Good Practice - Project
Hope farm - the beginning of a regenerative story
Easing a regenerative farm’s equipment cost burden to improve capacity ensures higher quality of processed foods.
General information
RDP Priority
- P3. Food chain and risk management
RDP Focus Area
- 3A: Agri-food chain integration & quality
RDP Measure
- M04: Investments in physical assets
Beneficiary type
- Farmer / land manager
Summary
In 2019, Dávid and Anna, a young couple, moved to a small village, Bekölce, in Hungary, to follow their dream of setting up as organic farmers. Their 70 hectare farm operates according to regenerative agricultural principles and has a diverse range of livestock, whereby the main source of income is generated from the sale of free-range chickens. EAFRD funding supported their farm development since the outset. The most recent intervention focused on purchasing the necessary equipment for developing the processing capacity of the farm. The main aim was to effectively take advantage of market trends for more processed foods, increase farm income and consolidate the business.
The couple actively advertises their work and lifestyle on many platforms, including channels followed by the younger generations. With nearly 100 000 followers on Instagram and nearly 0.5 million followers on TikTok, Dávid and Anna are effective influencers of the regenerative farming lifestyle.
Results
- The purchased transport vehicle helps the farmers more easily deliver larger quantities of goods to relevant places.
- The new equipment doubled the chicken and beef processing capacity of the farm.
- The quality of the farm products was increased by using modern equipment.
Promoter
Dávid Goldmann
Funding
Total budget: 57 000 (EUR)
EAFRD: 22 800 (EUR)
National/Regional: 5 700 (EUR)
Private/own: 28 500 (EUR)
Resources
Documents
Good Practice Report - Hope farm - the beginning of a regenerative story
(PDF – 1.17 MB)
Context
In 2019, Dávid and Anna - a young Hungarian couple - moved from the city to a farm in Bekölce, a village in the county of Heves in North-East Hungary following their dream to farm organically. Neither Dávid nor Anna had any agricultural background or experience in farming, but they had an ambition to produce clean food without additives, antibiotics, pesticides or chemicals. Their aim was to develop their farm according to the principles of regenerative agriculture and permaculture and to promote their healthy lifestyle to other young people.
They currently own 10 ha of farmland and lease a further 60 ha. Most of the land (90%) is pasture in an agroforestry system, with the rest being forest, and a small proportion being a biointensive garden. Following regenerative principles, the farm’s livestock includes several thousand chickens, 58 cattle, ducks and geese. The main income of the farm originates from the sale of chickens (in 2022, 5 000 were sold). With a strong and growing demand for chicken, the farm will continue to increase this part of the business. A total of six people work full-time on the farm.
Dávid and Anna promote their lifestyle actively on various platforms, such as social media, their own blog, at various events, on TV, radio and at festivals. The number of their followers also makes them serious influencers with almost 100 000 followers on Instagram and 0.5 million on TikTok.
Objectives
The main aim of the young farmers was to increase the processing capacity of their farm to generate a more sustainable income and strengthen the overall viability of the business. However, to develop the farm as a reliable food industry supplier, further investment was needed to purchase the necessary equipment and machinery to ensure a higher quality of the processed products.
The longer-term vision was to increase the extent of processing of their farm products to continuously adapt to evolving market trends. For example, they considered producing high quality organic preserves or pre-seasoned sous-vide/vacuum-sealed chicken.
Activities
The initial activity involved the writing and submission of the EAFRD application, which the farm owners did successfully by themselves. Thereafter, the main project activities included the procurement of a number of equipment and machinery in line with the farm’s development objectives. This comprised the purchase of one vehicle for transporting farm produce and a number of essential equipment relating to processing activities including storage shelves, tables, an industrial meat grinder, a meat mixer, sausage filler, a sous-vide machine, static cooking tubs, scalding tub, mobile drip stand for poultry, gizzard inspection table and tool washer.
Main results
The main results of the funding can be summarised as follows:
- With the help of the purchased transport vehicle, the farmers could more easily deliver larger quantities of goods to the relevant points. Farm products were directly sold in Eger (20%) and Budapest (80%).
- The new equipment doubled the chicken and beef processing capacity of the farm.
- The quality of the farm products increased by using the modern equipment. This helped consolidate customer relations and their trust in the farm’s high quality produce.
- The acquisition of the equipment was also relevant and opportune to make use of new legislation which allows small farmers to produce and process higher numbers of livestock under simplified food processing rules than before.
- The new equipment enabled the farmers to further plan and develop future on-farm processing activities to respond to market trends and demands for healthy snacks and ‘almost-ready meals’ that can quickly be turned into healthy and delicious meals at home.
Key lessons
- If someone can manage an Excel spreadsheet at a basic level, it is worth taking the time to prepare the funding application oneself to avoid the relatively high fees for grant writing services.
- An application's appraisal period can be lengthy and equipment prices may increase so much that by the time the farmer receives the subsidy decision, the initial financing plan might be outdated.
- The staff of the Paying Agency were helpful and, over time, have become more flexible and understanding of the challenges small farmers face when applying for funding.
- Dávid and Anna's story as pioneer farmers is unique in that they are spreading their work, lifestyle, and results so intensively and engagingly via social media and on the channels used by generations Y and Z.