The DEMO.net project, funded by the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR), began in April 2023. It has 14 partners, including COTHN, CONSULAI, FNOP and INIAV as the coordination team, and 10 SMEs representing most of the Portuguese’s regions and the main fruit and vegetable sectors.

From 27 to 29 May 2024, the coordination team, along with the representatives and technicians of the project’s partner Producer Organisations (27 people), went to Belgium for a three-day international technical visit. This was the first in a series of international visits which, in addition to exchanging experiences, aim to learn about the reality of organising production in other countries.

On the first day, participants had the opportunity to take part in a conference at the European Commission entitled “Producers Organisation: We work better together“, attended by representatives of the following institutions: Copa-Cogeca; European Commission; Confederation of Farmers of Portugal (CAP); Landwirtschaftskammer Österreich (LKO) (Austria); Codiretti (Italy); Asociación Agraria de Jóvenes Agricultores (ASAJA) (Spain); Vestaron and also the DEMO.net project. An afternoon of enriching talks, presentations and a round table discussed the reality of organising production in Europe and how it can add more value to the sector.

The second day was spent at pcfruit, a renowned fruit-growing research center. The group got to know the center and its main areas of study and visited the soft fruit and pome fruit test fields. The pcfruit researchers presented some of the results of the studies they have been carrying out to control the main crop pests and diseases, production technologies and precision agriculture, among other topics. All the research work carried out is based on working closely with technicians and farmers to understand the most important issues to be investigated and on a private funding model that guarantees proximity between technical structures and research, highly focused on innovation, competitiveness and knowledge transfer.

On the third and final day, the DEMO.net group was hosted by BelOrta, the largest fruit and vegetable cooperative in Belgium and one of the largest in Europe. During the morning, they had the opportunity to get to know the structure of the cooperative, visit the auction room, the product reception facilities, the packaging area and the distribution center.

At the end of the three days, everyone came back sure that the exchange of experiences between technicians and managers and joint work between organisations will be the key factors in achieving the most appropriate models for organizing production. It is increasingly clear that Producer Organisations need to cooperate more with each other, sharing and discuss knowledge of the many challenges they face and will face, collaborating transparently to jointly find bridges and compromises to ensure higher levels of competitiveness and sustainability for their organisations and their members. The strengthening of associative principles, reflected in decisive gains in scale, as well as the dynamic interaction of production structures with knowledge agents, will ensure greater balance in the distribution of forces between demand and supply, greater speed and alignment with the transformations taking place in the main international competitors.

Find more information about the project and follow the results at:
https://akisportugal.pt/grupos/demo-net-rede-de-partilha-demonstracao-e-inovacao/activity/