The European forum EU-FarmBook turns knowledge into action for more competitive agricultural and forestry operations
Description
On December 16, 2025 , Brussels will host the EU-FarmBook Forum 2025: “Turning Knowledge into Action for Competitive Farms and Forests,” a European event that will give new impetus to knowledge transfer in the agricultural and forestry sectors. The event will take place at the Sparks Meeting venue (Rue Ravenstein 60, 1000 Brussels) and will bring together representatives from the European Commission, young farmers' networks, agriculture and forestry experts, and key organizations within the AKIS (Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation Systems) ecosystem.
The forum will focus on a key idea: the competitiveness of European agricultural and forestry holdings increasingly depends on how knowledge is transformed into real practice on the ground , shortening the gap between research, advice and decision-making on farms.
A meeting to connect policy, science, advice and practice
The day will begin at 5:30 p.m. with participant registration and a networking cocktail, which will offer an informal meeting space between representatives of institutions, European projects, agricultural organizations, forestry networks and young farmers.
The official opening ceremony will feature the participation of:
- Diego Canga Fano , Acting Deputy Director-General at the Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development of the European Commission (DG AGRI).
- Paul Webb , head of the “Green Europe Research” Department at the European Research Executive Agency (REA).
- Marion Picot , Secretary General of the European Council of Young Farmers (ECYF) .
This opening will place the forum within the context of European policies on innovation, sustainability, and competitiveness, and the role that platforms like EU-FarmBook play in making R&D project results more accessible to farmers, advisors, and forest managers. welcome.eufarmbook.eu
EU-FarmBook in practice: from knowledge to the plot and the forest
Next, Pieter Spanoghe , from Ghent University , will present “EU-FarmBook in Practice: Moving Knowledge into Fields and Forests” , a presentation focusing on how the EU-FarmBook platform enables:
- Gather and organize results of European projects in agriculture and forestry.
- Facilitate access for advisors, farmers and forest managers to practical and adapted materials.
- To facilitate the transfer, adaptation, and scaling of solutions that work in one region to other territories.
EU-FarmBook is establishing itself as a leading digital tool to accelerate knowledge flows in European agricultural and forestry systems.
Panel “Competitiveness Through Knowledge”: competitiveness through knowledge
The core of the forum will be the “Competitiveness Through Knowledge” panel discussion , which will feature voices from agriculture, research, forestry and innovation networks:
- André Laperrière , former CEO of GODAN (Global Open Data for Agriculture and Nutrition).
- Lauren Dietemann , responsible for communication and project management at the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL) .
- Margarida Tomé , vice-president of the board of the European Forest Institute (EFI) and professor at the Higher Institute of Agronomy.
- Rudolfs Pulkstenis , Vice-President of the European Council of Young Farmers (ECYF) .
The panel will address key issues such as:
- How to measure the real impact of adopting innovations on productivity, sustainability, and resilience.
- What tools do young farmers and forest managers need to access actionable knowledge?
- How to make cross-border scalability of innovative solutions a common practice and not an exception.
A forum for the European AKIS community
The EU-FarmBook Forum 2025 is aimed at all actors in the European AKIS ecosystem:
- Agricultural and forestry advisors.
- Farmers, livestock breeders and forest managers.
- Operational groups and innovation projects.
- Research centers and universities.
- European networks and platforms for innovation and rural development.
The aim is to strengthen the connection between knowledge generated in European projects and its practical application , making European farms and forests more competitive, resilient and sustainable .
Those who are part of the European agricultural and forestry community, and especially those who work in advice, knowledge transfer and innovation , will find in this forum a unique opportunity to discover how EU-FarmBook can help bring knowledge directly to farms and forests throughout Europe.