

Watch the recording of the TWRP launch event