Smallholder farms (or agricultural households) in Romania represent an important actor in the national agricultural landscape, managing approximately 45% of the total Utilised Agricultural Area. Furthermore, they play a very important role in local and regional food security, but relatively few are connected with modern food value chains despite the sustained demand of Romanian consumers for good quality local products (including many traditional/artisan).

The Local Gastronomic Points (LGPs) concept is a business model based on adding value to products from agricultural households by establishing small-scale, family-type public food establishments, where the primary production is prepared based on traditional recipes and served to tourists. The Local Gastronomic Points concept is based on three key objectives:

• Supporting small and local producers in continuing the traditional agricultural activities and practices by providing an additional stream of revenue.
• Contributing to the development of stronger and more connected rural communities.
• Preserving the traditional recipes.

The concept proved its success in contributing to building more sustainable rural communities, however, is still facing a series of challenges: disagreement between local public authorities regarding the implementation of the concept, insufficient and inefficient promotion of the concept among tourists, lack of collaboration, etc. To address these challenges, HIGHCLERE CONSULTING (HCC) will organise three Science-Policy-Interface (SPI) workshops throughout the VISIONARY project implementation. The first SPI workshop took place in March 2023 and gathered a diverse group of stakeholders: the public authorities that coordinate and monitor the implementation of the concept, the private associations involved, the Local Gastronomic Points, and the customers of the LGPs. The focus of the first SPI workshop was to create a better collective understanding of the barriers and needed changes to improve the implementation of the Local Gastronomic Points concept. Furthermore, a set of main recommendations was agreed by the participants:

• Enacting national legislation for the implementation of the LGPs concept. A national legislation would harmonise the concept implementation, reducing the disagreement at local level. The legislation came into force starting December 2023.
• Improving the data management at local level. Supporting the development of local databases including local producers and Local Gastronomic Points. The databases can be managed by local authorities, made available to the general public and can be processed into visual tools (i.e. maps) for better promotion of local agricultural production among consumers.
• Better promotion of the Local Gastronomic Points concept. Develop a national promotional campaign aimed at raising awareness among tourists regarding the LGPs, as well as increasing the dissemination of the concept among other small producers, who could benefit from it.

Through the SPI workshops, HCC aims to increase the understanding of the core characteristics of the Local Gastronomic Points concept, as well as to provide a space for discussions among stakeholders, in order to contribute to a better implementation of the concept.

Author: Cătălina Rogozan (HCC)