In Romania, there are 3.6 million smallholder farms, managing around 45% of the total Utilized Agricultural Area. The main distribution channel for these farms continues to be the traditional farmers’ markets, open every day of the week.
At the level of Brașov city, there are currently six active farmers’ markets, positioned in the most inhabited neighbourhoods, where consumers can purchase local and regional agri-food products and long-term relationships between consumers and farmers are developed.
Farmers’ markets are key distribution platforms for building a resilient local food system and for supporting the safeguarding of local and traditional agriculture and gastronomy. The SPI for the farmers’ markets case study in Romania focuses on highlighting the importance of farmers’ markets for the sustainable and resilient development of the city and the pathway of change co-creation.
At the moment, the concept of farmers’ markets is facing a series of challenges and, in order to address them, HIGHCLERE CONSULTING (HCC) will organise three Science-Policy-Interface (SPI) workshops throughout the VISIONARY project implementation. The first SPI workshop took place in August 2023 and gathered a diverse group of stakeholders from the policy sector, small producers’ side and from farmers-based organizations. The focus of the first SPI workshop was to create a better collective understanding of the barriers and needed changes to improve the functioning of the farmers ‘markets at local level.
Some of the needs identified were concerning:
• Reviving farmers and giving them multi-functional purposes.
• Attracting younger consumers.
• Improving the communication between public authorities, small producers and farmers-based organizations.
• Creating a user-friendly online database.
The second SPI workshop took place in December 2024 and focused on identifying ways of building better linkages between the actors within the local food system. The four key areas identified during the meeting were:
• Improving the communication and collaboration between the three key actors part of the local food system (public authorities, small producers and consumers), through the organization of regular meetings and better Social Media communication towards consumers.
• Increasing the uptake of associative forms, through strengthening the trust between farmers and piloting different associative forms.
• Improved collaboration between public authorities and research organisations for developing needs-based research.
Through the SPI workshops, HCC aims to highlight the important role that farmers’ markets play in building a resilient local food system, as well as to provide a space for discussions among stakeholders, in order to contribute to a better functioning.
Author: Cătălina Rogozan (HCC)
