What to know after two years of the agroBRIDGES project
Building bridges between consumers and producers by supporting short food supply chains
After almost two years of work developed by the agroBRIDGES project, it is time to share the most relevant information about it. The agroBRIDGES project has, since its very beginning, aimed to empower farmers with practical knowledge, tools, and support to rebalance their market position by setting up new business and marketing models based on Short Food Supply Chains (SFSCs), with a focus on building bridges between producers and consumers.
The project has been following an integrated methodology to establish regional multi-actor structures for demand-driven innovation, and deliver a combination of communication materials, training programs, events, decision support and other digital tools, packed in the agroBRIDGES Toolbox. The ultimate goal is to empower farmers with practical knowledge and support to set up SFSCs, by delivering a decision support tool to facilitate the selection of the most sustainable business model to be adapted for animating SFSCs, and by better linking producers with consumers and procurers.
In terms of actual numbers, between 140-260 actors, from producers to consumers, and other agri-food stakeholders, are being involved in creating, testing, validating, and ultimately benefitting from the rollout of the agroBRIDGES project and its practical support. To better illustrate this statement, we mention the twelve regional SFSCs fact sheets created, the fifty-one good practices identified, as well as the identification and analysis of five main SFSC model categories: (i) community-supported agriculture, (ii) local food trade, (iii) face-to-face, (iv) online food trade, and (v) improved logistics.
In the same vein, the project has implemented twelve co-creation workshops, by engaging the members of the twelve multi-actor platforms that have been created. One pan-European workshop, engaging the stakeholders reference group, has also been delivered.
Based on the previous work and the feedback received from the co-creation workshops, the project developed five IT-type tools, four other communication material tools, one training program-type tool, and two event-related tools. In the next months, the project partners will engage the members of the twelve multi-actor platforms in validating the developed tools with the aim of fine-tuning them before their wider rollout.
The agroBRIDGES project is closing its second successful year, thanks to the great collaboration among the 15 partners of the consortium!
Project Details:
Grant Agreement No: 1010000788
Start Date: 01/01/2021
Project Duration: 36 months
For additional information please contact:
George Malliopoulos and Eirini Efthymiadou (agroBRIDGES Coordinators, Q-PLAN)
E-mail: malliopoulos@qplan-intl.gr – efthymiadou@qplan-intl.gr
Phone: +30 2310 257 277, +30 2310 411 191
Carlos Fernández (agroBRIDGES Communication Officer, FruitvegetablesEUROPE)
E-mail: carlos@eucofel.eu
Phone: +32 2 721 72 88
Twitter: @agrobridges_EU
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"We connect producers and consumers in new business and marketing models for Short Food Supply Chains"