COCOREADO focuses on ways to rebalance the position of the farmer as an individual actor, as a key player in innovative food supply chains and as a supplier for public procurement. Based on the multi-actor approach and a deep understanding of agricultural knowledge and innovation systems (AKIS), the project applies a three-fold approach to maximise impact, relying on ambassadorship, good practices, and a focus on youth. The project involves both academic and close-to-farmers partners across Europe, recognising regional differences and barriers in terms of replicability of good practices and regional opportunities in terms of solutions.
An explicit focus of COCOREADO is to foster opportunities for young people in rural areas to co-create innovative solutions that overcome current hurdles for farmers and respond to consumer needs, while simultaneously improving the conditions for sustainable public procurement of local and seasonal food. The consortium connects key youth actors including young farmers, school children, college youth, young parents and youth movements in an environment that offers support and encouragement to the youth across Europe to undertake action. A key tool for creating such environment is the COCOREADO ambassador training programme. Active youth engagement in co-creating solutions remains at the core of not only the consortium, but it is also embedded within COCOREADO’s methodologies, thus ensuring that innovative supply chains remain future-proof.
The overall objective of the project is to document and disseminate practices that rebalance the position of farmers in supply chains and procurement procedures. COCOREADO has three specific objectives (1) to collect and analyse good practices, define solutions and develop tools that assist farmers to implement innovation that contributes to strengthening their position in the food chain, (2) to stimulate citizens to take initiatives that close the gap between farmers and consumers and (3) to develop decision support tools that can assist local governments in the development of a sound public procurement protocol enabling local and small farmers to participate, thus strengthening their position in the food chain.
