COACH: A European project on territorial food systems

Farmers and small operators tend to have a weak position on the market.  They lack bargaining power, face barriers to accessing markets, and struggle to achieve a fair income.  At the same time, due to growing public awareness of the environmental crisis, and the rise of diet-related ill-health, many citizens want to conveniently access high quality, healthy and sustainable foods. In response, many innovative consumer-driven opportunities for farmers to access markets are now available.

In this context, the COACH project facilitates collaboration between farmers, citizens, local governments and other actors to scale out agroecological food initiatives, advance food sovereignty and drive innovation in territorial food systems across Europe and in Central Asia. COACH stands for ‘Collaborative Agri-food Chains: Driving Innovation in Territorial Food Systems and Improving Outcomes for Producers and Consumers‘.

Duration: November 2020 – October 2023

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under grant agreement no.101000918.

Project website: coachproject.eu

The project is coordinated by a team at the Centre for Agroecology, Water and Resilience (UK) and involves leadership from social movements, farmers’ organisations and municipalities committed to sustainability across Europe as well as allied academic groups.