The role of Demo Farms in Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation Systems: a policy perspective - 12WS21410

Emphasising the importance of peer-to-peer learning in agri-food innovation uptake and building on the experience of the H2020 NEFERTITI: "Project Networking European Farms to Enhance Cross-Fertilisation and Innovation Uptake Through demonstration" and other projects.

On-Farm demonstrations and peer-to-peer learning are essential to ensure new and innovative solutions and are widely deployed and adopted by farmers and the farming sector. With a strong commitment under the new Green Deal, European Farmers and the farming sector at large face ambitious environmental and sustainability targets. The workshop is intended to make a strong contribution to the improvement and broader adoption of policy tools at the national and regional levels.

The session builds on the experience of three Horizon 2020 projects (NEFERTITI, which will run until 2022; AGRIDEMO and PLAID). This "family" of H2020 projects has provided the basis for an interconnected European community of Demo(nstration) Farms.
Nevertheless, there is still a gap in how policies support the role of Demo farms and several practical and legal issues continue to hinder the broad adoption of the concept in peer-to-peer learning facilities for farmers.

The workshop provides relevant opportunities for Regional and Local policymakers to understand the importance of, and the need to support Demo Farms, providing interactive discussion with some outstanding hands-on examples from the practice.