National seminars
Our five national seminars were held during July 2014 in France, Italy, Slovenia, Romania and Portugal. The seminars assembled mountain rural actors which are ready to disseminate information widely, contribute actively to the efficient use of opportunities offered by the new CAP, and make concrete contributions in preparation for the European Mountain Convention, to be held on 22-24 October 2014 in Bilbao (Spain).
The seminars involved governmental representatives and regional actors in order to introduce the new CAP and other European policies for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. In particular, Member State choices for implementation were presented and discussed, as well as the quality policy including the optional quality term « mountain product ».
The informative introduction was followed by interactive sessions where participants had the opportunity to discuss how CAP can best support mountain initiatives. As a result of these exchanges, participants contributed to develop action plans to develop mountain supply chains with the support of the CAP tools.
The outcomes of the five national seminars will be gathered in a five country factsheets, summarising how the new CAP can successfully be implemented in each country, what is the situation of mountain supply chains in the concerned country, or what are the preferred rural development measures.
Calendar of seminars
- 10 July 2014 Seminar in Clermont-Ferrand (France) organised by MACEO
- 10 July 2014 Seminar in Maribor (Slovenia) organised by the Faculty of Agriculture and Life Sciences (University of Maribor)
- 12 July 2014 Seminar in Brasov (Romania) organised by AGROM-RO
- 16 July 2014 Seminar in Milan (Italy) organised by ERSAF
- 18 July 2014 Seminar in Braganza (Portugal) organised by the Polytechnic Institute of Braganza
European Conference
The European Conference will be the major event within our campaign « A new CAP – Mountains of Opportunities”. With the title “Quality from the mountains: prosperity for people and territories”, it will be held on 22–24 October in Bilbao (Spain).
Objectives:
- Explore how new European policies, and especially the CAP in the EU, can contribute to the structuring of supply chains and territories through brands and labels highlighting the added value of specific territories and the mountain dimension: possibilities offered by the European framework and used (or not) in programmes of the different regions and member states – also comparing with non-EU states.
- Facilitate exchange of ideas between mountain LAGs in order to compare and improve their draft local development strategies regarding territorial marketing and added value of mountain products: benchmarking, presentation of interesting initiatives.
- Explore to what extent the family dimension of mountain farming can be highlighted positively in product and services labelling and promotion strategies.
- Prepare contributions for the world exhibition 2015 “Feeding the planet, energy for life”: how can mountain quality productions respond to the food security challenges of tomorrow?
The conference aims to gather actors along the whole supply chain from the farmer to the consumer, such as farmers, rural businesses and tourism stakeholders, mountain local action groups, development agencies, researchers, and technical institutes.
6 main themes will be discussed through workshops:
- INNOVATION – Mountain products, territories and innovation
- TERRITORIAL APPROACH – Cross-fertilising promotion of products and territories
- SOCIO-ECONOMIC IMPACT – Supply chains, income generation and employment
- ENVIRONMENT & HERITAGE – Mountain products and preservation of environment and heritage
- MARKETING STRATEGIES – Attracting consumer’s attention in a competitive environment: comparing different marketing strategies adapted to different contexts
- TOOLS – Quality improvement, traceability and control
In addition to the workshops, collaborative working sessions will be held around the following topics:
- Improving networking and cooperation among mountain supply chain
- Developing better synergies between mountain value chains and tourism
- Preparing local development strategies integrating ambitious plans for mountain products development
Follow us behind your screen !
The conference will be webstreamed on-line. The access to this webstreaming will remain available after the conference.
A 10-minute video of the conference will be available after the event, with some interviews of different key actors discussing about the opportunities for mountain supply chain development through the CAP.
