Strength2Farm kicks off in Wageningen: Working towards a stronger position for Europe’s farmers

Partners from across Europe came together in Wageningen, the Netherlands, to officially launch Strength2Farm, an ambitious Horizon Europe project dedicated to strengthening farmers’ bargaining power and improving their position in agricultural value chains.

Hosted by Wageningen University & Research, the two-day kick-off meeting marked the beginning of a collaborative effort to tackle some of the key challenges facing European farmers and explore innovative solutions for fairer and more resilient agricultural markets.

How can farmers secure a stronger position in the food supply chain? This question was at the heart of discussions, which explored relationships with buyers, rising input costs, the role of producer organisations and cooperatives, and the potential of new business models and policy solutions.

Partners also shared plans for an exciting range of project activities, from in-depth case studies and economic modelling to the development of innovative digital tools, including a multilingual knowledge platform and an AI-supported expert system. Stakeholder co-creation workshops will ensure that farmers, advisors and other agricultural actors have opportunities to contribute their knowledge and experiences throughout the project.

The meeting also welcomed representatives from the European Commission’s DG AGRI and the European Research Executive Agency (REA), highlighting the project’s relevance to wider European agricultural policy priorities.

With the project officially underway, the Strength2Farm consortium is ready to turn research into practical solutions, working together to support stronger, fairer and more resilient agricultural value chains across Europe.

Stay tuned for updates as the project progresses!