EU project FOX – Food processing in a BOX, invites EU farmers to open dialogue on business models around fruit & vegetable processing.

The aim of the EU project FOX – Food in A Box is to stimulate short food supply chains for fruit and vegetables by applying small innovative mild processing technologies. The consortium recognizes that there are already many practices dealing with processing of fruit and vegetables, both good practices and experiences that turned out to be unsuccessful. Therefore, the consortium organized two workshops to hear the voices of farmers and stakeholders. 

Insights Workshop Session 1 – 24 Nov 2020

In the first workshop, fruit farmers from all over Europe reflected on on-farm processing and the position of the farmer in the food chain. Some experts argue that adding value to your product is a precondition for a financially healthy business plan. Others farmers emphasized the potential for sharing insights and equipment among farmers, within the region. There is for sure no ‘one-size-fits-all’ solution for strengthening the position of the farmer, but there is consensus that farmer needs entrepreneurial skills to remain competitive.

We also heard the voice from Colombian researchers, worried about the yearly waste of over 4000 tons of pineapples in his region and seeking opportunities to valorize pineapple waste stream.

Unique stories

From an organizational point of view, we realize the importance of having a good dialogue with all participants beforehand. Each participant is not just ‘a stakeholder’ but everyone brings his own story, with failures and successes. As a consortium, we are grateful for having such experts on board to critically reflect with us on our ambitions.

Insights Workshop Session 2 – 27 Nov 2020

In the second workshop, we continued the dialogue with farmers’ representatives, policy makers and researchers. Europe is diverse, and the opportunities of farmers across regions are different. One of the key outcomes concerned the strategic choices of farmers and the implications that go along with their choices. Every farmer, or let’s call it an agricultural entrepreneur, should carefully develop a business plan, including an analysis of pros and contras, the risks and the opportunities.

Sharing know-how

Also, we noticed a warm dialogue between the different European regions. The situation of a farmer differs from the environment of a Czech of Slovene farmer. The willingness to pay for apple chips differs between Riga and Leuven. Yet, farmers as well as their ‘entourage’ can learn a lot by sharing know-how and experiences across borders.

Up next

FOX plans to host more stakeholder engagement workshops in the future:

• In 2021 on How to speed-up small-scale food processing innovations in Europe
• In 2022 on Policy exchange on how to strengthen the diversity in the food market and decentralise food production in Europe through innovative technologies and market opportunities

Sign up to our newsletter (column on the right) to stay tuned.