• The National Rural Network (RRN) calls on Operational Groups and Innovation Projects from the agri-food sector for a knowledge exchange.
• This virtual meeting provided an opportunity to learn about what's being done in the food sector, including projects in the agricultural and livestock industries.

What is innovation?

The RRN believes that the solution to the problems posed by current development in rural areas must come from sustainable practices supported by research, development, and innovation. Therefore, it works with various rural stakeholders organized around the framework of Operational Groups and innovation projects.

Operational Groups (OG) are groups of organizations and experts who work together on a problem to be solved from an innovation perspective and execute a project to put the solutions they achieve into practice. Their work is subsidized by the EAFRD through Measure 16 of the Rural Development Programs (RDP). The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Food (MAPA) has explained the scope of these innovation-boosting grants, their calls for proposals, and the public spending allocated to them within the 2014-2020 rural development policy.

Thematic work rooms

The knowledge transfer process at this meeting took place in three virtual breakout rooms, where nine Operational Groups and innovative projects (including H2020) from regional, national, and European levels converged. Participants were grouped into thematic rooms to exchange ideas, discuss progress on the work being carried out, discuss results, and discuss the opportunities and challenges ahead.

Room 1: Cultivation and processing practices

Participants : FieldFood , Bitter Almond Detection and Eradication Operational Group. Project to improve the competitiveness of the national almond sector, and INNOPACANO .

Project work and conclusions : The members of this room have concluded that it is important to choose a good multidisciplinary consortium to develop the project with a guarantee of success. There are still productive sectors that need solutions to boost their professionalization and become competitive compared to other countries, and to achieve this, the use of new technologies and the development of agronomic studies are key.

Room 2: Meat Improvement

Participants : New management systems and implementation of a Celtic pig carcass grading system , FinalMeat and Creation of a comprehensive data management platform for the pig sector .

Work and conclusions : In this area, researchers agree that native breeds improve the sustainability of territories and generate differentiated quality products, thus allowing for the diversification of the agricultural economy and establishing a stable population. Furthermore, they maintain that obtaining information through Big Data contributes to progress toward traceability in the production process and guarantees animal welfare.

Room 3: Food Preservation

Participants : FRILAMB, MATSOS and Promotion of the cultivation of Catalan beans through innovative preserves for the Mongeta del Ganxet PDO.

Papers and conclusions : The panelists concluded that innovation and research in food preservation techniques are essential for maintaining the organoleptic quality of food and allowing it to last longer. They also emphasized the need to develop solutions for obtaining materials and technologies that contribute to preserving food in perfect condition with recyclable and sustainable packaging systems, under the circular economy approach.

This meeting on improvements in the agri-food industry is part of a series of meetings on Operational Groups and Innovative Projects that the National Rural Network is promoting to disseminate innovations developed in rural areas. All information can be found on the website and on the National Rural Network's social media channels.