GREENCOOP · Green Transition through Cooperation models

The challenging EU socio-economic context for the near future (land abandonment, population aging, young farmers, rural low technology access, and entrepreneurs´ migration) imposes the need for developing new Rural Communities Business models (RCBM). These models will improve current rural business allowing to overcome the current situation and adopt innovative and cost-effective agroecological and digital solutions while increasing the environmental ecosystem services delivery, farmers’ quality of life and rural areas revitalization. The GREENCOOP overall objective is to develop a set of 15 (EU) and 2 (China) LL communities to co-create agroecological and digital innovations (ADIs) as 12 demos to promote social economy, enhancing farmers prosperity and rural entrepreneurs by optimizing the use of in-farm resources, reducing environmental damage, improving working conditions, and inclusion (i.e. youth, women.), fostering bioeconomy and circular economy, and increasing the number of high-quality jobs and competences. ADIs will be integrated into relevant types of farming systems (farm ideotypes) selected by GREENCOOP Living Labs (LLs) and the basis for the RCBM by promoting the farmers and rural entrepreneurs’ participation in the food systems. This will contribute to increase ecosystem services delivery and valorisation, improve food security, and mitigate and adapt farming systems to climate change increasing market resilience. GREENCOOP is a 4-year project that aspires to (i) create and evaluate, through a multimodal and multidisciplinary approach, a set of 12 ADIs (ii) analyse the integration of ADIs and industries interactions in EU relevant among rural business by developing RCBM and (iii) benchmark the current business models with the RCBM by assessing their economic, environment and social impacts and (iv) optimize the RCBM to enhance farming systems sustainability , productivity, rural/urban connectivity, and resilience against climate and market.