Periodic Reporting for period 2 - BOND (Bringing Organisations and Network Development to higher levels in the farming sector in Europe) Reporting period: 2019-05-01 to 2020-10-31 Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project Farmers and land managers have a fundamental role to play in setting a solid basis to sustain food security, the natural resources base and sustainable growth path, adapting and innovating in their own farms and organizations, to find resilient and efficient alternatives to Europe’s fossil-based economy. It is fundamental to identify, demonstrate and transfer effective solutions to the major challenges affecting Europe’s agriculture across the agrifood chain from soil to society. BOND project aimed to take stock of solutions and success stories in different countries across Europe to directly contribute to unlock the potential of farming societies in a sustainable and socially responsible way. The focus, strengthening social capital in countries where the level of organization is low, aimed at fostering innovation and business opportunities as drivers for rural development. Learnings from prior works suggest that effective and sustainable farmer and land managers collective action, and institutional arrangements with market actors and policy-makers, are the result of three interdependent types of relationships that farmers and land managers develop, namely bonding (intragroup), bridging (intergroup) and linking (extra-group relations). The BOND project built its approach on these three levels of interactions.Its overall objective was to reach higher levels of organisation and networking, and develop a healthier, and more productive and harmonious farming sector in Europe for the long term. More specifically, BOND aimed at directly contributing to unleash, strengthen, and organise, the great potential for collective action and networking of individuals, groups and entities of farmers and land managers. Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far The project started by selecting farmer and land manager representatives (referred thereafter as “representatives”) from different countries in Europe. This entailed a massive mobilisation, contacting thousands of farmer organisations, identified through the project consortium networks, and calling hundreds of farmers for screening and feedback. Gender balance, age, and relevance of experience in the farming sector were amongst the criteria used during the selection process. Sixty representatives from 22 countries in Europe were successfully selected. The group of sixty was split into groups of 10 for a 5-day study tour "Learning from Success" to visit examples of best practice in Europe. Farmers and land managers learned and interacted with the founders and leaders of successful collective initiatives, in the Netherlands, France, Spain, Italy, Norway and the UK, and they were able to bring back these experiences to their home organisations and countries. These shared experiences gave the opportunity to connect and interact during the study tours in the six countries, and also during a large forum organised in Cordoba, where they were all invited to meet again, thus sharing and exchanging their newly acquired knowledge and experiences. Following the forum, representatives were able to participate to a four-day Training-of-Trainers course on bonding, bridging and linking, organised by FAO, which became key to developing a Learning Guide for collective initiatives in the food and farming sector freely available for all on the BOND website (https://www.bondproject.eu/). The training also provided the basis for each farmer to create an individual action plan to be implemented back home, using the newly acquired tools and concepts. To strengthen this work, starting new collectives and reinforcing existing ones (thus creating an ever-increasing platform of new collectives in Europe), BOND offered a methodology that representatives could use to understand what were the opportunities and constraints they would be facing, and how to resolve them. During this process, representatives were able to analyse major bottlenecks, identify key issues, and understand the importance of collective action to improve their livelihoods and the overall food and farming landscape, both locally and nationally. BOND organised 13 national workshops in 10 countries (UK, Croatia, Moldova, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Hungary, Poland, Czech Republic, and France), bringing together different actors to debate on key issues and to build new alliances while at the same time providing policy advice. The meetings, attended by a total of 674 people, brought fruitful debates on crucial issues ranging from sanitary regulation to community supported agriculture, social economy, regenerative agriculture and beyond. They resulted in the signing of 13 Memoranda of Understanding thus increasing cooperation and alliances between different players in sustainable agriculture, markets, and the environment.Building on the national workshops, BOND implemented four policy roundtables (in Hungary, Portugal, Poland and Romania) where policy outcomes spanned from the new Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) to international trade, green public procurement, seed diversity and farmers’ rights, involving 142 participants from 27 countries. Outcomes of these rich debates included 13 reports widely accessible also on the BOND website, including, beyond the main six policy reports, a regulatory framework with examples of best practice, innovative serious-play tools for negotiation, and a repository of 55 stories of collective action from 21 countries in Europe called “The Barn”. BOND also selected and invited 34 young farmers mostly under 34 years old from 34 countries to debate through a process of online webinars. They produced a “Declaration” for the future of food and farming in Europe. Finally, the last event of the project was to provide the opportunity in one country (and Moldova was selected) to test the tools and methods developed during project implementation, in a real-life situation, as a lab, to be further replicated in other countries to hit impact and scale in Europe. Twelve farmer groups were given the opportunity to test the new tools and they applied them in their own organisations. Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far) Feedback from the representatives indicates that BOND has changed attitudes significantly with relation to collective action and “working together”. Feedback on study tours, national workshops, regional policy roundtables, the Youth Forum, the Lab in Moldova, and the Barn indicate a stronger feeling of belonging to a wider community, reduced isolation, an increased understanding of the economic and social benefits of cooperation, and the value of sharing visions knowledge and experience. Representatives cite the learnings around ways of marketing, of group ownership, of democratic processes, and productive and environmental protection as useful going forward. Overall, the Societal Impact Assessment reflects a strong sense of inspiration, encouragement, and solidarity. The feedback from the BOND consortium members demonstrates that the BOND project was able to reach more than 826 thousand people during its duration, and succeeded in training 704 farmers in different aspects of collective action, thus allowing to create more collective and united farmer constituencies in Europe. BOND Logo
