EU project TRACK reaches almost 400 entrepreneurs

How can European policy further support the European agri-food sector? That was the main question at the closing meeting of the TRACK project. The aim of this project was to promote the application of big data and to improve the traceability of agrifood products, especially in the field of production. In two years, almost 400 European companies were supported and/or coached. Conclusion: there is a great need for customisation. The sector is unique and difficult to compare with other sectors; partly because fresh products are used and food safety is an important theme.

The European TRACK project is a collaboration between five cluster organisations: Vegepolys Valley (France, coordinator), Greenport West-Holland (the Netherlands), Technological Corporation of Andalusia (Spain), AgroTransilvania Cluster (Romania) and Emilia-Romagna Regional Agrifood Clust-ER (Italy).

TRACK is funded by the COSME programme of the European Union; 2018/2020, and supported ICT suppliers to improve their approach and supply to the agrifood sector. A total of almost 400 farms were reached, some of which received direct support. They received guidance, there were regular publicly accessible webinars on digitisation (these are still available at www.trackgrowingdata.eu) and organised TRACK 1-on-1 meetings. A number of companies were given the opportunity to pitch at the SIVAL trade fair and (digitally) at Fruit Attraction LiveConnect.

Due to the corona outbreak, the final TRACK conference could not physically take place. Therefore, online events took place on 24 September, 8 October and 26 October. These were organised with two other European projects: Connsensys (on living labs in the food industry) and Digiclusters (cluster collaboration in industrial modernisation of agro-food packaging). The closing meeting on 26 October had 72 participants from all over Europe.

If the European Union wants to help agricultural entrepreneurs with digitisation, policies will have to be tailored to the specific conditions in this sector. A policy document will be prepared in November. The recommendations from the TRACK project will be collected and further disseminated.

www.traceabilityandbigdata.eu/projects/trackgrowingdata