GC WP6

First Croatian Living Lab “Eco-Women Entrepreneurs”

Croatia, General / By

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.

Dutch Living Lab holds its first meeting

General, Netherlands / By

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.

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

General, Spain / By

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.

First meeting of the GRASS CEILING Living Lab in Lithuania

General, Lithuania / By

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.

GRASS CEILING Living Lab Sweden first meeting of women rural innovators

General, Sweden / By

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.

GRASS CEILING holds its kick-off meeting

General / By

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

General / By

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/

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

General / By


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.