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Learn how the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) has supported the deployment of broadband in rural Greece, to close the digital divide in remote and sparsely populated rural ‘white areas’. The project was short-listed for the 2019 ENRD Rural Inspiration Awards.

Find more good practices on rural broadband in the ENRD Project Database.

The ENRD is looking for EAFRD co-funded rural bioeconomy initiatives that contribute to fighting against climate change, and those that invest in applying and scaling up innovation in rural areas.

Selected cases may be presented in the activities of the ENRD Thematic Group ‘Bioeconomy and Climate Action in rural areas’, and related events, publications and a video. For inspiration, you can see the new EAFRD Projects Brochure on Bioeconomy and the ENRD bioeconomy videos from Sweden and the Netherlands.

Send your ideas to bioeconomy@enrd.eu

Discover the new toolkit on the Smart Villages portal that includes policy briefs on how to support Smart Villages in the current programming period and under the future Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).

The ENRD thematic work on Smart Villages will continue for a third year, focusing on producing capacity building tools to help rural stakeholders, and in particular Managing Authorities, assess what conditions are in place for supporting Smart Villages initiatives in their own context. The outcomes of the Thematic Group will be fed into the existing toolkit, a one-stop-shop for all actors interested.

Over 1 000 posts have been shared on social media on #RuralEurope, the online campaign run by the ENRD Contact Point, aiming to highlight the rural landscape and life across Europe.

The campaign, run between 15 July – 15 September 2019, has been well received by social media users from across rural Europe, who have contributed with their own snapshots of rural areas. Browse through all the pictures shared on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Join in and share your rural pictures by using the #RuralEurope hashtag and tagging ENRD.

A new study commissioned by the European Parliament gives an overview of the professional status of rural women in the EU, as well as their employment situation and position in the labour market in rural areas in most relevant Member States.

Women in rural areas of the EU make up below 50% of the total rural population, they represent 45% of the economically active population, and about 40% of them work on family farms. Their importance in the rural economy is even greater but hard to quantify precisely, since their participation through the informal rural economy is not statistically recognised.

The study identifies best practices implemented in EU Member States and includes policy recommendations on the improvement of the employment situation and legal status of women living in rural areas of the EU.

New financing opportunities for rural Europe’s social economy were explained at the fi-compass workshop organised by the European Commission, on 10 September 2019, in Lisbon, Portugal.

Examples of social innovation and entrepreneurship financing under the European Social Fund (ESF) were presented from Portugal, Spain and Italy. Special attention was directed to success factors involved in using repayable EU funding as ‘impact investment’ tools providing social and environmental benefits. Further information on the presented case studies and presentations is available online.

Read more about social innovation in rural areas in this factsheet and the EAFRD Projects Brochure on ‘Digital and Social Innovation in Rural Services’ produced by ENRD.

A new report by the European Environment Agency (EEA) warns about the dangers of climate change for parts of Europe’s Southern and Mediterranean regions.

The study reports that crop and livestock production is projected to decrease and may even have to be abandoned in parts of Europe due to negative impacts of climate change. The EEA says adapting to climate change needs to be made a top priority for the EU agricultural sector if it is to improve resilience to extreme weather events.

A recent report by the Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP), looks at the proposals regarding CAP 2021-2027 made by the European Parliament’s Agriculture and Rural Development Committee (COMAGRI) and the Environment Committee (COMENVI).

The comparative analysis document highlights the stark differences between the two Committees’ proposals in terms of their environment and climate performance. However, the EP’s final position - not yet adopted in plenary - can help to enhance the Commission’s CAP proposals and increase their environmental and climate ambition.

A total of €297 million in EU support is now available through the Horizon 2020 Work Programme for projects on energy.

Applications are open for 15 energy topics. Nine topics relate to renewable energy solutions, while six others cover smart and clean energy for consumers, smart citizen-centred energy systems, smart cities and communities, and smart airports.

All the information on deadlines and application requirements can be found online.

LEADER Local Action Groups (LAGs) in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany, want to find and promote good examples of how to maintain healthcare services in rural areas.

The group of 14 LAGs have launched a competition for new projects and ideas. Financially supported by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Agriculture of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, the competition will award winners with up to 90% support for their projects.

The aim is to provide the rural population with medical care close to where they live. The application deadline is 15 November 2019.

Join the Seminar ‘New skills for digital farming’, organised by EIP-AGRI and the European Commission, on 5-6 February 2020, in Spain. Register here!

The seminar aims to identify tools and approaches that can help the farming community develop the skills they need to fully benefit from the digital transition. The event will explore ways to stimulate the uptake of digital technologies.