H2020 agroBRIDGES Project: Building bridges between consumers and producers by supporting short food supply chains through a systemic, holistic, and multi-stakeholder approach.

agroBRIDGES aims to build bridges between producers and consumers, rebalancing farmers' market position by providing them with knowledge of new business and marketing models. The proposal will mobilize local farmers through Short Food Supply Chains (SFSCs), focusing on reducing intermediaries and their margins.

Specifically, agroBRIDGES will follow a systemic, holistic, and knowledge-based approach built on two pillars:

1. A multi-stakeholder framework that pursues demand-driven innovation.
2. A combination of communication materials, training programs, event planning, and IT tools brought together in the agroBRIDGES Toolbox as the ultimate instrument that will provide practical support to producers, consumers, contracting authorities, distributors, academic institutions, etc., improving farmers' position in the value chain. Regional and pan-European approaches will be considered alongside the project, with 12 Beacon regions participating in the creation of this multi-stakeholder framework, directly involving approximately 400 people in information gathering, knowledge sharing, co-creation, co-development, and validation of project results.

Full implementation, replication, and training will be carried out across the EU, supported by a robust dissemination campaign and coordination with other EU projects and initiatives such as SCAR-AKIS and EIP AGRI through a clustering scheme.

The main short-term impact will be approximately 150 people trained on topics related to food procurement and how to mobilize innovative agri-food supply chains and support local producers. In the medium and long term, the project expects a 5% to 8% increase in farms fully or partially involved in direct sales to consumers, and an average increase in farmers' incomes based on the value of production by approximately 35% thanks to the new SFSC models developed.

In this way, agroBRIDGES will make an ambitious contribution to the Common Agricultural Policy, unlocking the full potential of Europe's internal wealth by placing producers at the heart of boosting the European agri-food sector.