During the R4F project, some local stakeholders have participated in the good practices' identification, in the study visits and meetings organised by the European partners, as well as the elaboration of the regional action plan’s development
Laura Perez is in charge of partnerships and European Projects for the Pays de la Loire Chamber of Agriculture. She was previously working in international cooperation for NGO's, Ministeries and engineering offices on the topic of sustainable development
How did you hear about the Regions 4Food project ?
I arrived at the Chamber of Agriculture of Pays de la Loire last spring. I heard from the R4F project thanks to the different communications of the Pays de la Loire Region which informed me on a regular basis on the progress of the project.
On what other EU projects do you work on?
The Chamber of Agriculture is involved in many EU projects. Among them, 3 H2020 and 3 INTERREG on a wide range of topics : from the set up of Living Labs to the transformation of fruit and veggie wastes into biosourced fertilizer!
How does the Chamber of Agriculture work on the topic of digitalisation of the agrifood sector?
First of all, the CAPDL has a departement dedicated to research and innovation. Within this department, several actions are conducted in favor of the digitalisation of agriculture : some are conducted directly with farmers, some aim to develop software for the use of farmers.
What did you learn from the steering committee which took place in Brussels on October?
As a participant from Bulgaria mentioned during the meeting, it is essential to involve farmersdirectly in the conception, the development and the phase of use of the digital tools. On that point, the Chamber of Agriculture has a role to play in the vulgarisation and the dissemination of such technologies among end-users, whether they are technicians or farmers.
The Pays de la loire Action Plan within the R4F project aims to improve the public policies regarding the digitalisation of the agrifood sector.
How, according to you, could the Chamber of Agriculture participate in its implementation?
The CAPDL could participate at more than one title to the implementation of the Pays de la Loire's action plan. First of all, its technicians specialized on the topic of AgTech will definitely be the contact persons to participate in the local DIH dedicated to this topic (Action 1); Then, the Chamber of Agriculture providing trainings itself for farmers, will also be interested by the action dedicated to the improvement of training offers for end-users concerning AgTech. To conclude, the Chamber of agriculture could contribute to the implementation of this action plan by disseminating and communicating on its results in its ecosystem.
