Dry summers, warm winters, heavy rainfall patterns – the effects of climate change are already present. In order to continue food production, it has to become resilient to climate change. Climate smart agriculture is an approach to maintain or even increase productivity under changing conditions.
The aim of the “Innovations for Climate Smart Agriculture” (InnoCSA) project is to support the transformation of the agricultural sector towards climate resilient and climate change mitigating practices. Climate smart agriculture is a new approach, combining different technics and methods, in order to transform the food system from a greenhouse gas emitting sector to a climate neutral or event climate negative sector.
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Dry summers, warm winters, heavy rainfall patterns – the effects of climate change are already present. In order to continue food production, it has to become resilient to climate change. Climate smart agriculture is an approach to maintain or even increase productivity under changing conditions.
The aim of the “Innovations for Climate Smart Agriculture” (InnoCSA) project is to support the transformation of the agricultural sector towards climate resilient and climate change mitigating practices. Climate smart agriculture is a new approach, combining different technics and methods, in order to transform the food system from a greenhouse gas emitting sector to a climate neutral or event climate negative sector.
The project aims to promote sustainable agricultural practices that help farmers adapt to the changing climate. The project will produce three outputs:
A consortium of five partners is implementing the project. The Institute for Rural Development Research (IfLS e.V.) is responsible for project coordination and the development of learning modules for innovation management. The Czech Association of Private Farmers (ASZ) and Farmers’ Association Umbria in Italy are contributing their knowledge of the situation of farmers to the consortium. ASZ leads all dissemination activities to reach farmers in the partners’ countries but also the other European states. CIA Umbria is the lead partner for developing learning modules on the concept of climate smart farming. The German consulting company Farm and Life (HuL) provides first-hand experience on transformation processes in farms and leads the development of case studies. OnProjects develops the learning platform, provides all the necessary technical support. Furthermore, it contributes insights and information about the situation in Spain to learning materials and case studies.
Through the involvement of different partners, the project benefits from a wide range of perspectives, expertise and experiences that help to ensure that the solutions and recommendations are practical, effective and relevant to farmers’ needs.
The Institute for Rural Development Research e.V. (IfLS) is coordinating the niche market farming project. IfLS is an independent non-profit research institute at the Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main. It was established in 1956. Since then, it has been addressing issues in the field of agriculture and rural areas in Germany and Europe. With a long record of projects focusing on sustainable land use and sustainable regional development, IfLS has been working closely with farmers, trainers and consultants and advisory services as well as researchers. A team of around 13 researchers and advisors supported by project assistants and administrative staff are currently managing and implementing around 30 projects.
HuL is a private SME located in Southern Germany, Bavaria.
These are the main business pillars:
1. CONSULTING
HuL is doing business consulting in Germany for family farms. We focus on production, processing as well as selling/ logistics – the whole added value chain – of agricultural produce in the fields of food, feed, fibre, energy. With a special focus on social and ecological aspects besides the pure economy in the planning HuL assures sustainability of conceptualization and implementation. We aim at long term relation with our farmers as business partners.
Specific consulting topics:
2. NETWORK FOR FARMERS
Within its strong network HuL has developed a process and attitude to bring together the right people at the right time in order to implement sustainable concepts earlier, better, faster and long lasting.
Aim of the network:
3. RESEARCH/ PROJECT PARTICIPATION
HuL attaches strong importance to the direct link of research and knowledge with experience and local competences: linking theory to practice and implementation of effective results.
HuL works in national/ international projects with the following topics:
HuL is giving inputs to current research, through keynote speeches in universities/ farmers federations/ political parties/ etc.
HuL is in steady contact with agricultural and rural research institutes and alliances.
CIA Agricoltori Italian (Italian Farmers) of Umbria, established in 1977 is an organization independent of political parties engaged in developing agriculture and rights of farmers in the society.
It is a part of the national organization based in Rome, with more than 900,000 members at national level, a representative office in Brussels, member of the European institution COPA-COGECA and a national and local magazine CIA INFORMA.
CIA of Umbria has a membership of about 14,000 members, 16 offices in the main towns and a central regional office in Perugia.
It consists of trade and product associations, institutions and companies which meet all sorts of emerging requirements of farmers and rural enterprises. CIA also includes important specific associations such as Young farmers Association (AGIA), Donne in Campo, constituted of female entrepreneurs, Turismo Verde Umbria, with more than 150 agrotourism firms. Services to individuals and businesses are provided by Cia Servizi all’Impresa. CAF is an institute providing fiscal assistance to the farmers and INAC is dedicated to the social security assistance.
On Projects was born in 2014 as a project managing consulting enterprise. Its main focus is advising enterprises, associations, public bodies and other entities in managing, monitoring and disseminating public funded projects. On Projects staff has a wide experience in managing projects in the framework of many European Programmes (including 6th and 7th framework programme, Horizon 2020, Life, Progress, Culture, Media and Creative Europe programmes, Youth in action and of course LLP and ERASMUS+) with a special focus on education, culture and heritage, social integration domain and rural development.
The Association of Private Farming of the Czech Republic (ASZ CR) is a voluntary professional organization of private farmers in the Czech Republic. All its activities are based on respect for old farming traditions and beliefs that family farms are the base of modern European agriculture and rural areas. The main focus of ASZ CR is the defense of the economic, social and professional interests of private farmers in the Czech Republic and abroad.
The long-term goals of the ASZ CR focus on the economic independence of rural areas and their development on the basis of multifunctional agriculture. The association supports family farming in the Czech Republic and the production of quality and ecologically friendly products.
