Digital Workshop “Producer Organisations: a powerful tool for agricultural income & competitiveness”

The Digital Workshop for farmers & rural stakeholders, entitled “Producer Organisations: a powerful tool for agricultural income & competitiveness”, took place on the 28th May 2021.

The aim was to inform producers and all interested parties in relation to:

• the state of play, the challenges and prospects concerning the establishment and development of Producer Organisations in the primary sector,
• the support provided by the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) to strengthen cooperation between producers within Producer Organisations at present and in the future.

In addition, the Workshop aimed to raise awareness of the benefits of cooperation, providing evidence, examples and best practices from the European experience.

In particular, the following topics were developed and discussed:

• Producer Organisations in the EU and in Greece: data on number, production sectors, legal form, institutional framework
• CAP measures and tools to support Producer Organisations: their utilization to date in Greece and the EU, the support provided under the CAP after 2023
• Best practices from the EU: national policies and best practices encouraging the creation, support and development of Producer Organisations
• Challenges and prospects: the importance of Producer Organisations for the economic, environmental and social sustainability of the primary sector at present and in the future (optimal use of the CAP tools, national institutional framework and incentives, the role of the banking sector, the role of innovation / smart farming)

Agri-cooperatives representatives from Greece & Spain, representatives of the European Commission and stakeholders from the broader agri-food sector in Greece have participated in the Workshop.

It was attended by over 300 delegates and was livestreamed in Greek and in English.

The Digital Workshop was an informative action included in the project CAP3D “CAP for economic, environmental and social sustainability” which is  designed and implemented by GAIA EPICHEIREIN and supported by the Directorate General for Agriculture and Rural Development of the European Commission within the framework of the IMCAP Programme of the European Union for 2020-2021.