European Congress of Young Farmers

The European People's Party is the largest political group in the European Parliament. The EPP is centre-right, a pro-European political party which gathers over 81 parties from 43 countries. Schuttelaar & Partners supported the organization of the 8th edition of the European People's Party European Congress of Young Farmers, a unique event in Brussels which has for the last 10 years awarded the work and achievements of young farmers.

Scope of the event

The European Congress of Young Farmers was created in 2012 under the initiative of Member of the European Parliament (MEP) Nuno Melo and the Portuguese Farmers Confederation (CAP). Thereafter MEP Esther Herranz García (Spain), the EPP Group and ASAJA endorsed this initiative aiming to promote European agriculture, and rural development while valuing the fundamental role played by young farmers in this domain. 3 awards are attributed every year. The aim of the Awards is to promote the positive image of young farmers and to identify farming activities, characterised by innovation, sustainability and market orientation. The Award-winners will benefit from the communication and publicity covering the Award at the EU level, giving visibility to examples of best practices and ‘know-how’ in young farmers' innovation.

Project evaluation

Schuttelaar & Partners assisted as an external consultant. The external consultant ensures the transparency of the evaluation process to CAP, ASAJA, MEP hosts, MEP ambassadors and the members of the Jury of the Award. The responsibilities of the external consultant, among others, are to carry out the eligibility check of all received project applications, to establish a short-list of selected projects and to assist the Jury in its deliberations during the selection process. We developed our analysis based on our experience and knowledge of innovation and digitalization of the European agricultural sector, with our participation in large-scale European projects such as IoF2020 and SmartAgriHubs. We receive and shortlisted projects submitted to the 3 awards: Best digital, Most resilient project and Best project on improving rural areas. We also assist the jury in their deliberations and collect the votes.

The event

The 8th European Congress of Young Farmers took place on 7th December 2022 in the European Parliament in Brussels. The event was attended by over 200 participants, including delegations of young European farmers, journalists, agrifood stakeholders and policymakers. The event started with the presentation of high-level speakers: Agriculture Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski, European Parliament President Roberta Metsola, European People's Party Chair Manfred Weber, Copa-Cogeco Secretary-General Pekka Pesonen, President of Ceja Diana Lenzi, Chair of the European Parliament Agricultural committee Norbert Lins, representatives from the European Economic and Social Committee, ELO, FertilizersEurope, CropLife and more. The full agenda can be found here.

Video message by @EP_President Roberta Metsola:"Today, the number of #youngfarmers is worryingly on the decline"

"This means embracing innovation" https://t.co/x5mdqvuPQL
— Schuttelaar&Partners (@Schuttelaar) December 7, 2022

Lorena van de Kolk, a managing partner at Schuttelaar & Partners, introduced the evaluation methodology.