COREnet - Connecting advisors toward a European network for consumer-producer chains
Project overview
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Short summary
Short Food Supply Chains (SFSCs) or producer-consumer chains are supply chains involving a limited number of intermediaries between farmers and consumers, and are committed to cooperation, local economic development, and maintaining close geographical and social relations.
In rebuilding post-Covid, SFSCs are being promoted by governments, civil society, and consumer groups in many EU member states as a means of building more inclusive, resilient, and sustainable food systems. But SFSC initiators, participants, and promoters are confronted with a fragmented knowledge landscape, coupled with a lack of clarity about essential skills and competencies across all phases from farm to fork. The COREnet project proposes to respond by supporting the systematic development of more effective SFSC advising by bringing together public, private, and civic advisors through IT-enabled peer-to-peer learning and mutual support. This approach requires interacting with advisors, farmers, and consumers, and a more holistic approach aimed at helping SFSCs achieve not just a larger market share, but a greener market impact. Project activities concern the following.
1. Developing SFSC advisory capabilities based on a knowledge mapping and online listing of SFSC advisors from all EU27 in ways that enable the sharing and exchange of cost-effective practice solutions that improve SFSC social, economic and environmental performance and increase their impact in the food value chain;
2. Preparing learning resources in the form of a network of 30 Golden Cases (exemplars of SFSC models that have achieved business success) and initiating 27 Lighthouse Projects (initiatives using Golden cases to introduce advisory services for improving SFSC performance with at least one in each of the EU-27);
3. Establishing a pan-European peer-to-peer learning network for SFSC advisors and proposing a formal organisational solution that assures its sustainability and integration into the AKIS.
