@Sonia, thank you for this compelling overview, and @jasen_lakic for the clear list of priorities that you mention: going back to rural and focus on networks and education of the farmers,
You and @dmjonic seem to be in close agreement in these areas,
Have you met @Ewa from Poland? She just registered for the event and agrees that the government has never really supported sustainable agriculture. She also says the following:
I was engaged in building a coalition of organizations that would get involved in campaigning and education arounf CAP (Common Agricultural Policy). NGOs active in cities quickly got involved but it was much more difficult to engage farmers and their organizations. I think a big challenge is how to find a common language between “city activists”, NGOs and farmers, people working in the countryside and how to connect them into a common platform that would seek more sustainable solutions in agriculture policies, law and practices.
@Paco21, who is our guest speaker from EIP Agri, said in a post here that:
The near future of EIP-AGRI as policy instrument is bright as you should have seen in the leagal proposals. The real challenge I see is to make sure the knowledge / innovation reaches the local farmer and he applies it being convinced it will make difference.
So I ask you: what kind of structures do you have around you which are doing a good job at this? do you have examples of collaborations which are making a difference, even in the smaller scale? If European/national funding can be used to some extent to start something, and we should not depend fully on it, what should it be used to?
IF we don’t use it, whose job is it to build those networks of awareness and sovereignty? NGOs?
I can think of the French model of community supported agriculture, which is now popularized more and more, but would that qualify as innovation in the views of the funding bodies, @Paco21?