IXth European Mountain Convention: presentations

Day 2 – Thursday 23 October 2014

Session 1: Opening: Mountain supply chains in European policies 2014-2020

“Quality bringing prosperity to European mountain territories: the European Charter for mountain food products coming true and inspiring the whole mountain economy”, Juanan Gutiérrez Lazpita, President of Euromontana
“The new Common Agricultural Policy: a promising toolbox for mountain supply chains” Jerzy Plewa, Director General of the DG for Agriculture, European Commission
“Ambitious national policies for mountain supply chains” Video-message from the Maurizio Martina, Italian Minister of Agriculture and President of the European Council
“Mountain supply chains at the heart of mountain regions development strategies” Bittor Oroz, Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Policy of the Basque Government

Session 2: Academic and international approaches: why do mountain supply chains matter?

“The valorisation of mountain farming in the International Year of Family Farming-2014”, Rosa Laura Romeo, Programme Officer, Secretary of the Mountain Partnership of the FAO and Auxtin Ortiz, Director General of the World Rural Forum
“Territorial development through marketing of products: state of the art” Camille Chamard, Professor and Director of the Pau-Bayonne Institute for Business Management

Session 3: Mountain supply chain development: key challenges and opportunities, how can the CAP respond?

1. INNOVATION- Mountain products, territories and innovation – Languages: FR-EN- Moderator: Robin Clarke (Highlands, Scotland)

Recovery of the old mountain vineyards in Asturias, creation of the Vinos de Cangas Denomination of Origin, Carmen Martinez Rodriguez, Director of the research team, Biological Mission of Galicia, CSIC (Galicia, Spain)
Meat cutting and processing room in Brioude to improve local organic and mountain production, Emilien Piroux, Farmer, Young Farmers (Haute Loire, Auvergne, France)
Innovating Agriculture: “Fresh and Ready to eat” Produce in Umbria, Luciano Concezzi, Head of Innovation and Research Dept. of Umbria 3A Agrofood Technology Park (Umbria, Italy).

2. TERRITORIAL APPROACH- Cross-fertilising promotion of products and territories -Languages: ES-FR – Moderator: Laurent Gomez (AREPO, Association of European Regions for Products of Origin, Belgium)

GREEN MOUNTAIN – A Sustainable Development Model for Green Mountain Areas, Claudio Carlone, Project Coordinator, Province of Maccerata (Maccerata, Italy).
Experience, products and territories: how do the agricultural mountain sectors transform their specificities into economic realities? The example of the dairy sheep sector of the Atlantic Pyrenees, Jean Michel Anxolabehere, President of the Association of Chambers of Agriculture of the Pyrenees (ACAP) (Atlantic Pyrenees, France)
The products of the Ariège Pyrenees Regional Park: a territorial strategy to build a multi-network and multi-player range, Matthieu Cruège, Director of the Ariège Pyrenees Regional Nature Park (Ariège, Midi-Pyrénées, France)

3. SOCIAL-ECONOMIC IMPACT- Mountain supply chains, income generation and employment – Languages: ES-EN – Moderator: Eivind Brenna, (Oppland government, Norway)

Local mountain supply chain for a higher added value – Planika dairy case study, Miro Kristan, Head of Department, Soča Valley Development Centre (Soča Valley, Slovenia)
The Brimi Cuisine Education Office is a joint effort between tourism companies in the Jotunheimen area, Bjørg Aaseng Vole, Opplæringskontoret Brimikjøken (Oppland, Norway)
Eco Wine and FSC Cork: a Driving Force of Rural Development, Lourdes Hernández Martínez, External consultant, WWF Spain (Spain)

4. ENVIRONMENT AND HERITAGE- Mountain products and preservation of the environment and heritage- Languages: FR-EN – Moderator: Thierry Percie du Sert, (ARPE, Agency for Sustainable Development, Midi-Pyrénées, France)

Economountain, Economy of biodiversity in the mountain area of Vila Pouca de Aguiar, Henrique Pereira dos Santos, Project Manager, Aguiar Floresta, (Alto Trás-os-Montes, Norte Region, Portugal).
General agricultural contest of flowering meadows, Marc Sitter, Project Manager Permanent (Assembly of Chambers of Agriculture, APCA, France)
Using Biodiversity to promote Mountain Agricultural Products, Mário Agostinho, Environmental/Biodiversity specialist, Sinergiae Ambiente, Lda., member of ADVID (Association for the Development of Viticulture in the Douro Region, Douro, Norte Region, Portugal).

5. MARKETING STRATEGIES- Attracting consumer’s attention in a competitive environment: comparing different marketing strategies adapted to different contexts: – Languages: ES-EN – Moderator: Alazne Uribarri (HAZI, Basque Country)

Creation and implementation of an interprofessional group branding with “mountain” classification for pork meat in France. Project of the “Mountain Origin” brand, Bruno Dounies, Mountain Pork Association (APM) (France)
Branding products from dairy summer farms, Katharina Sparstad, Farmer, Norskseterkultur (Norwegian Transhumance and Pastoralist Association), (Norway)
Food & Biodiversity – development & research, Fergus Younger, Project Manager, Scottish Agricultural Organisation Society, (Scotland, United Kingdom)

6. TOOLS – Quality improvement, traceability and control – Languages: ES-FR – Moderator: Théo Gning (FNSEA, National Federation of Farmers’ Unions, France)

Basque Country “Euskal Okela” beef certification: from the farm to the consumer, Estibalitz Isasti Muguruza, Sectoral Enabler, HAZI (Basque Country, Spain)
How to differentiate mountain production? The example of Mon lait: A “Mountain” based producers’ brand, Maryline Crouzet, Director, SIDAM Network of Chambers of Agriculture (OIER) of the Central Massif (Massif Central, France)
Branding food products from the mountain region of Valdres in the south of Norway, Marit Blomlie, Manager, Valdres Nature and Culture Park (Oppland, Norway)

Conclusions

You can find here the conclusions of these workshops: Innovation – Territorial approach – Socio-economic impact – Environment – Marketing and Tools.

Day 3 – Friday 24 October 2014

Session 4: Networking and strategies for dynamic mountain supply chains

Improving networking and cooperation among mountain supply chain actors – Languages: ES-FR – Moderator: Thomas Egger (SAB- Swiss Centre for Mountain Regions, Switzerland)

Douro Region Wine Cluster, Jose Manso, Chairman of the Board, ADVID (Association for the Development of Viticulture in the Douro Region, Douro, Norte Region, Portugal).
Pyrenees Brand Project, Philippe Machenaud, President of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (CCI) of the Pyrenees (France)

Developing better synergies between mountain value chains and tourism – Languages: ES-EN – – Moderator: Dave Robert (Development and Infrastructure Service. Highland Council HQ)

Mountain Products Road in Croatia, Danijel Bertović, Chairman of the Board, (Local Development Agency PINS, Croatia)
Promoting agricultural and artisanal business in the Alpine region tourist industry, Christophe Leger, Farmer, (SUACI, Alpes du Nord, France)
Marketing Tourist Farms in Brkini and Kras, Marie Clotteau, Project Manager, Euromontana (Slovenia).

Preparing local development strategies integrating ambitious plans for mountain products development: LEADER initiatives – Languages: FR-EN- ES – Moderator: Aurelio García Bermudez (REDER, Spanish Network for Rural Development, Spain)

“C’nos terroirs”: a rural sales point anchored in your territory! Francois Thabuis, Farmer, Young Farmers (Haute Loire, Auvergne, France)
ITERA-AA, cooperating for innovation in production processes and in agrifood produce sale in the rural area, Edurne De Miguel Zufiaurre, Agent for Employment and Local Development, (Cederna Garalur, Navarre, Spain)

Session 5: Designing the way forward for mountain supply chain development

Report from session 4:

How can policy-makers and management authorities support these initiatives within the framework of future European policies, especially through LEADER/CLL. Debate with administrative authorities from 5 countries.

George Farlow, Councillor, The Highlands Council, Scotland
Claude Comet, Managing Director of the Regional Council for tourism and mountain, Rhône-Alpes Region (France)
Theano Vrentzou-Skordalaki, Deputy Governor of the Region of Crete
Bittor Oroz, Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Policy of the Basque Government
Domènec Vila Navarra, Director General of Food, Quality and Agrifood Industries of Generalitat de Catalunya

Closure of the event by the President of Euromontana, Juanan Gutiérrez and the Director of Rural and Coastal Development and European Policies, Elena Gutiérrez.