Climate change on our doorstep
Climate change isn’t just something we see on the news – it’s affecting our lives right here at home.
I’m Mariya Hristova, a European Climate Pact Ambassador from Bulgaria, and I’ve seen firsthand how extreme weather is transforming our food and farming systems.
Across southern Europe, heatwaves and droughts have become so intense that crops are failing. Farmers are struggling to cope, often without access to the latest technologies like climate-resilient seeds.
At the same time, many young people have innovative ideas to make agrifood systems more sustainable – they just don’t know how to bring those ideas to market.
That’s why we – Mariya, Dilyana and Ivaylo, supported by Marta – founded AgriVentures.
“We knew innovative solutions to climate change existed and set out to find them.”
Unearthing green ideas that were left behind
When we launched AgriVentures in 2022, we were just four people trying to help our community. Our mission was clear: to help 3,000 young entrepreneurs turn their agrifood innovations into reality.
We wanted to bridge the gap between promising ideas, a fragmented startup ecosystem, and the farmers who need practical solutions to meet new EU sustainability goals, like the Carbon Removals and Carbon Farming Regulation.
In an emerging ecosystem like ours, it wasn’t easy at first. Researchers were often hesitant to work with a startup, and many farmers were unsure about adopting new technologies.
Our early challenge was to convince local entrepreneurs, academics and policymakers that sustainable innovation could support both climate action and economic growth.
To do that, we set up a project management team to access funding support and secured more than EUR 300 000 to expand our activities. This meant we could join forces with European partners and build programmes that bring together researchers, entrepreneurs, farmers and investors.
Together, we developed agriventures.co, a live online hub where agrifood innovators can find the right funding opportunities to grow their ideas.
Our collaborators now include entrepreneurs and researchers from across Bulgaria’s agrifood sector – such as Hot Farm, Ancestral Superfoods, Ondo Solutions, Smart Farm Robotix, Zero Wave, AgroVAR and Sofia University’s Faculty of Mathematics and Informatics – alongside creative ventures like Rosey’s Mark, Bevine, The Good Club and TRACEGROUND.
“What started as a grassroots NGO in Sofia grew into a regional initiative.”
Supporting agricultural innovation from the ground up
What started as a grassroots NGO in Sofia has now become a regional initiative. Today, AgriVentures has supported over 25 agrifood startups in emerging European regions.
We provide tailored support across six key agricultural areas, focusing on shared challenges across the European agrifood sector, with guidance from EU funding coordinators and sector specialists.
For example, we support projects that:
- create ingredients from agricultural waste;
- produce snacks from upcycled side-streams; and
- transform food waste into animal feed so it re-enters the food chain.
One area with great potential is circular agrifood, which prevents waste by finding profitable uses for by-products and ‘imperfect’ produce.
We also share resources on lifecycle assessment and environmental impact measurement, helping farmers reduce their emissions and adapt to climate change.
Many of the startups we mentor are already making measurable impacts. Their innovations include:
- biological crop treatments that cut the use of chemical products, and in turn the greenhouse gas emissions associated with manufacturing them;
- smart irrigation systems that save water and energy; and
- circular food products that emit fewer greenhouse gases than traditional agrifood models.
Building resilience through collaboration
For us as Pact Ambassadors, it’s not just about supporting green startups – it’s about changing the system.
We’ve learned that innovation ecosystems thrive when different people – from scientists to farmers – come together to create solutions. And they become even stronger when local efforts link up with European and global movements like the Climate Pact.
Through the Pact, we’ve shared examples of collective climate action and community engagement with our networks, inspiring more people from across the agricultural sector to get involved.
By supporting grassroots innovation in food and farming, we’re helping communities build resilience to climate change – and showing that local action can have Europe-wide impact.
“For us as Pact Ambassadors, it’s not just about supporting green startups – it’s about changing the system.”
Growing a sustainable future
Our AgriVentures journey is far from over.
We’ll keep supporting local entrepreneurs to bring their ideas to life, empowering the next generation of farmers and innovators to grow sustainably.
By turning climate challenges into opportunities, we can help ensure that food and farming stay resilient – and ready for the future.