EIP-AGRI Workshop "Small is smart" - Innovative solutions for small agricultural and forestry holdings

The EIP-AGRI Workshop: "Small is smart" - Innovative solutions for small agricultural and forestry holdings, took place in Bucharest, Romania on 29-30 October 2019.

This event was by invitation only (following an open call in June 2019).

The final report has been published.

Participants included farmers and farmers' organisations, foresters, EIP-AGRI Operational Groups, SMEs, start-ups, advisers, universities, research and technology organisations, rural networks, and anyone who may be involved in relevant projects or has experience with engaging in, designing and/or implementing innovative solutions and adoption of new practices and technologies in small agricultural and forestry holdings across Europe.

Scope and objectives

Small agricultural and forestry holdings form an integral part of Europe’s countryside, helping to preserve the diversity of the landscape, providing a livelihood for millions of people and nurturing various centuries-old traditions and customs in the countryside.

Small holdings exist throughout the EU. Often such small farms and forestry holdings are run at family level over many generations. They may generally be characterised by lower efficiency and diversity of production. Owners are often of older generations, or may not have had the opportunity to attend higher education, so implementing innovations or new technologies can sometimes be difficult. Part-time farmers may face similar challenges and are also limited in agricultural surface.

The overall aim of the workshop was to promote networking among people and projects dealing with innovation and adoption of new technologies in small farm and forestry holdings. This means to learn more about each other, find common issues, explore possibilities for collaboration and knowledge exchange.

The specific objectives of the workshop were:

• Identifying common challenges and explore potential solutions
• Exchanging good practices
• Connecting participating projects to promote further co-operation
• Understanding the elements required to improve the innovation support environment

Event documents

• /eip/agriculture/en/file/20191029eip-agriwssmallissmartfinalprogrammepdfFinal programme (29/10/2019)

  Final programme (29/10/2019)

• /eip/agriculture/en/file/2019-ws-smallissmartbookletfinalpdfBooklet of innovative projects represented at the workshop

  Booklet of innovative projects represented at the workshop

• /eip/agriculture/en/file/wssmallissmartspeakerandfacilitatorbiospdfSpeaker bios

  Speaker bios

• /eip/agriculture/en/file/ws24smallissmartparticipantslistpdf-0Participants list

  Participants list
• Final report

Presentations

• Supporting small and medium farms in Romania through 2014-2020 NRDP - Liviu Popescu, Romanian Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development
• Small smart farms: how can small farms benefit from digital innovations in agriculture? - Leanne Townsend, James Hutton Institute, UK
• An overview of the CUMA: farm machinery cooperatives - Stephane Diard, FN Cuma, France
• Direct selling: an instrument to improve profitability in small-scale farming - Bavo Verwimp, Organic farmer, Belgium
• Combining innovation with tradition for economic viability of Romania’s small-scale farms - Razvan Popa - Adept Foundation, Romania
• Small-scale Bioeconomy Opportunities for European Farmers, James Gaffey, Biorefinery glass project, Ireland

• The importance of knowledge exchange (and the local AKIS in general) in successful EIP-AGRI implementation, Inge Van Oost, DG AGRI