A CONSULT participated in the annual meeting of the project Horizon Europe Climate Farm Demo, in Ljubljana, between October 22nd and 24th. The meeting took place at the premises of Chamber of Agriculture and Forestry of Slovenia and brought together more than 80 entities from the project, coordinated by the French institute IDELE, which began in 2022 and ends in September 2029.
The meeting included interactive sessions of capacity building for the partners, which supported the understanding of the project and the execution of the ongoing tasks in each country.
A network of demonstrating farmers in 27 countries
O Climate Farm Demo creates a European network of demonstrator farmers in 27 countries to accelerate the adoption of climate-smart practices and solutions, adapt production systems to climate change, and contribute to the carbon neutrality of the sector by 2050 2050. A CONSULT It is responsible for the Portuguese network, which consists of more than 30 demonstrative farmers with various production systems.
Visits to Slovenian farms
During the meeting, visits were made to four demonstration farms of the Slovenian network: two dairy farms, a fruit orchard and a farm cultivating aromatic plants. The farmers presented the challenges and the impact of climate change on their productions and the group dynamics, supported by CONSULT, They allowed to verify the cooperation and the sharing of good practices between farmers and advisory technicians from different countries.
Thematic leaders and live laboratories
In addition to managing the Portuguese network, the CONSULT He coordinates the team of thematic leaders at European level, who work on topics such as soil health, water management and compensation mechanisms. The session dedicated to this group defined a strategy to increase knowledge sharing among countries, based on the organization of cross-visits and thematic webinars.
On the last day, the work of the living labs of the project was explored. CONSULT he shared the actions developed in Living Laboratory of the Mounted, coordinated by University of Évora, which seeks to accelerate the adoption of innovative solutions and mitigate the desertification of the agroforestry-pastoral system.
The closing session, facilitated by the coordinator Christine Berger, allowed each participant to identify the next steps in their country.
What follows in Portugal
The Portuguese team is focused on calculating the carbon footprint of each farm, which will serve as the basis for the climate adaptation and mitigation plan and will allow for prioritizing the measures to be implemented by each farmer. The national network will have several demonstration events organized by the demonstrator farmers and the CONSULT.
The project continues to collaborate with other projects, initiatives and political decision-makers, work coordinated by the team from the University of Lisbon. CONSULT. Find out more on the website Climate Farm Demo.