Periodic Reporting for period 1 - COREnet (Connecting advisOrs towaRd a European NETwork for consumer-producer chains)
Reporting period: 2022-09-15 to 2024-05-14
Short Food Supply Chains (SFSCs) or producer-consumer chains are supply chains involving a limited number of intermediaries between farmers and consumers, who are committed to cooperation, local economic development, and maintaining close geographical and social relations. In rebuilding post-Covid, SFSCs are being promoted by governments, civil society and consumer groups in many EU member states as a means for building more inclusive, resilient and sustainable food systems. But SFSC initiators, participants and promoters are confronted by a fragmented knowledge landscape, coupled with a lack of clarity as to essential skills and competencies in all phases from farm to fork.
The COREnet project proposes to respond by supporting the systematic development of more effective SFSC advising, based on bringing together public, private and civic advisors through IT-enabled peer-to-peer learning and mutual support. This approach requires interacting with advisors, farmers, consumers and a more holistic approach aimed at helping SFSCs achieve not just a bigger market share, but a greener market impact.
Project' activities are concerned with:
(1) developing SFSC advisory capabilities based on a knowledge mapping and on-line listing of SFSC advisors from all EU27 in ways that enable the sharing and exchange of cost-effective practice solutions that improve SFSC social, economic and environmental performance and increase their impact in the food value chain;
(2) preparing learning resources in the form of a network of 30 Golden Cases (exemplars of SFSC models that have achieved business success) and initiating 27 Lighthouse Projects (initiatives using Golden cases to introduce advisory services for improving SFSC performance with at least one in each of the EU-27);
(3) establishing a pan-European peer-to-peer learning network for SFSC advisors and proposing a formal organizational solution that assures its sustainability and integration into the AKIS.
COREnet has already started to support the development of a more relevant and effective SFSC advising, built around peer-to-peer learning and sense-making to complement the more conventional expert-client approaches that have dominated extension services. In this approach, advisors and advisory services are no longer confined to public services, but are a mix of public, private and civic arrangements with farmers and consumers as peers rather than beneficiaries.
The COREnet project proposes to respond by supporting the systematic development of more effective SFSC advising, based on bringing together public, private and civic advisors through IT-enabled peer-to-peer learning and mutual support. This approach requires interacting with advisors, farmers, consumers and a more holistic approach aimed at helping SFSCs achieve not just a bigger market share, but a greener market impact.
Project' activities are concerned with:
(1) developing SFSC advisory capabilities based on a knowledge mapping and on-line listing of SFSC advisors from all EU27 in ways that enable the sharing and exchange of cost-effective practice solutions that improve SFSC social, economic and environmental performance and increase their impact in the food value chain;
(2) preparing learning resources in the form of a network of 30 Golden Cases (exemplars of SFSC models that have achieved business success) and initiating 27 Lighthouse Projects (initiatives using Golden cases to introduce advisory services for improving SFSC performance with at least one in each of the EU-27);
(3) establishing a pan-European peer-to-peer learning network for SFSC advisors and proposing a formal organizational solution that assures its sustainability and integration into the AKIS.
COREnet has already started to support the development of a more relevant and effective SFSC advising, built around peer-to-peer learning and sense-making to complement the more conventional expert-client approaches that have dominated extension services. In this approach, advisors and advisory services are no longer confined to public services, but are a mix of public, private and civic arrangements with farmers and consumers as peers rather than beneficiaries.
During this 1st period of project implementation (20 months), all partners have actively contributed to perform the different activities and tasks foreseen in the working plan, completing on time 3 important milestones and 11 deliverables, also putting extra efforts to attract more stakeholders (in particular SFSC advisors - more than 350 registered), cooperate with other EU funded projects (in particular EU4Advice and similar Horizon Europe funded projects), find SFSC advising good practices, classifying 9 as Golden Cases (SFSCs that have achieved business success), to be replicated in other contests and environment, stimulating positive innovation and knowledge transfer, through the developed interactive repository. The selection of Golden Cases which achieve a certain sustainability in the market and may serve as knowledge reservoirs to understand how advisory services play a crucial role in this. The COREnet Handbook, Golden Case Abstract form and SFSC evaluation form has been developed and at the same time the COREnet Charter was released recognising and explaining the 3 objectives of the project. A COREnet Selection Committee was made to formalise the selection of Golden Cases and Lighthouse Projects. At this moment 15 SFSC cases were identified for possible nomination as Golden Case, 9 of them have been selected in reference to the criteria, and 2 cases served for the first fieldtrip organised and evaluated in Belgium, the next one will be in Italy. This experience resulted in the roadbook ‘practical Guide for Organisation of Fieldtrips’, to be used during next visits.
The first advisors mapping, performed by each COREnet partner under WP2 helped to better understand the SFSC advisors distribution among EU27 countries, still in progress, and the identification of Key National Contact Points (KNCPs) as COREnet “ambassadors” in different EU countries.
All projects results are available and shared in the online knowledge hub.
The first advisors mapping, performed by each COREnet partner under WP2 helped to better understand the SFSC advisors distribution among EU27 countries, still in progress, and the identification of Key National Contact Points (KNCPs) as COREnet “ambassadors” in different EU countries.
All projects results are available and shared in the online knowledge hub.
The analysis and select of Golden Cases will provide exemplary practices of advising which prove a certain impact on the performance of the SFSC and which may be replicable /serving as Lighthouse Projects in other MS. the
For the coming period, the challenge is more with analysis, sense-making and identifying what advisory models and practices have the potential for replication and adoption across the different SFSC policy and regulatory contexts that prevail across the EU-27. The solution to this challenge will be to treat the Golden Cases as learning resources that are ‘works in progress’ meaning that sense-making is more about knowledge sharing through networking of SFSC advisors associated with the Golden Cases and SFSC stakeholders concerned with improving SFSC performance and increasing SFSC impact. It is the ’useability’ of the Golden Case as a learning resource that needs to be assured and that requires incentivising SFSC advisors to make use of those resources. Moreover, attracting new advisors from countries not directly involved in COREnet will certainly enlarge the EU SFSC advisors network, promoting the dialogue and knowledge sharing.
For the coming period, the challenge is more with analysis, sense-making and identifying what advisory models and practices have the potential for replication and adoption across the different SFSC policy and regulatory contexts that prevail across the EU-27. The solution to this challenge will be to treat the Golden Cases as learning resources that are ‘works in progress’ meaning that sense-making is more about knowledge sharing through networking of SFSC advisors associated with the Golden Cases and SFSC stakeholders concerned with improving SFSC performance and increasing SFSC impact. It is the ’useability’ of the Golden Case as a learning resource that needs to be assured and that requires incentivising SFSC advisors to make use of those resources. Moreover, attracting new advisors from countries not directly involved in COREnet will certainly enlarge the EU SFSC advisors network, promoting the dialogue and knowledge sharing.