GC WP6

Supporting rural communities by improving women’s access to financial services

Croatia, General, Italy, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Spain /
  • The UN theme for this year’s International Day of Rural Women is “Financing for rural women’s empowerment”.
  • 15 October recognises the work of rural women in the food systems of the world, and claims rural areas with equal opportunities for all.

The International Day of Rural Women is an opportunity to celebrate women and girls who play a key role in rural areas, developing innovations in response to socio-ecological challenges and strengthening the resilience of rural areas.

According to the Committee on World Food Security (CFS, 2023), the lack of financial capital and financial inclusion are significant constraints to women’s entrepreneurial activities and engagement all along the food system and value chains, from investment in land to agrifood businesses. Structural constraints to women’s access to financial services such as credit and insurance are often based on restricted access to assets, including land and property, that could be used as collateral for loans; family indebtedness; limited knowledge and training of financial services; restricted availability of appropriate loan products for women led micro, small, medium businesses and smallholders; statutory and customary laws that are discriminatory and/or do not respond adequately to women’s needs and priorities; and negative social norms that prevent women from developing and growing their enterprises and productivity. At the same time, fair and equitable access to financial services is a prerequisite for overall societal economic security and prosperity.

While women often lead on socio-ecological transitions and progressive farming methods, they often face significant discrimination when it comes to land ownership, equal pay, participation in decision-making entities, and access to resources, credit and markets. GRASS CEILING is working with women socio-ecological innovators across nine European countries and facilitating interactions with bank managers, agricultural advisers and entrepreneurial experts, and on the occasion of this International Day the project would like to showcase the women in the Living Labs who are breaking new ground, developing innovations and co-learning through mutual support. They are sowing the seeds for future generations of women to lead rural development and agriculture innovations by sharing their stories on how they have overcome challenges accessing financial services:

Birgit Boljun, owner of Val Madorso olive farm in Istria (Croatia) decided to continue the family tradition of olive oil production and was faced with several challenges when trying to raise the necessary funds. Since the bank could not support her, and she did not have sufficient resources for investment, Birgit looked for other funding opportunities and finally decided to apply for an EU project. Based on her experience, she recommends setting multi-year goals, planning well in advance, making adjustments to be eligible to obtain EU funding, as it usually takes a long time to fulfil the tender conditions, reviewing past year’s tenders to see what is generally needed, continuing the basic work to avoid being left without income until the obstacles are overcome, and not being disappointed when things take longer and don’t go according to plan. According to Birgit, it is important to have a vision and be realistic about physical and financial possibilities and set a series of smaller attainable goals.

Letizia Cuonzo took over the family business Azienda Agricola Cuonzo in Puglia (Italy) and used subsidised finance and bank credit tools to expand and transform the company. The major challenges she faced were related to the lengthy bureaucratic procedures, but she was lucky to count on the support of the bank; in her experience, many institutional entities, even at the regional level, now support women’s entrepreneurship and startups, but nonetheless she recommends trying to secure funds by networking with other businesses and building synergies with competent people and entities who can guide entrepreneurs towards the best solutions. The success criteria for addressing and overcoming the main barriers in accessing financial instruments are, in her opinion: developing financial skills and literacy and being able to engage competent people who can provide advice in fields where their specific skills are needed.

Annalisa Pellegrini decided in 2020 to recover an unused family plot and grow lavender to produce essential oils. Her company, Lavanda Ruvo di Puglia, is also based in Puglia (Italy) and focuses on environmental sustainability and circular economy. In her experience, having had access to technical information on production earlier and more easily would have helped her to optimise the timing of the project. As she didn’t meet the age requirements, Annalisa was not able to use most public funds, and thus suggests exploring these options, especially if own initial capital is not available. For her, having a good business plan helps, as well as support from professionals, who know how to navigate public funding programmes. In her opinion, the fundamental criterion for securing economic resources should be the ethicality of the project, its commitment to the environment, respect for biodiversity, and reliability.

Daiva Šinkevičienė has been running the organic blueberry farm Karališka uoga in Lithuania for the past 10 years. She cultivates 14 varieties of royal berries on a four-hectare plot. Over this time span, Daiva has received 15,000 euro support under a single measure of the CAP. Access to the support is still complicated as the farm is small and it is hard to meet the eligibility criteria for the support measures. The major source of the investments and, hence farm growth, is her own investment. Each year, Daiva allocates 40 % of her income for investments. She considers financial planning, budgeting, and saving as the core elements in achieving the goals of the activities. She provides an example of preventing birds from picking at the harvest, where acquiring a drone appeared to be a viable solution.

Sonja van Uden is the founder of the Landdrift Foundation in the Netherlands and has used her experience as an entrepreneur and manager in various industries and countries to develop a concept for multifunctional land use that promotes biodiversity. In her opinion, it is challenging to access any form of financial services when the innovation does not fit the standard model of economic value creation, which is the case for the multifunctional land use concept of Landdrift. She talks of the difficulty in obtaining funds and raising interest among potential investors in Landdrift, especially when it involves explaining that there is no economic return on investment within the Landdrift concept. She shows inspiring examples of combined land use in other parts of the world and how these projects have created much value for the natural environment and the people in these areas. Sonja suggests refraining from allowing dreams or visions for a better future to be diluted by the difficulties faced regarding access to financial services, and keep searching for the needles in the haystack! When encountering a challenge, she always tries to think out of the box to find a solution and adapt to the situation. A success criterion for Sonja is to stay flexible and open throughout the entrepreneurship journey.

Torunn Hernes Bjerkem owns Bjerkem Farm, an organic farm in Norway growing ancient heirloom grains, making healthy food, healthy soils, healthy plants, and healthy environments. The biggest challenge is that the farm is organised as a sole proprietorship. Because of the old Norwegian property law, where the oldest child in the family inherits the farm (called ‘odel’), any investment in a big project is dependent on the individual; the sole proprietor. For that reason she doesn’t have access to the big funds in agriculture and farming. According to the sole proprietorship system, people wishing to expand their business have to put their farm on the line for bigger loans and investments, which makes them very vulnerable, so Torunn opted for organising the farm into a Limited Liability Company. She considers that people who create jobs in rural areas shouldn’t have to take the risk all by themselves: They ought to be supported by a network where they can find solutions together. This is the case of Øyna Kulturlandskapshotell, a sustainable hotel wedged into nature overlooking the ocean, serving local food and beverages, a project in which owners have partnered with other collaborators so that they can take care of the natural resources, create jobs and livelihoods, and build a dream together.

Marta Llorente manages a family-owned intensive pig farm located in Zazuar (Burgos, Spain), in an integrated system with over 60 hectares of crop land and 20 hectares of vineyards. One of the issues she considers most relevant when embarking upon innovative projects within the livestock sector are the high costs that must be assumed. In her case, she did not have problems obtaining a loan from the bank, but points out the need for a prior analysis of profitability. There are public financial tools, such as subsidised interest loans, but on many occasions these require complying with numerous conditions and bureaucratic procedures, making it challenging to benefit from them. Her recommendation to women looking to make an investment to improve their farm is to conduct an analysis of the expenses and income that the improvement will entail in advance, to assess its profitability. Detailed administrative and financial management of the agricultural enterprise, as with any other business, is essential. The advice of consultants in this field is crucial to assist in making economic and financial decisions.

Further reading

CFS (2023). Voluntary Guidelines on Gender Equality and Women’s and Girls’ Empowerment in the Context of Food Security and Nutrition, agreed by the Open-Ended Working Group (OEWG) on Gender Equality and Women’s and Girls’ Empowerment.

FAO (2019). Women’s access to rural finance: challenges and opportunities. Rome. Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO.

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Dutch second Living Lab meeting and Men’s Focus Group

General, Netherlands /

The second meeting of the Dutch Living Lab was held on 22nd September, organised by Wageningen University and LTO Noord. The 8 women innovators have met again to share their progress since the first meeting. Some had made practical steps in realising their projects such as launching a social media platform, hosting open days on their farms and making valuable contacts. Others had spent time considering their position within existing businesses and finding a space for themselves to move forward. All of these actions – big or small – were great to hear about. These are such personal journeys that the women are undertaking that sharing their experiences with the group is clearly an important part of this process and one that was welcomed by everyone. The latter part of the meeting focused on constructing their ideal ‘customer’ with an empathy map and getting feedback or exchanging ideas. We were also lucky to have Yolanda de Prado from Escaperoom Hof te Langelo who told her inspiring story as an entrepreneurial women and gave us some hints on how to get through this journey. All in all, it was a positive day and all participants are excited about what the next Living Lab meeting will bring.

The men’s focus group was held on 28th October to discuss the role of entrepreneurs in rural enterprises. Specifically, they spoke of motivation, barriers and support for rural entrepreneurs and whether they perceived any differences between male and female innovators within this sector. The Dutch Living Lab is grateful to have been joined by 5 skilled men who shared their open, and at times reflective, experiences. The findings from the focus groups (men and women separately) will be used alongside interviews that Sophie Kolewijn-Hopkins has been conducting over the last few months. All this research is part of the analysis about gender equality in rural and agricultural innovation systems within the EU.

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Fruitful discussions and very positive outcomes during our 1st Annual Meeting and showcase event

General /

GRASS CEILING project held from 12-14 September its first annual meeting and showcase event at the COPA-COGECA headquarters in Brussels. During the three-day meeting, full of presentations and advance results, project partners and relevant stakeholders discussed how to advance gender equality, empowerment of rural women and presented different initiatives that are being carried out in the 9 GRASS CEILING living labs.

During the first day, the project coordinator Sally Shortall welcomed participants and reviewed all the progress made during the first 9 months of the project. Then it was the turn of Tomas Baležentis from Lietuvos Socialiniu Mokslu Centras (LCSS) and Nataša Bokan from Sveuciliste U Zagrebu Agronomski Fakultet (UNI-ZAG FAZ) who presented the results of the reports “Policy brief on the available data on rural women and women farmers across Europe” and “Report on existing knowledge of rural women-led innovation” respectively.

The showcase event, held on 13 September, focused on our sister projects, success stories from the different Living Labs and the different European policies on gender equality and women’s empowerment in rural areas. The session started with the presentation of the European projects FLIARA and SWIFT, by their coordinators Maura Farrel (University of Galway) and Marta Rivera (CSIC-UPV). Afterwards, Julie de Galard from the Rural Pact Support Office (RPSO) presented the vision of the Rural Pact and its Community Groups that are dedicated online spaces within the Rural Pact Community Platform (RPCP) that bring together stakeholders to connect with peers, exchange, share information such as publications, news, events or implement any other joint action around a specific shared interest or topic relevant for the Rural Vision.

The Living Lab session, led by Leana Reinl and Melanie Thompson, opened with an overview of the aims of the living labs and the activities carried out and to come, followed by presentations by the living lab managers and women innovators. Jasminka Grškovic (Croatia), Catherine Kinsella (Ireland), Miriam Del Re (Italy), Lina Vyšniauskaite (Lithuania), Sonja van Uden (the Netherlands), Kari Øye (Norway), Lucía Velasco (Spain), Elin Skörde (Sweden) and Beth Rose (Scotland) presented their innovations in various sectors such as livestock farming, crofting, chicken farming, healthy products from marine resources, as well as their great work to empower rural women, the difficult journey they have had to follow to be able to carry out their innovations and their passion for the land and the rural areas. Great examples that can encourage other young women farmers to launch their own projects and demonstrate the role of women in agriculture, the rural economy and rural communities.

Finally, on the third day, the consortium meeting focused on the next activities to be carried out, the community group ‘Women in Rural Areas’ and a communication workshop by CIHEAM Zaragoza on how to communicate the results of the project.

Thank you everyone for contributing to the success of our annual #GRASSCEILING show case event and consortium meeting!!

Elin Skörde (Swedish famer)
Sally Shortall and Liz Gavin (project coordination team)
Lucía Velasco (Spanish farmer)
Beth Rose (Scottish farmer)
Kari Øye (Norwegian food innovator)
Lina Vyšniauskaite (Lithuanian farmer)
Miriam Del Re (Italian farmer)
Catherine Kinsella (Irish farmer)
Jasminka Grškovic (Croatian farmer)
Sonja van Uden (Dutch farmer)

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Kick-starting journey of rural innovation in Scotland

General, Scotland /

Eight women with links to crofting started their journey of rural innovation at the first UK Living Lab of Grass Ceiling in Scotland.

Held in Ullapool on 29 June, the event brought together women from across the vast remote area of the Scottish Highlands and Islands.

‘Crofting’ is a form of land tenure and small-scale food production unique to this area of Scotland.

The women have a mix of backgrounds and experience – some rear livestock, keep poultry and grow produce on their crofts, while others have diversified by opening businesses in water sports and wildflowers seeds.

Every one of them, however, is bursting with ideas and enthusiasm to innovate and grow their business.

The day began with everyone sharing a ‘sparkling moment’ in pairs to enable their partners to tell the group two strengths or qualities they saw in them.

Melanie Thompson-Glen, of the National Innovation Centre for Rural Enterprise (NICRE) which is leading the Living Lab with the Centre for Rural Economy at Newcastle University, said: “The ‘sparkling moment’ was the perfect ice-breaker for the day.

“This was before formal introductions were made and it was an excellent way of getting to know each other. There was so much positivity in the room, and it was also very emotional as the women learnt they have more confidence and contribution to make than they realised.”

After formal introductions, the participants then used Lego to build a model of a ‘rural innovator’ before explaining their thinking to the group.

The morning session concluded with roundtable discussions on the types of innovation women are undertaking on crofts and in rural businesses and how business support/initiatives can be better shaped to support rural women innovators.

Many stakeholders involved in this project gave presentations to the group in the afternoon, namely: Scottish Government, Soil Association, SAC Consulting, Wester-Ross Biosphere, NatureScot, Crofting Commission, Impact Hub, Northern Innovation Hub and Scottish Crofting Federation.

Melanie added: “It was great to meet the women, and the organisations involved, and get the project underway. We look forward to very exciting times ahead.”

For more information about the Grass Ceiling project, visit the NICRE project page and GRASS CEILING EU project page.

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GRASS CEILING Living Lab Ireland’s first meeting of female rural innovators in the Southeast

General, Ireland /

The first meeting of the Irish Living Lab took place on June 20th, at ArcLabs, Carriganore, Southeast Technological University (SETU). The Lab’s co-leads Dr Leana Reinl, School of Business, SETU and Caroline O’Keefe, Macra na Ferime, welcomed seven women innovators and other stakeholders to the event.

Lab participants are women at early and later stages of innovation and rural business experience. Their business offerings include diverse dairy-based products and services, organic chocolate, micro-greens, and rural marketing services.

Participants shared their perspectives in a series of workshops and discussions and highlighted areas of focus important to their rural innovation aspirations.

Dr Margaret Tynan, Growth Hub Project Lead, SETU Waterford Campus facilitated a workshop using ‘Lego Serious Play’ in which the women built metaphors of innovator identity, which enabled them to share stories of their experience, contexts and communities.

These reflections included examples of progressive initiatives of socio-economic value which draw on ‘the local’ through an authentic and sustainable lens. There was a strong sense of pride among those present. However, many expressed concerns that resources and support are lacking for dynamic, sustainable models of local rural development that can travel, with support often focused on large scale commercial growth.

Suggestions to support the work of rural women included greater visibility of champions and a change of language about the rural and rural women in the wider media. Shared graduate placement models and work hubs offering diverse professional skills to underpin innovation were suggested.

Dr Eugene Crehan, Director of Programmes, Centre for Enterprise Development and Regional Economy, School of Business, extended a warm invitation to the women to be part of SETU’s entrepreneurial and innovation ecosystem, briefly describing research centres, teams and projects at ArcLabs and across SETU’s campuses of value in the context of the project’s aims.

Leana explained “We heard about many impressive initiatives that are being undertaken and about others that are in the pipeline. The rural and small business resource challenges noted in the sessions are a recognised barrier to innovation, and gender specific barriers also emerged. The GRASS CEILING project will support women as agents of change in our rural communities and beyond and will run until December 2025. We are excited about the participatory methodology, training and networking approach that the project will use to support women led innovation”. The next meeting is scheduled for October 2023 in Growth Hub’s Imaginarium, SETU Waterford Campus.

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Rural women innovators hold their first Living Lab meeting in Trondheim

General, Norway /

On June 13 the Norwegian partner in the GRASS CEILING project held their first Living Lab with rural women innovators. It was organized by Ruralis, a research organization and academic community focusing on interdisciplinary rural studies – and Oi! Trøndersk Mat og Drikke, a non-profit organization advocating for local food production and sustainability, and among many other events, organizing Norway’s biggest local food festival.

Seven of eight rural women innovators were able to participate in the Living Lab, which was held in the offices of Ruralis in Trondheim. The theme for the Trøndelag Living Lab is rural women innovators in local food production. The women have a variety of backgrounds and produce foods such as potatoes, dairy, eggs, meat, sweets and pastries, fish products, craft beer, and heirloom flour varieties. Many of the participants have aspirations for new and bigger projects. and the women are all active innovators and business owners, ranging from 36 to 79 years of age.

Many topics were discussed, such as really owning the label of innovator and the fact that they are contributing to local livelihoods and developments. Discussing the women’s many roles in their daily lives was also an exercise that brought a lot of awareness to how much they are doing and being in their communities. The topic of rural life and expectations vs urban life was discussed, and how rural life and expectations can yield opportunities but also has limitations, especially in social structures. The women talked about their motivations, and how these are often personal and for the betterment of their lives, their families and their communities, as well as for the local food industry. The importance of sustainability in food production was also discussed, as well as the potential of mutual collaboration regarding residual waste in their food production chain.

They also expressed interest in women’s communities and networks, and places where they can talk, exchange experiences, collaborate and learn from each other.

Towards the end of the day the Living Lab was visited by a stakeholder from Innovation Norway, a government-funded organization that helps innovators and companies by providing access to resources, capital and networks. The stakeholder presented their experiences working with rural women innovators in the food business. They also talked about how men and women behave differently when starting and growing businesses, and how men and women have different ways of seeking finance when they want to raise capital for their ventures.

The women said that they had enjoyed meeting each other and found it both interesting and inspiring to get to know other rural women innovators in their region.

The second Living Lab is set to take place on September 21, again in Ruralis’ offices in Trondheim.

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GRASS CEILING establishes a Rural Pact Community Group on women in rural areas

General, Related News /

In 2021, the European Commission launched the Rural Pact, as part of its Long-Term Vision for Rural Areas. 

The Rural Pact aims to give rural stakeholders a greater voice, move their needs up the policy agenda, support networking, and promote action on the ground. The Rural Pact Community Platform (RPCP) is an important tool for achieving the objectives of the Rural Pact. It is an online space that brings together all members of the Rural Pact Community.

The RPCP provides the opportunity to form Community Groups of stakeholders to facilitate structured exchanges and discussions on common areas of interest. In light of this possibility, GRASS CEILING expressed interest in establishing a group on women in rural areas which was approved on 29 June.

GRASS CEILING is a Horizon Europe project (2023-2025) aiming to boost women-led innovation in farming and rural areas.

The approved Community Group seeks to contribute to a greater understanding of the full contribution of women in rural areas, building on the work conducted by the Horizon project GRASS CEILING and its European Policy Forum for women-led innovation, coordinated by AEIDL and COPA-COGECA.

The objectives of the Community Group are:                                   

  • Provide a space for engagement and exchange of knowledge and experiences which contributes to the European Policy Forum for women-led innovation implemented under the Horizon project GRASS CEILING.
  • Raise awareness of the needs and challenges faced by women in rural areas as well as of emerging opportunities.
  • Share and analyse key policies that support women in rural areas and build recommendations based on lessons learned.
  • Create opportunities to link up and connect stakeholders and experts and trigger the development of projects, initiatives and shared action. Provide opportunity for knowledge exchange with other EU funded projects supporting women in rural areas

Join the group!

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The Italian Living Lab starts and takes female rural innovation across the area of Bitonto

General, Italy /

The Italian Living Labs of the three-year project “Grass Ceiling – Gender Equality in Rural and Agricultural Innovation System” are led by two partners, an academic co-leader (CIHEAM Bari) and a practitioner co- leader (Legacoop Puglia). The activities will be all run in cooperation with the “Biodistretto delle Lame”, which is collaborating in supporting the innovation processes and connecting it with the territorial dimension and specificities.

The Italian Living Lab of the three-year project “GRASS CEILING – Gender Equality in Rural and Agricultural Innovation Systems” are led by two partners: an academic co-leader (CIHEAM Bari) and a practitioner co-leader (Legacoop Puglia). The activities will all be run in cooperation with the Biodistretto delle Lame, which is collaborating in supporting the innovation processes and connecting them with the territorial dimension and specificities.

The first meeting was held on June 20th in Bitonto (Ba) – Italy, where seven women innovators met to work on their personal empowerment, their own identity as innovators and on how to increase awareness of their role as agents of change.

This was the first Italian meeting of the Living Lab and associated focus group and aimed to foster the empowerment of women in rural areas and contribute to the implementation of the EU Gender Equality Strategy.

Among the participants, there is a diverse group of innovators and enterprises. One owns a farm, another produces lavender. Some own a vegetable garden laboratory and raise 250 chickens, others have a bookshop that organises communities of readers and literary walks in Alta Murgia, near Bari, southern Italy. Another innovator is a cultural worker who advocates for biodiversity, slow tourism, local agricultural production and rural culture. There is also a cooperative member of a rehabilitation community for drug addicts who has set up a vegetable garden to provide young people opportunities of the future; and another participant has a longstanding working experience in care work.

During the session the women worked on obstacles, difficulties, prejudices, and stereotypes by playing with Lego, the bricks used by children to build dreams and be creative. As Katia De Luca, project manager of Legacoop Puglia, said: “they worked on the identity of female innovators through the ‘Lego Serious Play’ methodology, in which they used the bricks to build symbols and metaphors of their own experiences and representations, strengthening their self-awareness as actresses of change in their own contexts and communities”. Patrizia Pugliese, project manager of CIHEAM Bari, added: “we started listening to the voices of women in the Bio-distretto delle Lame, a fertile context of interesting initiatives managed by women, who immediately proved to be open and interested in a critical and participatory discussion on gender issues”. The participants shared needs, suggestions, insecurities and ideas on how to continue the path of innovation and great enthusiasm for the chosen methodology.

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First Croatian Living Lab “Eco-Women Entrepreneurs”

Croatia, General /

The Living Lab Croatia (LLHR), named Eco-Women Entrepreneurs (EWE), has held its first meeting. It was organised by the Faculty of Agriculture of the University of Zagreb and the Croatian Chamber of Agriculture (HPK) and held in Šibenik on June 16, with the support of the Public Institution Development Agency of Šibenik Knin County.

Eight rural women set out to develop their ideas and entrepreneurships for social-ecological innovations over the next three years. During this first LL HR event, the participants presented their innovation ideas and shared their experiences in terms of business, introduction of innovations and commented on the obstacles they encountered while starting their entrepreneurships.

They spoke of changing environmental awareness, hunger for knowledge and sharing knowledge for a better world, changing traditions, a healthier living environment, reviving childhood stories and living with nature, all factors that encouraged them to innovate in their rural setting. They also highlighted that on their way to success they encountered a considerable lack of understanding in their social environment, as well as numerous administrative obstacles, frequent changes in laws and regulations, and a lack of adequate support for knowledge transfer and research. In the second part of the one-day EWE workshop, stakeholders from academia, civil society and the public sector joined the workshop and together with EWE participants identified the key shortcomings in the institutional support available for rural women entrepreneurs.

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Dutch Living Lab holds its first meeting

General, Netherlands /

On 16 June, Wageningen University and LTO Noord organised the first Dutch GRASS CEILING Living Lab meeting. Eight women started their journey to further develop their ideas for socio-ecological innovations in the next three years. There was much excitement within the group as they completed activities and got to know one another. Towards the end of the day, everyone introduced their personal plans that will be followed and curated over the next three years. It was clear from the very start that the women were keen to support one another and utilise their own networks for their colleagues. They are also looking forward to contributing to the GRASS CEILING project with their knowledge and experiences.

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Debate session on the role of women in agriculture and livestock at the University Campus of Palencia

General, Spain /

The event was organised by GRASS CEILING’s Spanish Living Lab, which aims to support innovative initiatives led by women in the agricultural sector. The session was hosted by a team of professors from the Palencia Campus of the University of Valladolid.

On June 12th, the first in-person meeting of the Living Lab took place on the University Campus of Palencia of the University of Valladolid (UVa), coordinated by the academic team of the University of Valladolid and Cooperativas Agro-Alimentarias de España. Eight women farmers from Castilla y León, Aragón, and Asturias took part in the session, together with nine external stakeholders related to the project’s theme.

Participants initiated the session by reflecting upon the concept of agricultural innovation, perceived as taking progressive and transformative steps aimed at generating value in both products and processes. This extends beyond production and englobes various aspects such as commercial, organisational, environmental, social, and business and institutional management scales.

The debate then focused on analysing the positive and negative factors currently influencing women when adopting leadership roles in the agricultural sector and explored potential actions that would give the work of women farmers and livestock breeders greater visibility.

The session received a high positive evaluation from all participants. They agreed on the importance of using participatory methodologies and networking approaches to analyse such a broad and complex reality and appreciated the opportunity to strengthen support networks and exchange perspectives, knowledge, and best practices. The project will conclude in December 2025 and continues to gather the necessary information to achieve the established milestones. The next LL meeting is scheduled for September.

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First meeting of the GRASS CEILING Living Lab in Lithuania

General, Lithuania /

On June 12th, the Lithuanian Centre for Social Sciences and AgriFood Lithuania organised the first session of the Living Lab established under the Horizon Europe project GRASS CEILING. The Living Lab has eight women farmers engaged in agricultural and rural innovations.

Male farmers also took part in this session and contributed to revealing the differences between men and women regarding innovation. The participants conducted a focus group exercise to identify the role of women innovators in agriculture and rural areas and discuss the major drivers and expectations. The results will be compared across the countries represented in the GRASS CEILING project to develop policy recommendations for EU agriculture and rural development.

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GRASS CEILING Living Lab Sweden first meeting of women rural innovators

General, Sweden /

The first meeting of the Swedish Living Lab took place on May 3rd, at the Administrative Board of Jonkoping. The meeting was hosted by the Nina Elmsjö, Head of the Division of Rural development, at the County Administrative Board. The Lab’s co-leads Siv Lindén, Hela Sverige ska leva, and Dr Katarina Pettersson, SLU, welcomed seven, of eight, participants to the event. The women pursue various rural and farm businesses, at various stages of innovation. The women have different backgrounds and their entrepreneurial endeavors include a forest garden; a boarding house for retired milk cows; a farm café and vegetarian protein production; farm shops; natural pasture meet production; locally produced pork; and organic milk production; horse activities – and an on-farm dairy producing cheese.

Nina Elmsjö, extended a warm invitation to the women, and stressed their importance for the viable development of the county of Jönköping, and she described the County Administrative Board’s work, including available support for farmers and rural entrepreneurs. During the event a series of discussions and exercises were performed – with the overarching aim of creating a shared understanding of the GRASS CEILING project, the living lab participatory methodology and getting to know each other. The participants and co-leads also initiated discussions on gender equality, innovation, sustainability and rural development, which enabled them to exchange experiences and reflections. The participants’ all shared a strong commitment for contributing to sustainable rural development – and the importance of women’s entrepreneurship for such a development.

During an exercise called ‘The headlines’ the women were encouraged to make visions for the future – imagining what they and the Lab will have achieved during the course of the GRASS CEILING project, and beyond. Thoughts on the Lab’s achievements comprised it having contributed to the creation conditions for thriving rural areas – including well-functioning social and child care service –  more rural women pursuing rural businesses and a larger degree of self-sufficiency in food production.  The next meeting is scheduled for September, to be held at the farm café, owned by one of the participants. The focus will be on sharing more in-depth experiences of the respective woman’s business development, including reflections on conditions and difficulties for development.

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GRASS CEILING holds its kick-off meeting

General /

Last week, from 21 to 23 March 2022, the GRASS CEILING consortium held its kick-off meeting at the COPA-COGECA headquarters in Brussels (Belgium)

The meeting began with a discussion on the impact of the GRASS CEILING project. The session aimed to ensure that everyone had an overall understanding of the project and to encourage all participants to ask questions and make suggestions for the work packages and task leaders.

A specific session was held to build strong and resilient Living Labs through co-creation techniques and Lego methodologies. The aim was to learn more about the objectives, participants and methodologies to be used in each LL.

In small groups, each WP leader presented the objectives, tasks, main activities and links with other WPs and tasks to the other partners. The partners showed interest in participating in the communication activities and willingness to send relevant content and information.

Work Package 6 included a workshop on communication and dissemination activities and tools, with two different sessions. The first session presented tips for writing practice abstracts, press releases and blog posts, as well as the work plan for the training academy, the awareness raising strategy and the awards for women innovators and men who fight for the role of women. The second session was more interactive; the project partners were divided into groups and asked different questions about the communication strategy and the communication materials and channels. They used a large panel with post-its to put forward their ideas and suggestions and present them to the other partners.

Finally, the coordinating team gave a presentation on administrative and economic issues.

A fruitful start, with a lot of work and  great ideas that will allow GRASS CEILING to achieve its goal of empowering rural women and increase the number of socio-ecological innovations led by women in agriculture, the rural economy and rural communities. It will also contribute to advancing the UN’s goals on gender parity, realise the EU gender equality strategy, and achieve the goals of the Green Deal, the Farm to Fork strategy, the Long-Term Vision for Rural Areas, and the European Pillar of Social Rights.

GRASS CEILING holds its kick-off meeting Read More »

GRASS CEILING’s coordinator attended the Left Feminism Forum at the European Parliament

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On 7 March, at the Left Feminism Forum, Sally Shortall, Coordinator of GRASS CEILING, presented the situation of women in rural areas across Europe. While women often lead on socio-ecological transitions and progressive farming methods, they tend to have less access to land, finance and training than men. GRASS CEILING will work with women socio-ecological innovators across nine European countries over the next three years and facilitate interactions with bank managers, agricultural advisers and entrepreneurial experts. The project will also interact with men innovators to understand gender differences in access to resources and approaches to innovation.

More information and video of the event: https://left.eu/events/resisterhood-for-global-revolution/

GRASS CEILING’s coordinator attended the Left Feminism Forum at the European Parliament Read More »

EU funded project “GRASS CEILING” to boost women-led innovation in farming and rural areas

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A new EU project will set up living labs in nine countries, train 72 rural women innovators, and establish a network-learning and innovation system

GRASS CEILING is a new European project that aims to empower rural women and increase the number of socio-ecological innovations led by women in agriculture, the rural economy and rural communities.

GRASS CEILING, led by South East Technological University (SETU-Ireland) is a €2.8m project funded by the European Union under the Horizon Europe programme, brings together 25 partners from across Europe and will develop a forum where women can drive socio-ecological transitions, that is, develop innovations in response to socio-ecological challenges and strengthen the resilience of rural areas. This is essential to deliver the UN’s goals on gender parity, realise the EU gender equality strategy, and achieve the goals of the Green Deal, the Farm to Fork strategy, the Long-Term Vision for Rural Areas, and the European Pillar of Social Rights.

To achieve this the project will establish nine living labs for rural women innovators in Ireland, Croatia, Italy, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Scotland, Spain and Sweden. Each living lab will train between six and eight women and establish a network-learning and innovation system that will support women innovators, strengthen and measure their innovative identity, and transform gender norms and stereotypes by sharing and capturing insights on rural women-innovator policy and practical experience.

Through these living labs, researchers will analyse the current position of women regarding megatrends in European agriculture and rural areas, understand the drivers and enablers for women-led innovations, the barriers encountered and supports that are needed at Member State and EU level.

Speaking of the importance of this project, Prof Sally Shortall, Project Coordinator said, “This is an exciting EU funded programme for empowering women´s innovation in rural and farming communities. We will work across Europe with leading women innovators to capture and share the key elements of their success, with the aim of increasing grassroots impact for women in rural and farming communities. The project will work together with both men and women to build a positive and empowering environment for socio-economic and green growth.”

Socio-ecological innovation in farming and rural areas is a developing area in Europe and GRASS Ceiling will ensure women can fully participate. The project commenced in January 2023 and will run until December 2025.

EU funded project “GRASS CEILING” to boost women-led innovation in farming and rural areas Read More »