Change your subscription language here.

Learn how Rural Development Programme funding supported a young Lithuanian entrepreneur to start his own wood construction business in a rural area of high unemployment.

Find more good practices related to rural entrepreneurship in the ENRD Project Database.

The popular vote of the ENRD Rural Inspiration Awards is now open! Vote for your favourite rural development project from the overall list of 25 nominees by midday 11 April 2019.

Besides the popular vote, the awards will recognise inspiring projects in five thematic categories: improving the competitiveness of rural areas; environment and climate action; rural revitalisation; social inclusion; and LEADER/CLLD.

The winners will be announced at ‘networX’, the ENRD networking event taking place in Brussels on 11-12 April 2019.

The latest meeting of the dedicated ENRD Thematic Group (TG) – 6 March 2019 in Brussels, Belgium – explored how to design and use the future CAP Strategic Plans and other funding mechanisms to support Smart Villages in the next programming period.

A practical exercise helped participants to explore how to programme support for Smart Villages under the current Commission proposal for the CAP Strategic Plans. The meeting provided a good opportunity to further exchange on how to create synergies with the Cohesion Policy.

For more information, explore the resources available on the ENRD Smart Villages Portal. Join us on the Facebook community and share your thoughts with over 700 members.

A definition of ‘Smart Villages’ was presented recently in the workshop of ‘Smart eco-social villages’ that took place on 21-22 February 2019, in Brussels.  This is the result of the work undertaken by the pilot project on Smart Eco-Social Villages.

This EU-funded project, that ran between 2017-2019, mapped out challenges and opportunities in rural areas, aiming to provide a definition of ‘Smart Villages’, as well as identifying good practice examples and case studies on the topic.

Further information is available in the online presentation and briefing note.

The latest edition of the ENRD networking magazine ‘Rural Connections’ is now available in English, French, German, Italian, Spanish and Polish on the ENRD website.

This issue explores the topic of communications, uncovering the latest thinking from rural networkers while profiling some great examples of communication using digital channels, on-farm knowledge exchange and marketing initiatives to support Rural Development policy implementation.

Subscribe to receive free paper copies of future editions in English, French, German, Italian, Polish and Spanish.

Three new publications produced by the advisory platform fi-compass provide new insight in the flexible use of financial products as a potential solution to economic challenges during times of price volatility.

Such flexibility – combined with support under the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) – would reduce risks for both farmers seeking finance and financial institutions providing it.

Specifically, the publications explore:

• ‘Flexi’ products, including financial intermediaries’ need and interest in these and case studies of implementation from various EU Member States;
• Financial Instrument providing flexible loans, including a study of existing practices in the French, Irish and Italian dairy sectors;
• Credit guarantee instruments and how these could improve farmers’ and agricultural enterprises’ access to finance.

Browse through a collection of good practices with an impact on the development of rural areas,  carried out under the operational plan of the Polish Rural Network in 2017-2018. The publication is available in English.

The selected examples include dissemination of agricultural innovation, food production, short supply chains, organic production, reduction of environmental degradation, rural entrepreneurship, and promotion of the countryside.

On International Women’s Day, EU Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, Phil Hogan, encouraged Member States to make use of the flexibility that the new Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) presents to tackle issues related to rural women.

Further to his message of encouragement, the Commissioner pointed to the reality of the CAP not being the sole answer to the challenges rural women face. Other EU funds also need to ensure they address the specific challenges and needs of women in rural areas.

Read more on the ENRD work done under Priority 6 of the Rural Development policy on “promoting social inclusion, poverty reduction and economic development in rural areas”.

Discover the Horizon 2020 project LIAISON, working between 2018 and 2021 to identify practice-ready methods and tools for optimising the use of the interactive innovation approach in projects funded within the EIP-AGRI framework and beyond.

The project will ultimately produce an online Interactive Innovation Tool Box, including a database of case studies, ‘how to’ guides, videos, and policy briefs, aiming to encourage and improve interactive innovation projects.

Discover how the LEADER approach is applied in Moldova, including its evolution, an overview of the newly established Moldovan LEADER Association and three examples of LEADER projects in a new brief produced by aeidl.

LEADER initiatives in Moldova began in 2016 under the EU-funded ‘Support to Agriculture and Rural Development Programme’ (SARD) and will expand beyond the programme’s end in December 2018. Browse through the Moldovan Local Action Groups (LAGs), including their strategies and projects.

Discover the NEWBIE network, working to facilitate the development and dissemination of new business models to new entrants to agriculture, ranging from successors to complete newcomers.

The thematic network provides a platform bringing together new entrants, successors, advisors, researchers, relevant regional and national actors, and national networks. It is funded under the EU’s Horizon 2020 programme and runs between 2018 and 2022.

See also the results of EIP-AGRI’s work on new entrants into farming and browse through the full list of thematic networks.

A new Climate Programme – published by the Finnish Central Union of Agricultural and Forest Producers (MTK) – intends to balance emissions and removals of greenhouse gases in agriculture and forestry.

The programme is based on four pillars: ‘emissions down; sequestration up; replaced by renewables; adaptation as a key’. While it adopts a robust scientific approach, it is the result of a participatory process, reflecting farmers’ and foresters’ commitment to climate action.