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Report: The changing face of agriculture: “focusing on gender, youth and technology”
The EU’s agriculture sector is facing pressing challenges among which gender and age gaps are critical. The challenge of attracting more young people and more females to the agriculture sector in particular is a significant global issue requiring research, investment and strategic action plans to overcome. Two Horizon 2020 projects, DEMETER and SmartAgriHubs (SAH), both...
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Gender Gap in Funding
In the last decade or so, we have been hearing and reading more about the gender gap in funding. On last year’s International Women’s Day, dealroom reported, in those 10 weeks of 2022, that all-women founding teams had secured just 0.4% of European venture capital, while mixed-gender founding teams had raised 15.2% of the capital....
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Farmer Interview: Valeria Ruggeri, Italy
Valeria Ruggeri manages a livestock farm with her husband. They produce raw milk from about 2200 cattle and cultivate 300 hectares of land to produce feed for their animals. A farm that, despite its intensive management, made sustainability and cow-comfort a must for its business. Valeria has a law degree but is completely engaged in...
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Farmer Interview: Agustina Diaz Valdez, Argentina
WFO Gymnasium Alumna, woman farmer and veterinarian, Agustina is the former President of the Ateneo Sociedad Rural Argentina, the young farmers’ organisation of the WFO member organisation Sociedad Rural Argentina. CAN YOU INTRODUCE YOURSELF AND TELL US ABOUT YOUR FARM? I‘m Agustina, from Argentina. I was born in the south of my country in Rio...
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Interview: Maria Rita Palattella, Senior Researcher LIST, Luxembourg
We spoke with Maria Rita Palattella about her work in the Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology, the HEMS pilot, and the barriers and drivers for farmers adopting digital technologies. CAN YOU TELL US A BIT ABOUT YOUR ORGANISATION AND YOUR INVOLVEMENT IN THE OPEN CALL 2 (OC2) PILOT FUNDED UNDER THE DEMETER PROJECT. The...
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Two Kerry initiatives helping double employment in AgTech
AgriTech Cluster wants to hear from companies in the sector who want to grow in the AgriTech space. Two projects funded by EU Project SmartAgriHubs are having a massive impact on the ground and showcasing Munster Technological University, Tralee, Kerry in Ireland, and its partners’ success in a drive to double the jobs potential of...
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FLIARA: Female Led Innovation in Agriculture and Rural Areas
Written by Maura Farrell, Louise Weir and Aisling Murtagh, University of Galway, Ireland. The FLIARA (Female-led Innovation in Agriculture and Rural Areas) project aims to create a European-wide ecosystem, which supports women-led innovative practices in farming and rural areas. This includes different types of rural women, inclusive of age, class, culture, race, and ethnicity who...
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Gender Task Force work set to continue as part of SmartAgriHubs legacy
Women make up 30 percent of the agricultural labour force in Europe and one in four farm managers are women. However according to participants in the Horizon 2020 funded SmartAgriHubs and DEMETER programmes, women face significant discrimination when it comes to accessing credit and financial backing as well as a voice when it comes to...
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Interview: Maria K Doula PhD, Research Director BPI, Greece
We asked Maria to tell us about her work in the Laboratory of Non-Parasitic Diseases, Soil Resources and Geoinformatics, her role in CypruSaves project, and her thoughts on the adoption of Smart Farming Technology by farmers. CAN YOU TELL US A BIT ABOUT YOUR ORGANISATION AND YOUR INVOLVEMENT IN THE OPEN CALL 2 (OC2) PILOT...
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My experience of conducting a PhD in agriculture
Grainne Dilleen is an Assistant Lecturer in Digital Marketing, South East Technological University, Ireland, and worked as Communication and Dissemination manager for DEMETER. Photo caption: Cheryl Baldwin and Grainne Dilleen at the 2021 .eu Web Awards My PhD journey started in South East Technological University, Ireland in late 2019, funded by the DEMETER project. It...
