Co-creation workshops were held for a second year, in 2024, in each of the 5 BEATLES Use Cases (UC) – Pig farming in Denmark, Organic dairy farming in Germany, Wheat farming in Lithuania, Onion and potato farming in the Netherlands, and Organic apple farming in Spain. These workshops aimed to discuss two aspects:
- fair business models for climate-smart agricultural practices (CSAs)
- policy measures for the adoption of CSAs.
The aim of the workshops was to explore the stakeholder’s position around the concept of fairness and to co-identify the changes needed for fair business model innovation, as well as supportive policies to facilitate implementation of CSA. The workshops brought together 58 stakeholder representatives, including farmers, retailers, technology providers, policymakers, advisors, government representatives, consumer representatives, researchers, seed producers, breeders, and processors. Participants identified changes needed to make food value chains fairer and mapped these changes on an impact feasibility matrix to prioritize actionable strategies. The fair value propositions presented by the various UCs are outlined below.
Key co-identified changes towards fairness by stakeholders from each UC country
Pig farming in Denmark:
- implement a national carbon tax to gain public support
- Improve connections between consumers, retailers, and producers.
- Enhance Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) reporting to encourage the purchase of climate-friendly products.
Organic dairy farming in Germany:
- Define fairness and sustainability more clearly.
- Introduce origin labelling and fair subsidies for small farms.
- Reform marketing regulations to boost demand for organic products.
Wheat farming in Lithuania:
- Restructure financial support to promote organic farming.
- Increase awareness and trust in organic labels.
- Encourage cooperation among small and medium-sized farmers.
Onion and potato farming in the Netherlands:
- Reward growers for the additional costs of sustainable production.
- Increase transparency in the value chain.
- Reduce regulations to facilitate sustainable farming.
Organic apple farming in Spain:
- Promote short marketing channels and raise consumer awareness of local products.
- Support research into local fruit varieties to improve yields.
Recommended policy measures for promoting CSA
Regarding policy, the reported lock-ins were mainly related to lack of policies and directives that promote and regulate CSAs at EU and national levels. Project Use Cases focused on concrete CSA practices:
- Denmark: slurry management and energy optimisation.
- Lithuania: no-tillage system and precision farming.
- Spain: organic production and cover crops.
- The Netherlands: those related to enhanced biodiversity at the farm level and limitation of water pollution using precision fertilizer techniques.
- Germany: organic production and animal feed from forage.
The most important recommendations that were raised are the following: the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) needs to incorporate CSA practices in order to promote the Green Deal and its Farm to Fork Strategies, a shift from financial support to assisted knowledge support to farmers is needed, climate tax must be easy to interpret and use, and advocacy for CSA should be supported at national and EU levels. In particular, CAP needs to be more comprehensive and focus more on promoting niche green practices. CAP support should be oriented towards sustainability results and made easily accessible for farmers developing sustainable agricultural practices.
