Final Conference
The Final Conference took place in Brussels 19-20 May 2015 at the University Foundation, Egmontstraat 11, rue d’Egmont.
Reactions to the conference and publication of findings
In Portugal, there was considerable media interest. The newspapers published articles entitled "European study reveals serious gaps in Portuguese agriculture” which is a contradiction with the dominant success stories around agriculture (growth of agricultural exports and establishment of young farmers). The news impact was that the Minister of Agriculture's rating in the political barometer went down.
- Estudo europeu deteta falhas na agricultura portuguesa (website of tv- national level, news channel) TVI 24 Online | 02-06-2015
- Estudo europeu revela lacunas na agricultura portuguesa (on-line version of national level popular magazine-generalist) Visão Online | 02-06-2015
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Estudo europeu revela lacunas na agricultura portuguesa (on-line version of popular national level newspaper-generalist) Correio da Manhã Online | 02-06-2015
Aim of the conference
The aim of the final conference was to present and discuss findings from the project with a wider audience, thereby marking the official end of the project. Based on the conceptual framework for assessing AKIS, the project compiled an inventory of AKIS institutions and interactions in the EU-27 as a searchable database and detailed reports. Using selected case studies, it has investigated specific knowledge systems through comparative analysis and assessments revealing successes, strengths and weaknesses which were discussed in three synthesis seminars. Based on these findings, policy recommendations for strengthening European agricultural innovation systems were developed.
A detailed agenda is available here.
The presentations from the day are available below:
- Opening Speech by Tom Tynan, Europa.
- Introduction to the project and the programme for day one. Andrea Knierim
- Introduction to the project and the programme for day two. Andrea Knierim
- Extension evaluation - lessons from the South. Chris Garforth
- Farm advisory services in international debates. What can we learn from evaluation of farm advisory services. Pierre Labarthe et al.
- Key findings from the case studies. Lívia Madureira & Józef Kania, Kinga Boenning, Pierre Labarthe, Timothy Koehnen, Violeta Dirimanova