Bulgarian NEWBIE Discussion Circe on new opportunities and services to agriculture and local cooperation
On 3 September 2020 the Business Incubator-Gotse Delchev, Bulgarian NEWBIE team organized the 5–th Discussion Circle in Hadzhidimovo. The representatives of agricultural producers, potential newbies, associations, cultural and community centres and NGO discussed good practices and successful business models of NEWBIE new entrants in developing new products and additional services to agriculture to make it more effective and sustainable.
The topics in focus were: opportunity and challenges for new entrants and farmers in dynamic and unpredictable conditions of Covid -19; Development of additional services to agricultural products such as guest houses and homemade farm food, educational programmes for kids with domestic animals and local food, local crafts and traditions etc.; successful cooperation among small farms and communities.
Rositsa Djambazova presented some NEWBIE successful business models and good practice from Bulgaria and Slovenia.
Delicious homemade food from farm products and guest house attract visitors and provide about 45% of farm revenue. The combination of a farm, dairy and rural and cultural tourism services is the model developed and implemented step by step by Petar Petrov in the village of Sabotkovtsi, near Gabrovo to diversify the farm he inherited from his father. A lot of work and efforts must be done in the small farm to keep high quality of the farm products and services. Declining of the milk price made the farm focused on offering fresh cooked genuine homemade food of their milk and meat products and own vegetables. And all the visitors value the delicious fresh food much. Kids enjoy the meeting with rabbits, pigeons, pheasants, quails, lambs, calves, horses.
A successful business model is the cooperation between new entrant farmers and local hotels and restaurants to provide local products to tourists as the NEWBIE case study from village of Yagodina.
The participants discussed the negative trend caused by the long isolation and shrunken consumption and the opportunity of demand for local agricultural products. The better visibility on-line of the farms, their cooperation to sell together and e-shops as well as better insolvent of local community are the suggested approaches.
