
OrganicAdviceNetwork
PROJECT SUMMARY
The EU has set a target of reaching at least 25% organic farmland by 2030, which requires a tripling of the current organic area and the entry of 700,000 new farmers into the organic sector. This calls for easy access to reliable knowledge about organic practices and the creation of innovations. Organic advisory services are essential to achieve this, and there is a need for 10,000-20,000 organic advisers in the EU to serve these farmers. The project’s overall objective is to co-create an EU-wide network of 1000 organic advisors that will exchange knowlegde and provide mutual support, covering all 27 EU Member States and 7 other European countries. The network will cover both plant production and animal husbandry. It will embrace the diversity of organic advisory services offered by private and publication organisations or self-employed professionals. An Action Plan will be created to ensure the long-term continuation of the network, laying down a governance structure and identifying future funding streams. Exchange will take place in online community spaces and in-person events. Online learning activities will be offered to increase technical and soft skills of advisors, both newcomers in the sector as well as more experienced organic advisors. Based on an analysis of drivers and barriers, the project will empower organic advisors to improve capacity of their organisations and promote the creation of organic advisory services where they do not exist yet. Successful business models of structuring and financing organic advisory services will be assessed. The outcomes of the project will be disseminated to actors within and beyond the organic community. Finally, synergies will be created with other EU projects and policy makers will be engaged to foster long- term support for the network itself and for organic advisory services in all parts of Europe.
OBJECTIVES
O1: Co-create an EU-wide network of organic advisors and advisory services for exchange of experiences and mutual support, covering 34 European countries, which will continue after the end of the project.
O2: Strengthen organisational capacity of and raise policy support for organic advisory services, and better connect organic advisors with other AKIS actors.
O3: Increase technical and soft skills of 5000 organic advisors, newcomers as well as more experienced ones, through a series of dedicated learning activities.
O4: Create synergies with other EU projects and engage with policy makers and other key actors to foster long-term support for organic advisory services.
O5: Communicate about the project activities, disseminate, and exploit project results, reaching 200,000 actors among the key target groups.
METHODOLOGY AND APPROACH
WA1: Work Area 1 is central to the OrganicAdviceNetwork, focusing initially on recruiting advisors from the core and outreach network, particularly those involved with EIP-AGRI Operational Groups. Recruitment targets three types of advisors: young graduates, conventional advisors interested in organic agriculture, and experienced organic advisors. The project offers both in-person and online opportunities for learning and interaction. In-person activities include cross-visits and soft-skill trainings, organized by geographic zone and thematic network, and featuring interactive sessions. Online interactions will occur at both national and EU levels, using popular communication channels and community spaces integrated into a learning management system. Phase two will emphasize engaging advisors from the extended network and creating an Action Plan to ensure the network’s long-term sustainability through a governance structure and future funding strategies.
WA2: Work Area 2 begins with assessing the current state of organic advisory services through systematic surveys, analysis of CAP and public support measures, and evaluation of educational systems related to organic farming. This foundation will support SWOT analyses in 14 core network countries and develop scenarios addressing issues like low access to advice, aging advisors, and lack of training facilities. A European Organic Advisory Contest will highlight best practices and promising business models. In the project’s second phase, findings from the SWOT analyses and contest will inform an “Action Plan for Strengthening Organic Advisory Services,” offering recommendations for advisors and policymakers. Participatory methods will ensure the analysis and proposed actions are representative and shared by AKIS actors. This work will build on previous assessments from OrganicTargets4EU and I2connect project reports.
WA3: Work Area 3 will identify knowledge gaps and research needs, collecting relevant tools such as fact sheets and videos. It will build on existing resources from Organic Farm Knowledge and seek to fill gaps in areas like viticulture and ruminants. A multilingual learning environment on Moodle will offer two types of courses: a MOOC for newcomers and less experienced advisors, and self-learning pathways for more experienced advisors. These courses will include online lectures, self-tests, and virtual exchange opportunities, covering technical and soft skills. Innovative solutions for challenges in organic farming and sustainability will be explored, including economic aspects. Collaboration with CECRA and other advisory networks is planned. The second phase will expand the courses, with the MOOC available in 13 languages and self-learning pathways in English, French, and German, with potential further translations. All materials will also be accessible via EU FarmBook’s translation system.
WA4: Work Area 4 aims to create synergies with other EU-level projects, policymakers, and key actors. It will start by mapping relevant projects and people, leveraging existing collaborations with initiatives like OrganicTargets4EU, LIVESEEDING, InnOBreed, and EU FarmBook. Special efforts will target the four sister advisory networks in the 2023/2024 Work Programme. Collaboration with policymakers will focus on officials in the European Commission and innovation experts. Key actors include farmer organizations, research associations, and NGOs such as EUFRAS, COPA-COGECA, and Agroecology Europe. OrganicAdviceNetwork will organize three joint workshops on soft skills, holistic agroecological approaches, and policy collaboration. The second phase will establish a Memorandum of Understanding for long-term collaboration, exploring integration under EUFRAS. The goal is to develop a shared understanding of the challenges and necessary policy support for organic advisory services.
WA5: Work Area 5 will manage all communication, dissemination, and exploitation (CDE) activities for the project, based on the plan in section 2.2.1. Outcomes and materials will be shared with EU and national CAP networks, EIP-AGRI, AKIS channels, EU FarmBook, and Organic Farm Knowledge. In the project’s second phase, the focus will shift to exploitation, producing five Key Exploitable Results (KERs): two action plans for the long-term continuation and strengthening of organic advisory services, the MOOC, and two self-learning pathways. Additional KERs may be identified during the project. This Work Area also includes organizing the final conference in collaboration with other advisory networks.
WA6: This Work Area covers the overall project coordination. On the one hand, this means ensuring quality of the project activities and outputs through good communication among Work Package leaders, thematic network leaders and other partners. On the other hand, this covers all legal, financial, and administrative management of the project.
PARTICIPANTS
ACHIEVEMENTS:
- The project aims to connect 850 organic farm advisors in the core network, 100 advisors from the outreach network, and 50 advisors from the extended network.
- The Action Plan will be a collaborative effort of all project partners, and the input from 20-25 additional stakeholders per country in the core network.
- The MOOC will reach 2 times 2000 people, while the online self-learning paths will reach 2 times 500 advisors
- OrganicAdviceNetwork proposes three common workshops with the other advisory networks: a workshop on soft skills for advisors, workshop on holistic, agroecological approaches and a policy workshop. Finally, the project will organise its final conference with the other advisory networks. Other related projects, policy makers and other key actors will be invited to these events. These joint events will serve to create a common understanding about the challenges of establishing and running organic advisory services, and what is (policy) support is needed for them.
- The project will be promoted, and project results will be widely disseminated reaching 100,000 actors involved in (organic) advisory services, policy makers and scientists. Governance structures will be created, and funding streams will be identified for the exploitation of the project’s results.
SEASN’s INVOLVEMENT IN THE PROJECT
SEASN’s role in this project is as an advisory partner for the Western Balkan countries. With this project two of the SEASN’s members are included, they are the Chamber of Agriculture and Forestry of Slovenia (CAFS) and the Institute for Science Application in Agriculture (IPN), representing the advisory service in Serbia.
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