Farm Inc.

e5i8eo

Introducing Marketing Principles in the Agricultural Sector (Farm Inc.)

Project No. 2013-1-IT-LEO05-03986

Agreement No. CUP G83D13000540006

 

 

WHAT

 

The Farm Inc. project highlights to European agricultural enterprises, focusing in particular on Italy, Greece, Latvia, Cyprus, Belgium, the importance of using novel marketing principles such as branding and internationalisation to improve their market position and expand their business internationally.

 

WHY

 

Small agricultural enterprises and farmers are often in a disadvantageous position to other bigger players in the food chain (such as food manufacturers, wholesalers, retailers). That is why many smaller businesses face a common problem: their efforts to maintain and improve their market position, to upgrade their market share, to expand their business activity, often go unrewarded internationally.

 

HOW

 

While it is clear and obvious that one single SME cannot compete with the marketing power of multinational companies, there are new trends in the agricultural sector that potentially provide a great chance for smaller enterprises and farmers:

 

Rural Branding

 

Consequently, Farm Inc. develops training material to upgrade the skills to better brand and market rural products and to internationalise the business, taking full advantage of the chances that the EU Common Market has to offer. In the long term, this will help to increase their bargaining power in the existing production line and to open up new possibilities in a continuously changing EU and World economy.

 

About Farm Inc.

 

Background

 

The European agricultural sector has undergone deep and massive structural changes over the past decades.The increased efficiency in farming and production is challenging in many countries the traditional role that small scale farmers play in farming, production, rural development, and the diversification of the rural economy. There is an ever increasing need to find market niches and to create alternative careers for agricultural entrepreneurs, especially in rural areas.

 

Member States in the European Union acknowledge the changes in the market, and have reformed the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and its overall goals over the past years, moving from product to producer support and emphasising its priorities to economic, environmental and territorial issues. A key priority of the reformed CAP is to enhance competiveness at farm level, including restructuring and modernisation measures as well as supporting young farmers to start a business.

 

Why Farm Inc.?

Farm Inc. addresses the issue of competiveness at farm level and aims to facilitate a more competitive and viable agricultural sector operating and a properly functioning supply chain, which contributes to the maintenance of a thriving rural economy. Therefore, Farm Inc. will develop a specific tool that will offer training in branding, marketing and internationalisation, which is tailor-made to the needs of small farmers and farmer associations in Greece, Italy, Belgium and Latvia.

The main beneficiaries of this project are small farmers, agricultural entrepreneurs and their associations who produce local, high quality products, but lack the know-how to use sound marketing principles for the promotion of their products.

 

Aims and objectives

 

The Farm Inc. project aims to strengthen the competitiveness of agricultural SMEs as well as to improve the quality of continuous vocational training and the acquisition of skills for the agricultural sector.

 

More specifically Farm Inc. will:

–          Introduce the concept of an innovative marketing strategy (especially the added value of rural branding and internationalisation) to the agricultural community (farmers and farmer associations) in order to increase the bargaining power of small producers in the existing food chain and to open new market possibilities;

–          Adapt, develop and transfer the existing innovative training material (i.e. Methodological training Tool for Marketing, developed under the LdV ProudFarmer project) in order to address the needs of the agricultural community in the target countries;

–          Develop interactive training methods for this material  to facilitate the learning process;

–          Provide VET trainers with a concise and user friendly training tool to address the needs of learners in the agricultural sector;

–          Strive for the integration of the training tool in official VET systems in the target countries and beyond.

 

Partnership

 

The Farm Inc. consortium consists of 7 partner institutions from 5 EU member countries (Belgium, Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Latvia) with complementary profiles (universities, agricultural associations, VET providers, consulting firms) and expertise that will ensure the smooth implementation of all project activities.

 

Each involved consortium member offers its expertise in the respective fields according to a well-defined and clear tasks allocation plan and strategy.

Information_about_project

MORE INFO: http://www.farminc.eu/