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Find out how a young farmer from Murcia, Spain, benefiting from agri-environment support under the regional Rural Development Programme (RDP), increased the farm’s profitability and contributed to improved environmental protection.

Find more good practices for environmental protection in our Project Database.

The ENRD Contact Point launched on 6 November 2018 a new online Rural Bioeconomy Portal collecting resources such as relevant documents, links to tools, projects and organisations related to bioeconomy.

The portal is part of the ENRD thematic work on ‘Mainstreaming the Bioeconomy’ and focuses on the challenges and opportunities from developing the bioeconomy in European rural areas. It is freely accessible and allows users to suggest further content. The portal will soon be available in French, German, Italian, Polish and Spanish.

The European Commission published in October 2018 its updated bioeconomy strategy and action plan to develop a sustainable and circular bioeconomy across the EU.

The new document is a revision of the 2012 bioeconomy strategy and aims to improve and scale up the sustainable use of renewable resources to address global and local challenges such as climate change and sustainable development.

For further information, see also a factsheet, infographic, booklet and video overviewing the updated strategy.

Several Horizon 2020 calls seeking to fund research and innovation projects on topics related to bio-based innovation and bioeconomy were launched in late October 2018 and will close on 23 January 2019.

The call topics include: circular bio-based business models for rural communities (find here); sustainable wood value chains (find here); and boosting knowledge and innovation-based bioeconomies (find here).

Find your way through the upcoming Horizon 2020 calls – read EIP-AGRI’s brochure on funding opportunities in 2019.

Explore statistics on jobs and growth of the bioeconomy in the 2009-2015 period! Read the latest brief produced by the European Commission’s Bioeconomy Knowledge Centre.

The brief highlights, among others, that in 2015 the bioeconomy generated 4.2% of the gross domestic product (GDP) of the EU and employed 8.2% of the labour force.

Follow the ENRD thematic work on social media: join our Facebook Smart Villages Community and have a chat with us about rural #Bioeconomy on Twitter! Share your ideas, experience, initiatives or projects with us and others who are also interested in these topics.

Find out how the first ENRD Twitter chat on territorial and local approaches to rural bioeconomy went and follow our webpage for ongoing updates.

Browse through our rich collection of materials on Smart Villages, more will be coming soon.

A series of studies published in October 2018 by the European Parliament’s Think Tank explore the proposed reform package of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) for the 2021-2027 period.

The studies address the following topics:

• “CAP Strategic Plans beyond 2020: assessing the architecture in order to achieve the EU-wide objectives” (read here);
• “CAP support beyond 2020: assessing the future structure of direct payments and the rural development interventions in the light of the EU agricultural and environmental challenges” (read here);
• “Sectoral approach in the CAP beyond 2020 and possible options to improve the EU food value chain” (read here).

Find out how the LEADER approach is applied in Western Balkan countries in a recent publication produced by the Regional Rural Development Standing Working Group in South Eastern Europe (SWG).

The publication overviews LEADER-like initiatives in countries of the region; national strategies, policy and legislative frameworks relevant for Local Action Groups (LAGs), networks, local partnerships, and territorial development; as well as specific national challenges and needs.

Do you communicate about EU support to agriculture and rural development through the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP)? Grants for information measures are now open – the deadline for submitting applications is 14 December 2018.

The European Commission seeks to fund a wide range of communication actions that explain and raise awareness of CAP support and engage with farmers and other rural actors.

Get inspired to develop a project providing access to high-speed broadband internet in your area – browse through this year’s winners of the European Broadband Awards!

Several projects delivering rural broadband in Croatia, Finland, Latvia, Poland, Spain, and the Netherlands have been awarded in the various categories. 

This annual competition run by the European Commission highlights projects – big or small, rural or urban, private or public – that have successfully established broadband infrastructures. Explore the winning projects from previous years and a database of good practice examples.

Find out how rural communities capitalise on the natural and social assets in mountainous areas in terms of community life, living environment, and dynamic approaches to governance in the latest brochure of the Horizon 2020 project SIMRA.

SIMRA (Social Innovation in Marginalised Rural Areas) is continuously working to identify and disseminate good practice examples of social innovation – explore their online database.

What rural networking under the post-2020 Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) will look like was a main discussion topic at the 10^th meeting of the European Rural Networks’ Steering Group (SG) of 22 October 2018, Brussels, Belgium.

The European Commission’s legislative proposals for the 2021-2027 policy give ‘CAP networks’ at the national and European levels a reinforced role in supporting the implementation of the new CAP Strategic Plans, bringing together the two CAP Pillars in a single document.