New Entrant netWork: Business models for Innovation
Culinary innovations increase the environmental and economic value of acorns Bolota viva is an inspiring example of an agri-food business that combines culinary innovations through acorn processing with the preservation of oak trees in the declining Montado silvopastoral landscape of Alentejo. Although traditionally used as animal feed, Sonia and Marco saw the opportunity to enhance […]
Belgian Newbie team cooperates with Generation Food Similar to the edition of 2019, the Belgian Newbie team choose to work with a two-step procedure to decide on its winner for the Newbie 2020 edition. Five farmers were selected in a first round by the Newbie team. After this round, we had two panels. On the […]
On the 7th of July 2020 the Bulgarian Steering Group had an online meeting to discuss the umbrella concept, the Bulgarian toolkits to support new entrants in agriculture, results of the NEWBIE award contest and the topics of the next discussion circle. The members were also updated about the NEWBIE activities and outputs of the […]
Overcoming licensing barriers in small-scale production and transformation was the topic of the discussion circle organised by Newbie Portugal on the 2 July at the University of Evora. The event brought together twenty-four participants including the different national and regional entities involved in issuing licenses, producers, processing businesses and scientists. The session focused on two […]
Cultivating land, not owning it This online discussion circle, with 10 participants on the 16th of June, was about sharing information and inspiration on the topic of access to land. In the Netherlands the prices for buying land are very high (60.000 – 100.000 euros a hectare) so for most new entrants that is not […]
Under the motto “A lot helps a lot ? Farm diversification today for tomorrow” the German Rural Youth Association (BDL), the German Farmers’ Association (DBV) and the Federal Information Centre Agriculture (BZL) invited young agricultural players to discuss future prospects. In days of Corona, the Farmers Lunch took place at the 25th of June as […]
The 5th Slovenian Steering group meeting brought together different stakeholders of the rural development to discuss the progress related to the NEWBIE project and the plan for coming year. The Steering Group consists of researchers, advisors, farming organisation representatives, policy makers, representatives of young farmers and new entrants into agriculture. The meeting (June 16, 2020) […]
Video recorded with 2019 Newbie competition winner and a video is released on “Long term land leasing” Just ahead of the introduction of Covid-19 restrictions a video was recorded with Steven Ryan, winner of the 2019 Irish NEWBIE competition. In the video Steven gives a comprehensive overview of his experience as a new entrant into […]
For the second edition of the Newbie Award in France, the jury chose to honour the GAEC “L’art du cochon” in Tartaras, near Lyon. Philippe Chorrier and Gauthier Ricordeau are partners and raise outdoor pigs, which they process and sell via several short supply chains (farmer’s shop, CSA, markets…). With this choice, the jury wishes […]
Soon after the measures against Covid-19 were relaxed in Bulgaria and participation in seminars and conferences was allowed, a very interesting workshop and discussion circle was held in Gotse Delchev on June 8, 2020 with a focus on the digitalization of agriculture and the advantages of cooperation. The event was organized by the Institute of […]
The 2019 Newbie Portugal Award was won by Raquel Alves, founder of the Ervitas Catitas farm, producing and selling organic aromatic herbs and essential oils. In 2008, after losing her job, Raquel turned the small herbal garden she had started on succession land as a personal hobby into Ervitas Catitas (Fancy Little Herbs in Portuguese) […]
Portuguese Steering Group – virtual meeting on ZOOM The 4th Portuguese Steering Group meeting took place on the 22nd of April to follow up on progress. One of the key points discussed was about the next steps in the creation of a farm incubator in the Alentejo region and most importantly reflections on potential entities […]
Belgian Newbie Award 2020 online voting Overview Five laureates remain in the Newbie Award 2020 competition for the most innovative and inspiring new entrant. Besides a voting round by a professional jury of industry stakeholders, the KU Leuven also added a second voting round on social media. On the Flemish website of the Newbie project, […]
Time to turn land challenges into opportunities The words challenging and unprecedented have been used a great deal understandably over the past few weeks but what we have seen is a renewed spirit and innovative ways to deal with some of these challenges in the UK. Alongside this, this has also been a sharpening of […]
At the beginning of April, the German Newbie-Team had this year’s first steering group meeting. What was planned to be a nice gathering in the vineyard of Weingut Walz with Newbie and BDL vice-president, Mara Walz, turned out to be a video conference after all (#stayathome). After a short overview on the overall as well […]
Bozhura Fidanska, PhD from the Institute of Agricultural Economics, an active member of the Bulgarian NEWBIE Steering group, took part in a National Scientific conference “Role of the family business for sustainable development” organized by Agrarian University Plovdiv and Foundation Land- source of income in March 2020. In the presentation “NEW BUSINESS MODELS – WAY […]
Restaurants are closing down. They are only allowed to offer take-away services. Supermarkets and hypermarkets have restrictions on the number and entry of customers and their opening hours. Open markets are also subject to limitations and many have ended up shutting down. Schools have been suspended. The small producers who supply local schools, restaurants and […]
A few weeks ago, RENETA organized the first training session for advisors on the topic of “supporting collective projects”. A significant part of new entrants wishes to develop their business within a collective framework. The notion of “collective” takes several ways: “working with”: each farmer is independent but shares and manages common tools or part […]
The 3rd Irish steering group meeting brought together the steering group in Portlaoise to discuss progress on the Newbie project and the plan for the coming year. The steering group is comprised of farm advisors, researchers, farming organisation representatives, financial personnel and recent new entrants to farming. The main objectives of the meeting were to; […]
At the Newbie consortium meetings we always dedicate one day to visiting new entrants for inspiration and discuss with them the challenges they face. Our team member Marcel Vijn writes an article of each visit which is published in the Dutch magazine Ekoland. For the Newbie project these articles are translated in English. You can […]
Domen Virant from Kmetija pri Ropet won NEWBIE Award 2019 in Slovenia. Domen is not quite the typical representative of young farmers. He took over the abandoned farm from his grandparents in 2015 and started a new farm business from the beginning. He did not choose the easiest way, but ambitiously began to diversify a […]
The preparations for the next European Newbie Event 2021 in Berlin have already started. The Bund der Deutschen Landjugend (BDL) is our host. The interactive conference will take place on the 20th of January 2021. This allows participants to combine the event with a visit to the Grüne Woche. To ensure an equally high standard […]
In November 2019 we called for applications for the Newbie-Award 2019. Innovative and imaginative newcomers from the German agricultural sector were invited to propose themselves and their business idea, their farm and their career for the Newbie-Award. The deadline for applications was February 29th, until then many farm managers and newcomers had applied. The selection […]
LINKING PROJECTS FOR A COMMON GOAL: THE SUSTAINABILITY AND MAINTENANCE OF SMALL FARMS AS A WAY TO FOOD SOVEREIGNTY The goal of Km0 Alentejo initiative is to maintain the small farms and the mosaic landscape, around the cities. To reduce the environmental footprint of food, but also to stimulate local production and contribute to food […]
The journalists from CORDIS have recently written a report on the Irish Newbie Award winner on 2020. Read the article here.
Newbie Portugal participated in the “Jornadas do Mundo Rural”, an event that took place on the 28 and 29th February in Alcoutim-Algarve in the South of Portugal and which brought together about fifty stakeholders working in rural development in the region. We shared our experience of the opportunities for new entrants that are linked to […]
The 2020 edition of the Flemish Newbie award goes about a little bit differently. One addition compared to last year is the introduction of a godparent system. Each participant is assigned a member of the Flemish steering board as their godparent for the competition. The goal is to further stimulate networking and introduce both parties […]
In order to have a permanent source of current information on the topic of cross-entry and new entry on facebook for all newbies and interested people in Germany, there is now the facebook page Newbie-Deutschland (FH Südwestfalen). In addition to the fan page of the Young Farmers Project (BDL), national and international events and information […]
Newbie UK presented at the Farm Advisory Service’s annual event: The New Entrant Gathering. The event brings a series of inspirational speakers with unique business models and resilient strategies. Some stories worth learning about is the Wee Farm Distillery in South Lanarkshire, the Laggan Outdoor Centre and agritourism exemplar in Dumfries and Galloway and the […]
On the 14th of February 2020, the Belgian Newbie team (KU Leuven) organized a meeting on the topic of business models in agricultural education in Flanders. The Newbie team invited diverse stakeholders in Flanders to discuss this topic and explore the opportunity of cross-institutional cooperation in this field. The idea behind the workshop is obvious. […]
