• fr
  • en

ENRD Seminar “Forging the Links – Connecting RDP Support to the Food & Drink Supply Chain”

Oenrd_logo_frn the 26th May 2016, a seminar was held by the European Network for Rural Development (ENRD) on the links between RDP (Rural Development Programme) Support and the Food & Drink Supply Chain in Brussels as part of the ENRD thematic work on ‘Smart and Competitive Rural Areas’. The thematic work is of particular interest for mountain actors as it gives tools to develop strategies based on the territorial assets of each rural area.

Focusing on cooperation and investments, the seminar looked at the opportunities provided within the RDPs to increase the competitiveness of sustainable products and service of farms, firms and other rural actors. It gathered stakeholders of the ENRD such as National and Regional Managing Authorities and European Union (EU) Organisations including Euromontana.

Smart and Competitive Rural Areas

The concept of smart specialisation is included in the EU 2020 strategies. Applying it to the development of rural areas, ENRD thematic work aims to identify strategies and tools available for enabling different types of rural areas to be economically competitive while at the same time preserving their natural resources and social cohesion.

Developing smart food supply chains

During the plenary session, the speakers highlighted critical action areas for developing smart food supply chains.  Jan Willem van der Schans from Wageningen University presented some innovative examples where power along the value chain was more fairly distributed.

Each innovation made use of the current system to have more efficient food chains and a better distribution of added value. The role of each actor was redefined putting in place shared production, processing, logistics or distribution and so filling better the needs of the actors.

Together with James Withers from Scotland Food & Drink, he stressed the challenges of building cooperation models including farmers and of developing policies including agriculture, food and health.

Using RDPs measures to tackle the critical action areas

Several workshops were organised to discuss about solutions to tackle those critical action areas using different measures of the RDPs. In each of the workshops, key points were identified to help enabling rural areas to be more competitive through adding value throughout the supply chain.

Inclusion has been mentioned several times during the workshops. Indeed, the participants stressed the essential need to include knowledge exchange, cooperation and continuity in the projects undertaken. In this process, both informal and formal advisory groups were recognised as very helpful to create synergy between the actors and to include farmers by offering them a space to innovate. The Measure 16 ‘cooperation’ of the RDPs is seen as a catalyser to help implementing such projects. However, it is still early to have a clear overview on its impact.

What comes next

ENRD will soon publish a factsheet to summarise the findings of the thematic group. For now, you can find more information on the corresponding webpage.

If you want to know more about smart specialisation, the European Commission has developed a S3 Platform providing advices to regional actors for the design and implementation of their research and innovation strategies for smart specialisation (RIS3). A platform specifically targeting agri-food will be launch soon.

Share
31 May 2016

Euromontana sur Facebook

5 days ago

Euromontana
Today, members of the Rural Pact Coordination Group (RPCG) meet online to discuss: • The forthcoming RPCG Declaration on the future of EU rural policy, which addresses the open questions in the @European Commission’s ‘key achievements and ways forward’ report;• RPCG members’ position papers on the future of Europe’s rural areas;• RPCG members’ role in the Rural Pact Conference of April 2025;• Members’ actions to date & the Rural Pact Support Office 2025 work programme.More information at: bit.ly/4fwtjnS#RuralPact #RuralVisionEU ... See MoreSee Less
View on Facebook

6 days ago

Euromontana
📢 #CallForProposals: you can now submit proposals for the #InternationalMountainConference!The international conference dedicated to #MountainResearch is taking place from 14-18 September 2025 in #Innsbruck. It is being organised by the Research Area “Mountain Regions” at the Universität Innsbruck ⛰️🇦🇹📝 The #IMC is currently looking for proposals focusing on scientific research in #MountainRegions around the world. There are six formats to choose from, including plenary sessions and workshops - find out more and submit your proposal by 28 November: loom.ly/ntncy_M ... See MoreSee Less
View on Facebook

2 weeks ago

Euromontana
We're at the #Gismart project Kick Off meeting in Paris today to share guidelines on communication, dissemination and exploitation of results 💡For the next two days, we will discuss the following steps to assess the sustainability of geographical indications all over Europe, including in the mountains ⛰️🌱🚜👩‍🌾 How to transition to more sustainable diet systems ? 🌱 How to implement the Farm to Fork Strategy?🥩🧀 how to develop a methodology to assess economic, social, environnemental dimensions of GIs sustainability?Pleased to be working on this key topic with INRAE and to continue collaboration with AREPO! More info on GI-SMART 🔗 www.euromontana.org/gi-smart/ ... See MoreSee Less
View on Facebook

3 weeks ago

Euromontana
🌄 A week ago, we were opening the #MountainConvention2024 in the stunning Catalan Pyrenees! 🏔️✨ 250 mountain stakeholders came together in Puigcerdà to shape the #MountainEconomies of tomorrow! 💬 In the face of socio-economic, environmental, and demographic transitions, our economies must become 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐬, 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 than ever! 💪🌱From fair remuneration of farmers & ecosystem services, to funding for the transition of mountain resorts, circular economy development for wool and wood products, support for entrepreneurship and interesting public procurement or taxes systems ... all a huge thank you to everyone for your energy and ideas! 🙌 These will be captured in the 𝐏𝐮𝐢𝐠𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐝𝐚̀ 𝐃𝐞𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, which will be presented on 11 December on International Mountain Day 📜🏔️🔜 Presentations and materials will soon be available! A special thank you to our co-organisers Territori. Generalitat de Catalunya. and CREAF, as well as our supporters Ajuntament de Puigcerdà , #NEMOR Network for European Mountain Research, European Rural Pact 🙏 ... See MoreSee Less
View on Facebook

Euromontana sur Twitter