Copa Cogeca has taken the opportunity of International Women’s day to highlight the huge potential of women to ensure a dynamic, innovative EU agriculture Sector

On International Womens Day, Copa-Cogeca highlighted the enormous potential women have to making agriculture a more dynamic, innovative and profitable sector. But Copa-Cogeca Secretary-General Pekka Pesonen warned that they are currently held back by a lack of training and support and urged EU decision-makers to enhance measures for this under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) post-2013.

The Commission’s current proposals on the future CAP give Member States the possibility to include thematic sub-programmes aimed at addressing specific needs (e.g. for young farmers and small farmers) through a higher level of support under rural development measures of particular importance for those groups. Copa-Cogeca calls for an additional sub-programme aimed at ensuring women farmers play a more integrated role in developing innovative agricultural production and related activities.

Support for the following measures are particularly important: knowledge transfer and information, farm and business development, cooperation (especially in promoting local activities such as short supply chains and local markets) and quality.

With women farmers representing over 35% of the agricultural workforce in Europe, it is crucial to recognise the benefits they bring to the sector, Pekka Pesonen added. Copa consequently presents an Innovation Prize for Women Farmers every two years to highlight areas where women have shown their expertise in being innovative and underline the activities and benefits that women can bring to agriculture. It also aims to stimulate adoption of further innovative, competitive practices. The prize is awarded on the basis of criteria such as the use of new knowhow, new methods or technologies in a given sector.