Participants of a focus group

Focus Groups on Innovation, knowledge exchange and EIP-AGRI

EU CAP Network Focus Groups are temporary groups of selected experts focusing on a specific subject, sharing knowledge and experience.

Each group explores practical innovative solutions to problems or opportunities in the field and draws on experience derived from related useful projects. Each Focus Group meets twice and produces a recommendations and outcomes report.

The Focus Groups also discuss and document research results, best practices and identify the implications for further research activities that will help to solve practical problems in the sector.

Ongoing Focus Groups

Regenerative agriculture for soil health

How can regenerative agriculture practices help farmers to restore, protect and improve soil health and productivity?

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Crop associations including Milpa and protein crops

How to integrate crop associations into existing cropping systems and farm landscapes to increase farm resilience and efficient use of natural resources while reducing the dependency on external inputs?

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Competitive and resilient mountain areas

Which innovative approaches and innovations linked to agriculture, forestry and bioeconomy can foster the competitiveness and the socio-economic and environmental resilience of mountain areas and their communities?

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Explore the work of previous Focus Groups

Enhancing the biodiversity on farmland through high-diversity landscape features

How can farmers create and maintain high-diversity landscape features (HDLF) that positively impact farmland biodiversity?

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Social farming and innovations

How can social farming contribute to innovation in agriculture while strengthening the multi-functional role of agriculture and connecting people from urban and rural areas?

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Recovery of abandoned agricultural lands

How to foster new, practical ways for better management of abandoned agricultural land in a sustainable way?

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Objectives

In short, the objectives of a Focus Group are:

  • Taking stock of the state of play of practice in the field of the Focus Group activity, listing problems and opportunities;
  • Taking stock of the state of play of research in this field, summarising possible solutions to the problems listed;
  • Identifying needs from practice and possible directions for further research;
  • Highlighting priorities for innovative actions by suggesting potential practical Operational Groups or other project formats to test solutions and opportunities, including ways to disseminate the practical knowledge gathered.

For more information on Groups and their tasks, please see the Focus Group brochure and Focus Group Charter.

English language

EU CAP Network Focus Group Charter

(PDF – 121.01 KB)

Previous EIP-AGRI Focus Groups

Under the EIP-AGRI, 46 Focus Groups were set up between 2013 and 2021. As of 2022, the ‘Support Facility for Innovation and Knowledge exchange including EIP-AGRI’ sets up Focus Groups under the EU CAP Network.

Video: EIP-AGRI Focus Groups, sharing knowledge to inspire innovation

The EIP-AGRI has run over 40 Focus Groups on a wide variety of topics. Watch this animated video to find out how Focus Groups work, how they inspire innovative actions in research and in practice, and how their results can be of value to you in your daily work.