Quality from the mountains Prosperity for people and territories. Concept note and provisional programme

Transcription

1 CONTEXT European Conference Quality from the mountains Prosperity for people and territories IX th European Mountain Convention October 2014, Palacio Euskalduna, Bilbao, Basque Country, Spain *** Concept note and provisional programme The IX th European Mountain convention will take place in a specific context characterized by: THE OPTIONAL QUALITY TERM MOUNTAIN PRODUCT INTO FORCE: regulation 1151/2012 entered into force on 3rd January 2013 introducing an optional quality term mountain product on the whole EU territory. The delegated act communicating precise implementation criteria should be approved by spring There is now a tremendous need to reflect on the implementation on the ground. Euromontana General Assembly meeting on considers that implementation should be entrusted to a new forum/network/cluster of mountain supply chain actors which would take care progressively of required networking activities and would be launched in Bilbao. NEW EUROPEAN POLICIES ENTERING INTO FORCE: new European policies will start being implemented at the earliest mid-2014, in particular the Common agricultural policy and the Regional policy: there will be a specific momentum to communicate on opportunities associated to new policies and assemble for reflection on cooperation and networking around common projects. In particular, we will seek, through the conference to analyse how the new Common agricultural policy can positively contribute to structuring of mountain products value chains and production systems. LOCAL DEVELOPMENT AT THE FOREFRONT: Local action groups will be actively preparing their local development strategies in 2014: there will be a specific momentum to organise exchange between mountain LAGs on how to best address the challenges of mountain territories through LEADER/CLLD, especially with regards to how LEADER can be used to promote mountain products. FAMILY FARMING: 2014 is the international year of Family Farming: mountain farming is in huge majority family farming and the family farming dimension of mountain farming should be explored, in connection with similar activities carried out by the FAO Mountain Partnership and involving the World Rural Forum which is also based in the Basque country. FOOD AS A CENTRAL THEME FOR THE NEXT WORLD EXHIBITION MILAN 2015: Around 7 months after the European Mountain convention, the world exhibition Feeding the planet,

2 OBJECTIVES energy for life will start (May to October 2015, Milan). The conference will be the occasion to actively prepare mountain contributions to EXPO Milan Explore how new European policies, and especially the CAP in the EU, can contribute to the structuring of supply chains and territories through brands and labels valorising specific territories and the mountain dimension (investment, cooperation, promotion, quality improvement, innovation ): possibilities offered by the European framework and used (or not) in programmes of the different regions and member states. Comparing with non-eu states. - Facilitate exchange of ideas between mountain LAGs so that they can compare and improve their draft local development strategies with respect to territorial marketing and valorisation of mountain products: benchmarking, presentation of interesting initiatives - Explore to what extent the family dimension of mountain farming can be valorised positively in product and services labelling and promotion strategies - Prepare contributions for the world exhibition 2015 Feeding the planet, energy for life : how can mountain quality productions respond to food security challenges of tomorrow? TARGET AUDIENCE - Mountain supply chain actors from field to consumer: o Mountain farmers and farmers organisations, o Other actors involved in mountain food supply chains: processors, retailers, people involved in logistics, certifying bodies, brand managers, restaurants and hotels in mountain areas, chefs; o foresters and actors in the forestry supply chains (first and second-stage processors), o Technicians and people in agricultural organisations and advisory services or chambers of commerce, industry, tourism and agriculture o Rural businesses and population operating in fields related to agriculture especially in the rural tourism sector; - Development agencies, parks and other development groups; - Mountain Local action groups (LEADER); - University, technical and training institutes which participate in education and training of people and in innovation systems.

3 FORMAT The event will be dedicated to active learning and bottom-up elaboration of conference results. It will be organised to maximise participation and involvement of participants. Innovative meeting formats will be chosen in particular for parallel sessions to ensure time is sufficient for active contributions. Breaks will be kept long enough to allow interaction in a networking forum type of space. A room has been kept also for free networking in the last afternoon. PROVISIONAL PROGRAMME The programme at a glance Morning 23/10 Goals, challenges, policy response and evidence Afternoon 23/10 6 dimensions of mountain supply chain development 24/10 Designing the way forward Free networking time

4 PROVISIONAL PROGRAMME The programme in details Day 1 Wednesday 22 October study tours around the theme How the CAP helped and can help developing quality and efficient supply chains in the Basque country? 1. Study Tour 1: Getaria-Donostia. 9:00h-20:00h. Languages: ES-EN 2. Study Tour 2: Urdaibai Biosphere Reserve. 9:00h-17:00h. Languages: ES-EN 3. Study Tour 3: Alava Mountain Region. 9:00h- 17:00h. Languages: ES-FR 4. Study Tour 4: Rioja Alavesa. 9:00h- 19:00h. Languages: ES-FR Day 2 Thursday 23 October Welcome and registration Plenary sessions animated by a professional journalist Institutional welcome Session 1: Opening: Mountain supply chains in European policies Juanan Gutiérrez Lazpita, President of Euromontana Quality bringing prosperity to European mountain territories: the European Charter for mountain food products coming true and inspiring the whole mountain economy The new common agricultural policy: a promising tool box for mountain supply chains Director General of DG Agriculture, Jerzy Plewa Ambitious national policies for mountain supply chains Italian Minister for agriculture as president of the European Council (tbc) Mountain supply chains at the heart of mountain regions development strategies Vicecouncillor in charge of agriculture of the Basque government Coffee Break, tapas & Networking Session 2: Academic and international approaches: why do mountain supply chains matter? "The valorisation of mountain farming in the International Year of Family Farming-2014 Director of the Office for Communication, Partnerships and Advocacy at FAO/ Auxtin Ortiz, Director General of the World Rural Forum (tbc)

5 12.20 Territorial development through marketing of products: state of the art Academic/researcher opening the theme with some interesting inputs from scientific work Lunch & networking Session 3: Mountain supply chain development: key challenges and opportunities, how can the CAP respond? Workshops 1. INNOVATION - Mountain products, territories and innovation: new products, new processes, new services, new forms of organisation: how are mountains value chain actors innovating? What do they need in order to do so? CAP measures supporting innovation (EIP AGRI, operational groups, cooperation, investment ). Languages: EN-FR 2. TERRITORIAL APPROACH - Cross-fertilising promotion of products and territories: benchmarking several territorial brands. Why and when do they work? Successful examples from previous EAFRD projects. How can European policies finance such initiatives? The role of regional and local authorities, protected areas, LEADER groups. Languages: ES-FR 3. SOCIO-ECONOMIC IMPACT - Supply chains, income generation and employment: how to maximise the socio-economic direct and indirect impact of mountain products development? How is the economic structure of mountain companies developing and influencing employment? Real examples, real figures, adapted strategies. Languages: ES-EN Workshop change and coffee break 4. ENVIRONMENT & HERITAGE - Mountain products and preservation of environment and heritage: valorisation of public goods through labelling How to create synergies between agri-environmental-climate/organic farming measures and marketing of products? How to promote the environmentally-friendly character of mountain products? How to add value to products highlighting heritage? Languages: FR-EN 5. MARKETING STRATEGIES - Attracting consumer s attention in a competitive environment: comparing different marketing strategies adapted to different contexts: which attributes to promote: environment, social, quality? Which strategy can be best adapted depending on target groups and structure of the offer? Differences between short and long supply chains? Relations between Geographical indications, territorial brands, private brands, optional quality term mountain product. CAP measure supporting marketing. Languages: ES-EN 6. TOOLS - Quality improvement, traceability and control: which modern tools are available to guarantee quality throughout the supply chain? Which costs and how to optimise them? CAP measures supporting quality improvement and traceability. Languages: ES-FR Short reporting plenary: 5 key messages from each of the 6 workshops End of day 2

6 19.00 Touristic activity around Bilbao Networking dinner Day 3 Friday 24 October 2014 Session 4: Better networking and strategies for vibrant mountain supply chains Three collaborative working sessions on: Improving networking and cooperation among mountain supply chain actors (main target: supply chain actors): what for and how? Country-level or European level? Definition of a concrete way of working and action plan, distribution of responsibilities between Euromontana members and identification of most promising support measures. Method: Short introduction by country referees on the basis of country factsheets. Work in small groups to elaborate Massif scale and European action programme). Languages: ES-FR Developing better synergies between mountain value chains and tourism (main target: tourism operators, policy makers, protected areas ): How do we take advantage of the cross-fertilising effects of promotion of places and tourism to better market mountain product and attract more people to mountain territories? The role of rural and agri-tourism. Initiatives related to oenotourism and gastronomy initiatives. Method: three presentations followed by debate on key issues. Languages: ES-EN Preparing local development strategies integrating ambitious plans for mountain products development (Main target: mountain local action groups and policy makers): successful examples of how mountain products have been promoted in past Local development strategies. Active and participative exchanges among participants on their plans for the next period: how will they use the rural development and maybe the other European Structural and Investment funds in the framework of Community-led local development? Method: factsheet based presentation of LEADER interesting initiatives in different countries (5 minute per speaker) followed by participative work on how to design mountain product strategies and projects in LEADER. Languages: FR-EN Coffee break & networking Session 5: Designing the way forward for mountain supply chain development Report from session 4: An action plan for future networking activities among European mountain supply chain actors: main outcomes Synergies between value chains and tourism: main outcomes Main outcomes of discussion among mountain LEADER groups Reaction from policy-makers and managing authorities on how they think to support these initiatives while implementing future European policies, especially through LEADER: panel discussion with managing authorities from 4-5 countries.

7 Closure of main event by Juanan Gutiérrez and Basque government representative Lunch Networking time for further elaboration of action plans. PREPARATORY WORK The European Mountain Convention is one of the activities forming part of an integrated communication campaign called «A new CAP Mountains of opportunities», which is co-financed by the European Commission. The process of the information campaign A new CAP- Mountains of opportunities Euromontana and its network will conduct several preparatory activities in the form of: Creation of a specific brochure and website to communicate on the new CAP and its opportunities for mountain territories Five national seminars to inform national mountain stakeholders on the new CAP and prepare contributions to the European conference Follow-up and dissemination activities. MAIN EXPECTED OUTCOMES Improved knowledge and awareness of participants on Common agricultural policy and/or other similar policies in other European countries enabling greater structuring of mountain supply chains Launch of a new European forum/cluster/network of mountain value chain actors.

8 One handbook associating: o 6 thematic factsheets on the six main dimensions of mountain value chain development ; o 3 concrete action plans on how to improve cooperation and networking, how to improve synergies between products promotion and tourism and how to use LEADER for promotion of mountain products.