Environmental, social and economic benefits are drivers of the Common Agricultural Policy’s (CAP) emphasis on producing more and better organic food. Production bottlenecks, such as access to organic land and know-how, can be overcome with different types of CAP support - including LEADER funding.
LEADER support from Belgium’s Walloon region was used by the Local Action Group (LAG) Pays des Condruses to test the potential of a business-start-up incubator for young entrepreneurs wishing to work in organic agriculture. The CAP funds helped provide free access to trial land plots, production facilities, and training during a business analysis period for the fu3ture organic farmers.
Success stories emerged with new organic ventures being established by the CAP beneficiaries. Further information about this project’s approach and activities identifies useful lessons learned including encouraging the organic entrepreneurs to benchmark their business against peers and the advantages of cooperation within a production value-chain. This project reflects well on how the CAP’s LEADER funds can add local value to the efforts of municipalities and other partners through their aims to build socio-economic capital in rural areas. The organic credentials of this LAG initiative also resulted in additional EU added value by contributing to the European Green Deal goals.
