Do we believe in the potential of digital tech to offer real value for farmers? It’s not a matter of belief, but of doing it being vigilant instead. Digitization is unavoidable. 10 years ago I started talking to farmers about the potential of making tools of digital traceability and a digital label… Everyone replied: “the housewives of [small village you prefer] do not care about this stuff, it’s too much complicated”. Then I supported Epelia, that I knew thanks to @matthias, because I was convinced that digital tools could give farmers some power back vis-à-vis the food industry and supermarkets. Then I learned that one of the groundbreaking Italian platforms in direct sales online, which had started up as a platform P2P or mostly so, had to change and become an online supermarket because the participating farmers did not care about the most simple rules of accountability and reporting. In the meantime, the digitization process has accelerated thanks to Amazon. It’s starting from the final stages of supply chain, supermarkets, and not from farmers. If it goes ahead this way, farmers will be “innovation takers” as usual. I like the idea of a common European agricultural data space.
Ahh, that was it. Interesting products.
I am just getting going. Early days, but I have the land and the people.
We are organised just by doing it at the mo.
I have the space and I am gathering and converging…
I am going to set up a non profit organisation to operate under.
At the same time as currently battling homelessness, hunger and no work.
Cheers
I wasn’t talking about food, I was talking about quality food and there is a huge difference between the two. Great majority of the population today cannot afford quality foods (and I am not talking about caviar and truffles). Paying 500 euros per month is huge for an average family in Brussels, and they wouldn’t pay less. A couple pays easily 300…and that’s budget food.
I agree, not easy at all and it is essential to organise better. Both need to be done, bottom and the top.
Big support is needed at the top too, hopefully the new subsidies covering ecological production will create new initiatives.
Actually it wasn’t an argument at all, just a short summary of my thinking…which could be faulty as well 
. If I was making an argument I would elaborate much more for sure.
I am well aware of that aspect and the balance needed there Angelo. Croatia specifically is in a weird situation, as prices are way higher than the actual living standard can support (especially on the coast). Kuna is linked to Euro and is kept artificially quite high, not reflecting the real state of the economy. That’s way above my pay grade so I will not go into that.
I wrote elsewhere about that a bit more.
There is no one simple solution. We have to reshape our society. Having people migrate back to abandoned rural regions is necessary. There are many places all over Europe where people cannot even have businesses as there are no workers available. I know many municipalities like that in Croatia. Of course, there are solutions. I traveled all over Europe and saw a lot of good practices and I think outside of the box. Most people who grew up there and never went further than the nearby bigger city do not see those solutions or cannot implement them. The fact is also that the population in many EU countries has been losing the buying power. I remember how it was when I just arrived to Brussels…the prices of everything go up every year, new taxes are introduced…and salaries go up by a miserable amount. When I say that quality food needs to be cheap or affordable, I don’t mean that everything should be taken on by the producer.
I have spent very long time in people’s homes, both in well developed rural communities (those in proximity to bigger cities like Karlovac and Zagreb municipalities) and in Croatia’s poorest communities…spent a lot of time talking with those people to figure out how can I really help them. I did also a 3 month market research on the subject. I shared it with some LAGs so the result was they adopted my conclusions to their needs and created their local development strategies. I also started a big project based on it. The project was an answer to real needs of the population. It turned out to be too big for me at that time and, due to my inexperience (made some costly mistakes) and lack of funding, I had to stop it. Actually I had ways to fund it but I did not like that I had to become indebted to a political party to do it…i stayed out of politics and corruption for so many years so that was one compromise I wasn’t ready to make. Too bad, as the product was, and still is, much needed.
Next year I will start it again but, this time I will do it in just 1 municipality…keep it small. Make it a pilot project and test out things, then scale it if it makes sense.
I also believe digitalisation is essential and will happen. We now have local online markets organised via facebook and they do work.
I did projects for farmers until 4 years ago and, they freak out as soon as they get a letter with few requests (go to the nearby town municipality and get X paper, fill in this form etc)…no way they will do accountability. I see the same problem now. Wherever I go, I see more and more that book keeping/accountability service is so needed.
Actually their dream consultant is not someone who writes their application. For them it should be like a family doctor but who takes care of the business side. And by business side, they mean help with the project in its idea stage and later write application AND help forever with all admin related stuff 
Good points Jasen, vibrant rural areas are essential.
I understand what you mean by “quality”. Rules and standards hardly recognize that kind of food quality. There are two main concepts: the 1st one, WTO-US-Northern Europe, is food safety basically; the 2nd one is shaping the EU Geographical Indications policy (PDO, PGI…) and it is about food taste, history, and uniqueness. Given that food must be safe, the second concept is more problematic because of the price (but it gives a “premium” price to farmers). Another problem of the two approaches is that they are too much focused on the product, and not on the sustainability of the process. The “third way” you hint at is in between the two concepts, and I hope that awareness of it could emerge as a collective demand in the pandemic, as a reaction to binge-eating lockdowns.
Battle of regenerative farmers in Australia is an interesting one to follow. They overexploited the lands and basically put their livelihood in danger.
Now they are using very different methods and trying to spread their system far, educating other farmers. They do encounter huge resistance, how do you tell someone who has been doing it in one way for 30 years that his way is totally wrong?
I encountered that same thing in Croatia, including my own family. That’s why I always try to find the best examples of those practices. Show them and explain why they can work in X region too.
What is your name?
prof. Dubravka Skunca, PhD, DSc
Are you part of a project or an organisation? What does the project/organisation do, and why?
As a LCA Leader at GreenProtein project (BBI JU, Horizon 2020, European Commission) I am in charge of the environmental assessment of the entire patented process of RuBisCO protein extraction and isolation from sugar beet leaves in demo plant in Dinteloord, Netherlands www.greenproteinproject.eu
Let’s get to know each other. Which of the following topics is the most relevant to you?
Sustainability in agriculture or food
Think about the topic… and tell us: What is a practical problem that you have in your work/projects or personal life?
I am in charge of life cycle assessment (LCA) for every project that I undertake and it helps in achieving sustainability, since LCA identifies environmental hotspots in food production process and GWP, ED, AP, EP, OLD and LU are being calculated.
How is your government helping this, or not helping?
More initiatives should be implemented, as Serbia is not yet member of the EU.
Are you interested to co-host an event with EdgeRyders in the next months? If so, do you have ideas to engage others near you to participate?
Yes, I am interested.
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Nice to e-meet you @Dubravka, welcome to the event - as you can see here we have already started to get to know participants’ views in order to better prepare for Friday.
I understand that you are Serbian, but working in the NL? or working remotely from Serbia?
We just received an important testimonial from an organisation leader in Serbia who working to support local farming and believes big agri businesses are not the solution, and instead we should all go back to practicing traditional farming, with a view on regenerative agriculture. And that local farmers should get more government support to actually access agricultural funding, because currently it’s only accessed by very few. Curious what is your opinion when it comes to the ways forward for Serbia?
Here is the post:
What is your name?
Miloš Konjović
Are you part of a project or an organisation? What does the project/organisation do, and why?
I took a part in several projects considering CO2 removal from air, sustainable agricultural development, and reducing industrial environmental impact
Let’s get to know each other. Which of the following topics is the most relevant to you?
Sustainability in agriculture or food
Think about the topic… and tell us: What is a practical problem that you have in your work/projects or personal life?
Sometimes, lack of understanding and cooperation willingness
How is your government helping this, or not helping?
Not really, though it’s been promised for future period
Are you interested to co-host an event with EdgeRyders in the next months? If so, do you have ideas to engage others near you to participate?
I could introduce and present you to some opportunities and possibilities in agriculture
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What is your name?
Margarita Lysenkova
Are you part of a project or an organisation? What does the project/organisation do, and why?
GRI initiated a project under the GRI Sector Program to develop a GRI Sector Standard for agriculture and fishing.
The aim of this project is to identify and describe the significant impacts and stakeholder concerns for the agriculture and fishing sector from a sustainable development perspective, which will serve as a foundation for increased transparency and more consistent reporting from organizations in the sector.
Let’s get to know each other. Which of the following topics is the most relevant to you?
Sustainability in agriculture or food
Think about the topic… and tell us: What is a practical problem that you have in your work/projects or personal life?
How to make the reporting model robust
How is your government helping this, or not helping?
Are you interested to co-host an event with EdgeRyders in the next months? If so, do you have ideas to engage others near you to participate?
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What is your name?
Ewa
Are you part of a project or an organisation? What does the project/organisation do, and why?
Until recently, for 2 and half years I coordinated the European Agricultural Policy Program in Heinrich Boell Foundation; within this program I kicked-started the Living Earth Coalition (koalicjazywaziemia.pl; a coalition of variuos organizations that campaign for more sustainable agricultural policy in Poland and EU). I also organizaed debates, prepared publications (eg.Atlas rolny. Dokąd zmierza europejska polityka rolna. | Heinrich Böll Stiftung | Biuro Regionalne Europa Centralna; Polska, Warszawa ) and ran projects - all meant to make people aware of the importance of of Common Agricultural Policy and stimulate debate and engagement around its reform. Information about those activities is avalable in the articles here: https://pl.boell.org/pl/taxonomy/term/3629/articles?page=%2C0
Let’s get to know each other. Which of the following topics is the most relevant to you?
Sustainability in agriculture or food
Think about the topic… and tell us: What is a practical problem that you have in your work/projects or personal life?
In my work described above I was engaged in building a coalition of organizations that would get involved in campaigning and education arounf CAP. 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.
How is your government helping this, or not helping?
The government is not really supporting real sustainable and organic agriculture.
Are you interested to co-host an event with EdgeRyders in the next months? If so, do you have ideas to engage others near you to participate?
not yet, maybe when I get to know the EdgeRyders and your activities better.
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What is your name?
Raluca
Are you part of a project or an organisation? What does the project/organisation do, and why?
Women in Tech - Women in Tech Cluj
Let’s get to know each other. Which of the following topics is the most relevant to you?
Work and employment
Think about the topic… and tell us: What is a practical problem that you have in your work/projects or personal life?
I found it difficult to work in sustainability-related jobs as they are not mainstream.
How is your government helping this, or not helping?
I believe that the Romanian government does not sustain enough green economy.
Are you interested to co-host an event with EdgeRyders in the next months? If so, do you have ideas to engage others near you to participate?
Maybe we could do something together with Women in Tech. Only next year, as we have all events planned until January.
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Dear @noemi, nice to meet you, too. I am university professor in Serbia and I work at EU project based in Netherlands, as well as for EIT Food as RIS Council Region Representative. Because of the COVID-19 my travel is limited and I now work remotely from Serbia.
My comment on the text: To make farmers stop using herbicides and pesticides we need to show them which benefits they will have if they stop the usage and if they will be able to expand their business and export their food.
hello @margolys! Thank you for the registration to our event, hope it will be useful for you for the networking and wait for your input during the webinar.
welcome to EdgeRyders, @EwaJ-L! Thank you for the interesting online conversation during our call, it threw some light on the political background of the current negotiations in agriculture. The link to the webinar will be sent via email.
Thank you for the registration to our event @miloskonjovic82. Lack of mutual understanding and cooperation is very much the topic in Poland. As well as fighting CO2 contamination. Could you share names of these projects? The link to the webinar will be sent via email. Hope it will be useful for you for the networking!
Very interesting point. Is there any example of Serbian businesses exporting in this way @Dubravka?
A question also for @Vladb who, from what I understand, is involved in farming… What made you not use pesticides and what would be the arguments for your peers who would like to maybe access more support and advice to grow their business without compromising on quality? or to even subside, as it is often the case with small farmers.
What is your name?
Sebastian
Are you part of a project or an organisation? What does the project/organisation do, and why?
produce and deliver food locally while repurposing abandoned buildings in the urban landscape.
Let’s get to know each other. Which of the following topics is the most relevant to you?
Sustainability in agriculture or food
Think about the topic… and tell us: What is a practical problem that you have in your work/projects or personal life?
lack of affordable land. Difficulty to get food locally and to know the producers.
How is your government helping this, or not helping?
there are grants but is it hard to accede them. Also they are meant mainly for bigger producers.
Are you interested to co-host an event with EdgeRyders in the next months? If so, do you have ideas to engage others near you to participate?
i think i will understand after the participation to this 1st event
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Hi @UrbanFunghi, welcome to our small corner of the world
I’m Noemi, one of the hosts for the session,
Curious: where are you based and do you already have a project to work with funghi?
Myself, I’ve become quite fond of funghi because I am running a project with funghi fermentation, and my partner has long been working with funghi as material for construction, design, and so on.
What would you like to discover at the session?
Feel free to also comment on other people’s remarks here and in 2 other conversations we are having:
- Event Invitation - Sustainable Agriculture and Food
- Local food will be priceless. How do we fight big agribusinesses and talk to farmers to produce in traditional ways? One of the points here is like you say, that grants go to bigger agri businesses!
What is your name?
Justyna
Are you part of a project or an organisation? What does the project/organisation do, and why?
Coalition Living Earth
Let’s get to know each other. Which of the following topics is the most relevant to you?
Sustainability in agriculture or food
Think about the topic… and tell us: What is a practical problem that you have in your work/projects or personal life?
the problem of the lack of public awareness of the impact of agriculture on human and animal health and the state of the environment
lack of political will to change the existing agricultural and food policy system
How is your government helping this, or not helping?
not helping
Are you interested to co-host an event with EdgeRyders in the next months? If so, do you have ideas to engage others near you to participate?
Changing the food system
Welfare of farm animals and its impact on environmental protection
Food quality - which agriculture to promote as a consumer
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