Family Farms in Short Food Supply Chains: Transfer of experience from Czechia, Slovakia and Poland
Aim of project
Experts from the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia will collect the best practice of family farms in short food supply chains and share it with farmers and other relevant stakeholders in Georgia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Focus Area:
Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Research, tackling economic challenges and improving the ecosystem for businesses and social enterprises through joint lobbying, common policy solutions and exchange of best practices
Participating Countries:
Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia, Georgia, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Basic information
Grant Program: Visegrad+ Grants
Project ID: 22430104
Leading Organization: Mendel University in Brno, Faculty of Regional Development and International Studies
Budget: 39,245.00 EUR
Project Period: 03/03/2025–01/09/2026
Background:
Most of the farms in Georgia and Bosnia and Herzegovina are family-run. Family farmers contribute directly to food security and nutrition in these countries; family farms are the link between past and future, place where culture is applied and preserved and are part of the wider rural landscape and economy.
The number of family farms is declining because these family farms struggle to resist the market pressure of current globalized markets. One of the causes of this problem is that there is remoteness (in the geographical, relational and value sense) between family farms and consumers in the current system of food production. This leads to the deterioration of family farms’ position in the food system and the corrosion of applied family farms business models. The solution are new family farms business strategies and implementation of short food supply chain (SFSC) practices. The SFSC recommends a more direct connection between farms and consumers.
What we want to achieve:
Family farms from Georgia and Bosnia and Herzegovina already have experience of applying SFSCs practice because they often sell the production via local markets or direct on-farm sales. However, the practice and experience from Visegrad countries (where the SFSC practice is more matured when compared to Georgia and Bosnia and Herzegovina shows that there are multiple new ways (e.g. sophisticated selling arrangements, usage of social networks, products innovations) how family farms in Visegrad apply SFSCs strategy. This project will advocate for SFSC practices among family farms in Georgia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Project activities and outputs:
- Provide nine case studies from Visegrad that present SFSCs good practices
- Develop situation reports presenting family farms situation in Georgia and Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Organize workshop of SFSCs good practices
- Develop “book of case studies” of good practices
- Organize series of 4 seminars for family farmers and other stakeholders in the food value chain to disseminate good practices
- Support academics from universities in Georgia and Bosnia and Herzegovina to develop academic publications to enhance existing local body of knowledge and to systematically stimulate the change in the food systems in Georgia and Bosnia and Herzegovina towards new and successful SFSCs models.