Supporting and Boosting the Competitiveness of EU Young Farmers: Agency for Economic Development – Kostinbrod joined the second Transnational Project Meeting of YOUNG FARMERS

On June 28, 2021, Agency for Economic Development – Kostinbrod joined the second transnational meeting of YOUNG FARMERS (Rural Entrepreneurship Leveraging Advanced training for Young Farmers), a Project co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Commission, which brings together seven Partners from five different countries (Bulgaria, Belgium, Italy, Poland, and Spain). The meeting was held in online mode due to COVID-19 restrictions.

The main aim of the meeting was the presentation of the literature review, country reports, tools and good practices, and surveys, including a detailed analysis from each Partner. During the first phase of YOUNG FARMERS implementation, Partners focused on the review of policy papers, studies, research, articles and other relevant sources and resources.

The Partnership also discussed the implementation of courses (ten in total) under Intellectual Output 3.

The content of the training will address three main areas:

• Challenges and opportunities for farming in Digital Era
• Entrepreneurship, Business Competitiveness and e-marketing
• Internationalisation and e-commerce

All YOUNG FARMERS results will available in multilingual versions, free of charge and without restrictions through the dedicated OER platform.

The Project’s Website is now online at https://www.young-farmers.eu , providing specific info on project aims, activities and results.

YOUNG FARMERS’s objective is to enhance the opportunities for EU young farmers to adopt and exploit digital entrepreneurship models so to valorise their businesses with new competitive solutions.

While young farmers represent the economic bulk of European rural areas – territories that make up from 40% to 80% of every European nation - numerous EU reports identify the need of a strong entrepreneurial and risk management training (as well as new technologies) from which rural entrepreneurs can benefit in terms of new and more innovative models for business competitiveness.

The financial and long-term sustainability of their business is by several key factors: lack of entrepreneurial training; overall lack of digital and ICT competences; the competitive pressure represented by big industrial value chain.