About FARMER
The Agri-Food Sector
The agri-food sector is one of the largest economic sectors in the EU with approximately 12 million farmers employed, and about half of EU land territory is dedicated to farming.
The EU agricultural sector is one of the world-leading in food production, a key player at the global level in food safety & quality and a provider of millions of jobs for Europeans. The sector faces numerous challenges such as environmental issues, climate change, loss of biodiversity, lack of resources such as water, the use or not of pesticides, diseases, quality of soil, energy availability and pricing factors, to name a few. Farms have to produce quality products at affordable prices, traceable throughout the supply chain, and grow as close to the end consumer as possible, while farm revenues and profitability are under continuous pressure.
Project Goals
– Enhancing target groups’ resilience, productivity, and competitiveness through the evolution of their risk management competence and capabilities in relation to their business operations and management.
– Utilizing digital modern tools and technology to identify, assess, evaluate, monitor and control risks.
More Details
As “businessmen”, farmers all across Europe deal with risks and make decisions every day that affect their farming operations. They are on a standard basis exposed to threats, risks and uncertainties as discussed above, and as a result, they cannot in several cases understand, assess, and effectively manage them. They also find themselves unable to understand and balance the various parameters and make correct decisions or even just make a decision in relation to the above factors discussed. Many farmers, especially those that are located in remote rural regions with less exposure to awareness and knowledge and support resources seem to be most exposed and financially weak.
Market liberalization and globalization have made, in several cases, the scenery worse. Smallholder farmers have become especially vulnerable. A casual, old fashioned approach to farming is no longer viable. From a holistic point of view, their business becomes increasingly risky and farmers need to acquire professional skills, not only as far as production capabilities and competence but also in farm business management.
A key competence required is the risk management competencies and skills, not as an expert from a business owner or manager perspective. All in all, farmers need to be able to identify their business and operations’ overall risks, understand and assess them and acquire risk management skills to better anticipate possible problems and reduce consequences when they occur. To do so, their risk management background, culture and perception need to be improved as well as enhance their capability to identify and evaluate the necessary information required to take the appropriate decisions to manage their risks.