Periodic Reporting for period 2 - HNV-Link (High Nature Value Farming: Learning, Innovation and Knowledge.)
Okres sprawozdawczy: 2017-10-01 do 2019-03-31
Clearly, HNV farmers face multiple pressures, their interests are poorly represented in the academic, farm advisory and policy sectors, and they are not suitably rewarded by policies. They must cope with EU regulations (e.g. food hygiene, animal health) not tailored to their situations and their income is often insufficient, leading to HNV farmland reconversion/abandonment and biodiversity loss. So, HNV farms need to adopt innovations of all types (e.g. social/institutional, regulation/policy, technique/management, markets/products) to ensure their viability. This calls for a more innovative and HNV farming friendly policy framework and the commitment of all stakeholders.
HNV-Link (High Nature Value Farming: Learning, Innovation and Knowledge, H2020, 2016-2019) engaged 10 HNV Learning Areas in a multi-actor and multi-scalar innovation brokering process. It acted at the grassroots, national and transnational levels, connecting rural development and innovation actors to support HNV farming systems by inspiring and sharing innovations/practices that improve their socio-economic viability while preserving their ecological value. The objectives were to: a) Assess innovation challenges and trends in HNV farming systems; b) Commit local actors for developing shared HNV farming visions and sustainable development pathways; c) Catalyse networking to transfer innovations that enhance HNV farms’ viability; d) Strengthen HNV farming advisory and education; e) Raise awareness of HNV farming benefits and advocate policy support.
HNV-Link developed such recommendations as: HNV farms are multi-functional and must be rewarded for their ecological, social and economic benefits; Plenty of innovations exist and regional/national frameworks must promote them; Supporting HNV farmers’ empowerment, organisation, and cooperation with other stakeholders is key; Agriculture, environment, food and rural development policies/regulations should suit better low-intensity farming; In the CAP, eco-schemes and Agri-environment-climate measures should incentivise HNV farming, and all semi-natural pastures/grasslands should be entitled to direct payments; the continuity of projects and institutional support must be ensured, as it takes time for innovation to develop across themes.
There is scope to improve the CAP to favour sustainable agricultural practices over intensive/damaging ones, but it is up to Member States to adequately support HNV farming through their CAP Strategic Plans.
WP1. Describing & assessing baseline situations. We built with local actors a shared “baseline assessment” of the situations in the Learning Areas to appreciate the innovation needs and opportunities of HNV farms. We collated socio-economic (development indicators), environmental (biodiversity state) and institutional (governance) data and established a typology of the Learning Areas. We identified the challenges in terms of socioeconomic and environmental sustainability and the drivers of successful innovations, and proposed indicators to monitor the socio-economic viability of HNV farms. This led to the production of guidelines for conducting baseline assessments, and the HNV-Link Atlas (crossed perspectives on 10 Learning Areas).
WP2. Learning innovation from the grassroots. We assessed the innovation needs and opportunities in the ten Learning Areas, and analysed those innovations/practices that are favourable to HNV farming systems, by supporting their economic viability while maintaining their ecological values. This work allowed a literature review, and led to the publication of guidelines for assessing innovation, and of a Compendium of HNV innovations and online innovation map and fiches.
WP3. Dissemination & Communication. We made major efforts to communicate and disseminate the project outputs and recommendations to a wide range of stakeholders, from the local to European level, to maximise their appropriation by end-users. We used a diversity of channels and tools, including a richly populated project website with its Innovation Map, reports, educational materials, newsletter, talks at international conferences, press releases, news and videos in social media, HNV-Link Booklet, reports on peer-learning activities and joint publications, Practice Abstracts for the EIP-Agri, etc.
WP4. Network Coordination & Stimulation. We organised networking activities to foster co-innovation, including 3 Network meetings (Methodological seminar in Montpellier, Innovation Fair in Évora, and Final HNV-Link Conference in Montpellier), cross-visits between Learning Areas, local/regional meetings, etc. It resulted in the co-production of scientific and policy papers, in English and national languages.
WP5. Coordination & Management. This WP supported the network’s activities through strategic planning. Partners have developed trust and efficient collaboration mechanisms that will help them build up new projects.