New Entrant netWork: Business models for Innovation
Welgro Produce Ltd. Welgro Produce located in Rush Co Dublin has been selected as the winner of the third Irish Newbie new entrant competition. Welgro established by Shane Halpin, Sean Weldon and Gary Weldon is one of only two commercial cucumber growers in Ireland. The local trio identified an opportunity to develop a business utilising […]
On 11th November in the afternoon, the German steering group met for its final meeting. After a long stretch of virtual encounters, the steering group was able to meet in Berlin. The steering group member present were Yvonne Rottmann, Dr. Beate Bajorat, Dr. Carl Dohme, Petra Bentkämper and Dr. Wolf Lorleberg (FHS). Further, all German […]
On the last day of the three-day program in Montpellier, the Newbie consortium partners and farmers visited four inspiring regional farms. We started the day by visiting the farm incubator “Domaine de Viviers”, where farmers can learn how to set up their farming activities. Then, we were welcomed in the vineyards of “Domaine de Favas”. […]
On the 26th of October, a group of Newbie farmers from Ireland, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Scotland and Belgium participated in field visits in the area of Montpellier. As part of the Final Newbie Meeting, these field visits were organized and guided by Newbie partner RENETA. The group visited a cooperative supermarket called “La Cagette”, a network […]
Starting today, 26th of October, our project partners kick off the last project meeting of the Newbie consortium. In the facilities of Agropolis in Montpellier, France, our team will have an intensive 3-day program containing a project meeting, several field visits and a full day conference. The program is as follows: project meeting and field […]
In the occasion of the international Local Action Groups (LAG) Forum: Smart Villages for a Green, Digital and Resilient Europe within the framework of the Slovenian Presidency of the Council of the European Union Programme, we have celebrated NEWBIE Award ceramony on September 30, 2021 in Tri lučke, Krško. NEWBIE Award 2020 winner is Tilen […]
On the 8th of October our Belgian Newbie team announced the winner of the Newbie Award 2021. The winner was the one who scored highest on the combination of two attributes. On the one hand they had to convince our Steering Group of their creativity and innovativeness. On the other hand they had to gather […]
Between 20th and 21th September 2021, Simon Stork (FH SWF, Germany) and Mertijn Moeyersons (KU Leuven, Belgium) joined the Slovenian Newbie team and national stakeholders on a tour through the Goriška Brda hilly region, the Vipava River valley and Slovenian Istria to meet several newbies and established farmers who are involved in different kinds of […]
Can’t join us at Montpellier? No problem! The plenary part of the Newbie Final Conference in Montpellier will be a hybrid meeting. This gives the opportunity to join the 70 participants in Montpellier during the morning programme. The plenary meeting starts at 9.30 hours and will end at 13.00 hours CET. You can join online […]
On the 11th October 19 farmers, researchers, and local and general administration came together in Montemor-o-Novo, Portugal, to discuss the statute of “family farming”. This statute was created in Portugal in 2019 to benefit small farmers that are often not contemplated or eligible to other forms of support. The meeting focused the admission requirements, that […]
The NEWBIE team of Business Incubator – Gotse Delchev completed the last 2 inspiring videos (out of 10 totally) for Bulgarian new entrants into farming at the end of the summer. Although they are in different parts of Bulgaria, different small farms, with different products it is easy to find common ground between them – […]
Bundling forces across projects to develop an online course on business models in farming 8th September 2021, Leuven KU Leuven, ILVO, Rikolto, Odissee Hogeschool and the Fachhochschule Südwestfalen bundle their forces in the development of a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) on Business Models for Sustainable Farming. With this initiative, they also provide output that […]
Being the largest youth organisation in rural Germany with more than 100,000 members, representation is a cornerstone of BDL’s work. For that reason, the German Rural Youth Association (BDL = Bund der Deutschen Landjugend e.V.), has used the forced time-out of the Covid19 pandemic to launch the “Young Farmers Study” in its Young Farmers Project. […]
The Irish Newbie competition for 2021 has recently closed for entries. New entrants include those who are newcomers to agriculture, those changing enterprise, those diversifying and successors on existing farms. The entries will now be shortlisted and the judging panel will visit each of the finalists. The farm visit will include an assessment of the […]
The Belgian Newbie team of KU Leuven and the German Newbie team of Fachhochschule Südwestfalen are developing a Massive Open Online Course together about how to create a strategic business model in the agricultural sector. The course will be hosted on EDX, an international learning platform, starting from January 2022. For this course, the two […]
RENETA organized a Discussion Circle on 24th June 2021 on the topic of “Food and Agricultural Policies to support new entrant?”. Over 150 participants gathered from different regions of France, including Martinica! The meeting took place in Mimizan (Nouvelle Aquitaine Region), co-organized by RENETA and the “Landes” District, which has an ambitious policy to support […]
Slovenian farmer stories available online During summer Slovenian team filmed the last 3 farmer stories (11 in total). First is Domen Virant who took over the abandoned farm from his grandmother in 2015 and started a new farm business from the beginning. He admitted that “a farm without mechanization and financial stability is a big […]
The Portuguese Newbie team organized a national visit to different initiatives and projects of interest, instead of the programmed international exchange due to logistic constraints from the pandemic. The visit took place between the 14-15 July and we were joined by a Bulgarian delegation of four. The two-day program aimed to get to know different […]
This time, the German Newbie Award goes to “Grow Up Salicornia GbR”. The salt plant “Salicornia Europaea” contains valuable nutrients and tastes spicy. “Grow Up Salicornia GbR” is Germany’s first regional grower of fresh salicornia. The founders of the start-up are Ken Dohrmann and Julian Engelmann. Together, the two founded their company in 2020. The […]
Newbie Exchange in Portugal in July 2021 This article will report on the international exchange by the Bulgarian Newbie team to our Portuguese Newbie team. Topics included: local policy and best practices in short food supply chains and new entrant support This summer the University of Evora organized a national visit to the region Idanya-a-Nova […]
On the 19th of July the Belgian Newbie team launched their third and final edition of the Newbie Award. Just like previous years they aim to find the most inspiring new farmer among the participants. Interested Flemish farmers can apply on www.biosfere.be/newbie between the 19th of July and the 20th of August 2021. The nominees […]
Risk, responsibility and liability in multifunctional agriculture Multifunctional agriculture (MFL) companies receive many visitors to their farms. That gives questions about risks, responsibility and liability for you as farmer. In the revised brochure Risk, responsibility and liability in multifunctional agriculture, MFL farmers get answers to this questions. Many new entrants in farming do have a […]
On 26th of September 2021, Germany will elect its 20th federal parliament. While many issues need fast political reaction, like steering Germany through the ongoing Covid19 pandemic, the agricultural sector and especially young farmers need reliable long-term policy. The German Rural Youth Association (BDL – Bund der Deutschen Landjugend e.V.) has been advocating for the […]
The sixth Irish NEWBIE Steering Group meeting was held on Zoom in light of continued Covid 19 restrictions. The meeting included an update on progress in the project and to discuss planned activities for the remainder of 2021. The completion of two international exchanges depending on Covid 19 restrictions was discussed in detail. This steering […]
Nicolas and François from the “Collectif Fermier des Arbolèts” has been selected as the French Newbie award for 2021. Created in 2016 on a former pork/cereal farm, the collective now brings together 7 organic farmers belonging to legally independent farm: GAEC La Bergerie des Arbolèts (goat and sheep breeding, yoghurts and cheeses), GAEC Le Jardin […]
On May 7, 2021 the Slovenian NEWBIE Steering Group meeting was held at the Department of Geography, Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana. The meeting was dedicated to discussion on policy recommendations and future NEWBIE activities. We began with round discussion about existing, planed and needed policy recommendations for new entrants in agriculture in Slovenia. […]
The Newbie project is nearing the end of its duration and with it comes our final conference. More details will be made available in the near future, but we can already announce the official date: the 27th of October. Please mark this date in your calendar to join us during this conference.
Afonso Pereira and Marieke Devillé are the winners of the last edition of the Portuguese Newbie competition for new entrants, with their company Alma Organica. Having lived abroad for some years, they decided to move back to Portugal and settled in Odemira, Alentejo with a project focused on sustainability, agrotourism and valorisation of local resources. […]
The search for a farm as well as the search for a farm successor poses a similar problem to different people: How do I find a suitable person/farm? The initiative hofnachfolger-nrw.de from Germany, North Rhine-Westphalia tries to solve this problem. It is an association of rural youth, the Chamber of Agriculture of North Rhine-Westphalia and […]
This week the NEWBIE team for the UK held their penultimate Steering Group meeting (online). We began with a fascinating update from each steering group member on their recent work involving new entrants. Then there was a vibrant conversation about potential policy recommendations in terms of widening out the land matching service, mentoring schemes and […]
