The CLIP is the central information hub for the COACH project. The platform is a repository for project materials offering dynamic virtual spaces for coaching & training, advocacy & future projects. The main goals of CLIP are to complement existing resources, support a community of innovation, & expand the network of conscious advocates & initiatives. The platform's vision is to strengthen emancipatory learning for social change, facilitate blended training & learning, centralise a space for allies to meet, learn, act, & reach marginalised audiences. The platform's architecture is situated within the ‘URGENCI E-Learning Village’, to ensure the space & materials survive long after the project end. In the CLIP, users will find thematic hubs to explore COACH outcomes & resources: These are Costs & Benefits, Living Library of case studies (COACH Beacons), Procurement, Training & Mentoring, Food Accessibility, Policy Briefs, & Alternative Grain Networks.  Highlights:- Costs & Margins App: Short Food Supply Chain initiatives (both networks & individual producers) can input their data for the app to visualise their performance along 3 vectors of sustainability: environmental, social, & economic.- Procurement Hub: Practitioners, local food policymakers, advocates, & local governments can learn from successful tenders, integrate best practices for local food procurement, & download the entire toolkit for sustainable food procurement.- Policy Briefs: COACH produced 5 policy briefs offering policymakers & advocates authoritative arguments to advance the goals of COACH & the mission of food system transformation & transition. All COACH outputs were uploaded to and stored on Participatory Resource Sharing Tool (PRESTO).

In Bergamo (Italy) the catering service for public canteens ‘SerCar’ purchases a significant proportion of the raw materials from the Bergamo Organic District of Social Agriculture, which has resulted in more than 95% of the food served in schools being organic. Bergamo’s Organic District aims to be an example of a sustainable food system, supplying safe, organic and quality produce to consumers, and respecting the rights of the workers. Additionally, SerCar has been collaborating for years with a whole range of associations with social purposes. For instance, the catering company is able to supply fresh bread made by prison inmates through the ‘Sweet Free Dreams’ project. Finally, SerCar puts in place programs to educate children on the food system of their region, and as a part of these programs, pupils visit the Organic District of Bergamo. Bergamo is one of 5 case studies analysed in the Public Procurement toolkit (https://hub.urgenci.net/resource/legal-guide-on-farm-to-fork-procuremen…) to show how it is possible to purchase locally produced food in a legally compliant way with substantial benefits to the local economy and food system resilience and sustainability. Each city has succeeded in strengthening short food supply chains with different procurement strategies that could be replicable in other contexts across Europe. For more on Bergamo and other good practices across Europe, see https://hub.urgenci.net/public-procurement/

Since 2001, Copenhagen (Denmark), has been implementing the ‘organic transformation’ of its food procurement strategy and thanks to the on-site kitchens can provide fresh and nutritious meals. Moreover, they are about to achieve their objective of 90% organic food in public canteens by 2025. This is possible thanks to a twofold approach: 1.Training the kitchen staff, a process that took many years and required input from several external consultants, and; 2. Restructuring the procurement methods to ensure the adoption of high-quality, organic products. In addition, strong market engagement, traditional menu planning and tender requirements on the diversity of products push suppliers to subcontract smaller local producers, so that small batches of different varieties of fruit and vegetables are available for public canteens. Copenhagen is one of 5 case studies analysed in the Public Procurement toolkit (https://hub.urgenci.net/resource/legal-guide-on-farm-to-fork-procuremen…) to show how it is possible to purchase locally produced food in a legally compliant way with substantial benefits to the local economy and food system resilience and sustainability. Each city has succeeded in strengthening short food supply chains with different procurement strategies that could be replicable in other contexts across Europe. For more on Copenhagen and other good practices across Europe, see https://hub.urgenci.net/public-procurement/

The Dordogne Department (France), thanks to the project ‘100% organic, local and home-made school meals’, has committed to a 100% organic and local food supply in school. This strategy fosters short supply chains and provides market opportunities for local and smaller producers, and it creates a food community centred around school and local producers. Each school defines its needs in terms of volume and value, through the digital tool ‘À Table’ and afterwords drafts its own tenders. Based on this step and on the market dialogues, the tenders are divided into quite specific lots, to which an average local producer could fully respond. In addition, onsite kitchens allow schools to offer nutritious and environmentally friendly school meals and specific training for all the school staff, which contribute to raise awareness on food quality, health and local agro-biodiversity. The Dordogne Department is one of 5 case studies analysed in the Public Procurement toolkit (https://hub.urgenci.net/resource/legal-guide-on-farm-to-fork-procuremen…) to show how it is possible to purchase locally produced food in a legally compliant way with substantial benefits to the local economy and food system resilience and sustainability. Each city has succeeded in strengthening short food supply chains with different procurement strategies that could be replicable in other contexts across Europe. For more on Dordogne and other good practices across Europe, see https://hub.urgenci.net/public-procurement/

Since 2014, Torres Vedras's ‘Sustainable School Food Program’ has promoted the local economy and environmental sustainability by stimulating short agri-food chains as well as providing high-quality school meals. School meals are prepared through two different systems: two kitchens under the direct management of the Municipality and a network of private caterers to whom Torres Vedras delegates decision-making responsibility. In Municipality-owned kitchens, raw ingredients are purchased directly and predominantly from local suppliers where possible. To do so, the food supply contracts are divided into 14 lots and periodic dialogue meetings are held with local producers with the aim of increasing the supply of organic, fresh and local produce. This strategy has allowed the alignment of the production plans of local producers with the canteens’ needs as well as raising awareness of organic production and acknowledging and tackling any issues and concerns raised by farmers. Torres Vedras is one of 5 case studies analysed in the Public Procurement toolkit (https://hub.urgenci.net/resource/legal-guide-on-farm-to-fork-procuremen…) to show how it is possible to purchase locally produced food in a legally compliant way with substantial benefits to the local economy and food system resilience and sustainability. Each city has succeeded in strengthening short food supply chains with different procurement strategies that could be replicable in other contexts across Europe. For more on Torres Vedras and other good practices across Europe, see https://hub.urgenci.net/public-procurement/

The city of Växjö (Sweden) is experimenting with a new procurement model called ‘dynamic food procurement’ (DFP). This model has flexibility in terms of time schedule and the types of products that small-scale farmers can offer: it is possible for them to provide only some of the products requested although in the demanded quantity. This flexibility enables small-scale farmers that meet the minimum criteria to bid for a tender whenever the Municipality issues a request for products. Currently, this system covers 10 % of the fruit and vegetable supply and 15 % of the meat supply but the goal is to progressively increase this percentage. Alongside this, the city of Växjö has provided distribution hubs to facilitate the distribution of food products, especially in the last mile logistics, which are often an obstacle for small producers. Now, small producers can deliver their goods to one single place rather than 300 different sites, bringing substantial benefits for what concerns the logistics and the environmental pollution. Växjö is one of 5 case studies analysed in the Public Procurement toolkit (https://hub.urgenci.net/resource/legal-guide-on-farm-to-fork-procuremen…) to show how it is possible to purchase locally produced food in a legally compliant way with substantial benefits to the local economy and food system resilience and sustainability. Each city has succeeded in strengthening short food supply chains with different procurement strategies that could be replicable in other contexts across Europe.  For more on Växjö and other good practices across Europe, see https://hub.urgenci.net/public-procurement/

A Dynamic Procurement System (DPS) is an electronic procurement method used for procuring goods and/or services that are ‘generally available’ on the market, like furniture, food, pencils, canteen service etc. It is ‘dynamic’ because suppliers can join the system at any time, provided they can comply with the economic and technical qualification requirements initially set out by the contracting authority. The contracting authority can thereafter access a pool of pre-qualified suppliers through the DPS. The market is not closed for potential suppliers, as smaller contracts are regularly tendered among all participants in the DPS. EU cities Växjö and Copenhagen currently apply this system. The City of Ghent applies a short supply chain approach to support small-scale food producers and suppliers and promote regional products. Based on fair trade principles, the aim is to provide a fair price to farmers and shorten the number of intermediaries to achieve the fair price, so procurers can shorten the distance to producers. To make it easier for the public authority to procure from small-scale farmers and suppliers, and to reduce the administrative, financial and regulatory burden for farmers, the City of Ghent supported the creation of a B2B online market platform: Vanier. Participating producers determine their own selling price and the platform provides the ordering, delivery, and payment flow and performs the logistics. When tendering from the online market place the City pays a small surcharge but does not need to engage with farmers and SMEs individually as this is taken care of by Vanier. More information can be found in the Legal Guide on Farm to Fork procurement (chapter 4) https://hub.urgenci.net/public-procurement/

Market dialogue is crucial to ensure contracting authorities get the products & services that best meet their needs & comply with the criteria set out in their procurement policy.  Through this process, public authorities can obtain new knowledge & a clear understanding of new, innovative & sustainable solutions & products available on the local & regional market. The EU procurement rules do not prevent a market dialogue with suppliers to happen before the publication of the tender, but this process must not lead to a competitive advantage for individual or specific economic operators & must be carried out in compliance with the principles of equal treatment, non-discrimination & transparency. For instance, the Municipality of Copenhagen relies on a collaborative approach between public officials, professional catering & food service staff, wholesalers & growers to design public food tenders. Before developing the tender, the City of Copenhagen invests time & effort in a comprehensive market analysis, organising extensive market dialogue with potential suppliers. The last step of the market dialogue process consists of a ‘market monologue meeting’ to deliver an in-depth understanding of the final tender documents & addressing questions about the draft tender. The meeting is recorded & published to help potential tenderers offer their products. The market dialogue model in the Legal Guide on Farm to Fork procurement is a description of the 11-step process that can be used when involving the market in a tender. Some of these steps are part of the actual tendering process, under the EU public procurement Directive & are therefore mandatory steps. Full guide: https://hub.urgenci.net/public-procurement/

The aim of the ‘Legal Guide on Farm to Fork procurement’ is to provide public procurers and interested stakeholders with easily accessible legal advice on how to link the public plate with small-scale farmers and companies (SMEs) within a short food supply chain perspective.  The focus is procurement methods, procurement organisation and procurement criteria for farm-to-fork procurement in line with the objectives of the COACH project such as healthy, sustainable and affordable food from small suppliers/farmers. Publicly tendered contracts often require large amounts of goods and a long contract period. It can therefore be hard for small and medium sized companies (SMEs) and farmers to bid on public contracts due to their limited administrative resources and limited production. This toolkit offers detailed guidance on simple ways to open the public tenders to SMEs and farmers. This includes: - a legal guide on how to draft tenders below the thresholds and an overview on which criteria to focus on for tenders above the threshold, - an in-depth chapter on the importance of market dialogue and how to do it, - an analysis of innovative tender approaches such as dynamic food procurement and procurement from the short supply chain. Full guide: https://hub.urgenci.net/public-procurement/

To facilitate collaboration between food chain actors, COACH project partners held Multi Actor Dialogue (MAD) events, building new connections and supporting coordination and collaboration between farmers, local authorities, small businesses, communities and consumers. These meetings were built on the principles of social inclusion and effective participation of relevant actors, including marginalised voices. 11 different MAD events at local and European level, produced roadmaps to pave the way for future collaborative actions on public procurement, supply chain costs and benefits, food accessibility and social equity, and the Sustainable Food Systems Law. Concrete recommendations from these gatherings include:- Publish clear EU guidelines to facilitate purchasing food from small farmers in public tendering, including schools.- Relocate agricultural production to achieve greater food sovereignty, develop on-farm processing, local markets and close proximity circuits.- Provide a decent stable income for small and medium farmers.- Adopt a European umbrella legislative framework, that enables the different legislations related to food within the EU to be harmonised and made more coherent.- Create European and local Food councils to shape a coherent, regulatory vision to improve legislation related to food chains. The insights and experience emerging from these events was also used to inform and guide other project activities, particularly the Farm-to-Fork procurement toolkit, policy briefs and other training materials. To access these resources please visit: https://hub.urgenci.net/houses/territorialfoodsystems-house/

The COACH project developed a methodology to measure economic costs and benefits as well as assess other economic and non-economic effects of participation in Short Food Supply-Chain (SFSC) initiatives. The methodology follows a stepwise procedure, composed of both a qualitative and a quantitative part. The entire analysis is based on a comparison of each SFSC initiative with a long/conventional marketing channel (benchmark) accessible to producers. Qualitative results from 13 SFSC initiatives located in 8 countries, showed food producers perceive SFSCs as having a very positive impact on all items analysed, while the benchmark appears to have a negative impact on most aspects concerning economic, social, and environmental sustainability. Quantitative results showed most producers obtain a higher value added in the SFSC than in the benchmark channel. Results from the analysis and discussion among COACH partners and producers highlighted how the transition to more sustainable and resilient SFSCs require that public policies support producers’ efforts through appropriate actions:- foster collaboration between food producers;- facilitate investments in collective facilities;- provide training (marketing, logistics, distribution) and facilitate knowledge exchanges;- support food producers’ efforts to understand and assess the costs and revenue structure of their activity. For synthesis of results from the analysis and other materials: https://hub.urgenci.net/costs-benefits/ Policy Brief: https://hub.urgenci.net/resource/policy-brief-good-public-policies-can-…

The Sustainability Self-Assessment App for the qualitative assessment of Costs and Benefits (C&Bs) is a freely available tool made for qualitatively assessing the economic, social and environmental impacts that a specific Short Food Supply-Chain (SFSC) initiative generates on the producers involved, on the community, and on the territory where it takes place. The tool compares multiple distribution channels to enable respondents to evaluate the different marketing options they are using or that are available to them. The questionnaire for producers - the core part of the tool - is composed of two main parts. 1- respondents are asked to rate the importance of seven criteria usually considered when making decisions about their activity. 2- respondents are asked to self-assess the impact of the SFSC initiative and another marketing channel on a list of 33 economic, social and environmental dimensions. After completing the questionnaire, the App generates a short report with performance dashboards and other graphical representations. The usefulness and main aim of the tool is to stimulate awareness and reflection of respondents on C&Bs aspects of engaging in SFSCs, to enable informed decisions between different marketing options, considering all dimensions of sustainability. The App has been designed for collective participatory assessment by groups of producers involved in collaborative SFSC initiatives (e.g. farmers’ markets, community supported agriculture, producers’ cooperatives, etc.). However, the App can be used also by single producers wishing to assess their performance in SFSCs. Link to the Sustainability Self-Assessment App: https://hub.urgenci.net/costs-benefits/qualitative-assessment/

The Learning Module on Costs & Benefits is composed of 4 sections: 1. Why assess Costs & Benefits from SFSC initiatives? explains the many typologies of costs and benefits associated to participation to SFSC initiatives. 2. How to assess Costs & Benefits? guides the reader through the use of two practical tools to measure and assess costs & benefits deriving from producers’ participation in SFSCs. 3. Good Practices, extracted from the COACH project, are grouped by five main areas: cost reduction, sales increase, fair distribution and participatory governance, contributing to social equity and environmental sustainability. 4. Useful Documents & Materials contains helpful documents and resources on Costs & Benefits in SFSCs.  The Learning Module on Costs & Benefits aims to guide producers (farmers, processors, retailers, etc.) to increase their knowledge and consciousness about the costs and benefits they have from participating in SFSC initiatives, and better understand and assess the consequences and impacts on economic, social, and environmental aspects from participating in SFSC initiatives. For this purpose, the Learning Module provides user-friendly online tools to assess impacts, in particular the 'Sustainability Self-Assessment App'. The online App is freely available to everyone, and is designed to be used by SFSCs producers and their collective organisations to qualitatively self-assess the impacts of their multiple marketing options in terms of economic, social and environmental sustainability. Link to the Learning Module: https://hub.urgenci.net/costs-benefits/

Mentoring is a reciprocal and collaborative at-will relationship aimed at catalysing the personal and professional development of all participants. Mentoring was a key part of COACH with one task devoted to delivering 200 hours of mentoring over the project, with 22 mentees and mentors participating in total. Participants were practitioners from different types of food initiatives and geographical contexts united by their support of more sustainable and collaborative short food supply chains. Mentoring mainly took place on a 1:1 basis, with mentors remunerated for their time (€60 per hour), though the programme also involved some group mentoring. All participants were expected to take part in an online training before beginning their mentoring relationships, to keep notes on their experience as they went along, and to give feedback at the end. The programme was popular among participants with 100% satisfaction recorded in feedback. Topics covered were diverse, including managing growth in small-scale businesses, coping with ‘burnout’, and changes in career focus. Mentees and mentors alike reported numerous beneficial impacts including increased confidence, energy, and fresh perspectives on their specific context. Recommendations: 1. Provide good quality training to all participants 2. Situate within practitioner organisations, if possible 3. Provide range of support options, not rigid constraints 4. Co-produce a context-specific funding strategy with input from participants 5. Encourage in-person meetings if possible   For more resources and full programme report see programme website: https://coachproject.eu/the-plan/coaching-mentoring/

Territorial governance is the basis of European Regional Policy. Its innovation, both on the internal level (the internal process of decision-making) and on the external level (initiatives engaging with other actors at the territorial level) can improve:- Transparency in food provisioning.- Consumer trust.- Food literacy.- Food citizenship.- Localised market opportunities.- Overall resilience for producers.Based on the lessons learned from COACH case studies policymakers are encouraged to:- Develop a holistic food policy informed by public food procurers, market dialogues, civic food networks and academia, that would engage with 5 main dimensions of food systems: politics, economy, environment, health, and society.- Choose regulations proportionate for all actors, recognizing that small-scale farmers have more limited financial capacities than big-scale producers, and can be forced to close their businesses as a result of imposing on them disproportionately high burdens. Example – Piper’s Farm (more info here: https://pipersfarm.com/blogs/journal/the-survival-of-local-abattoirs).- Promote governance mechanisms inspired by a local food policy approach designed by public authorities (e.g., municipality, province).The above information comes from the COACH Spotlight Analysis available here: https://coachproject.eu/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/D2.4-COACH-Spotlight…

Digital Technology (DT) enables small-scale farmers to scale up the short food supply chain by breaking new ground in logistics, communications, accessibility, and more. Through DT, one can raise awareness, educate, advocate, mobilise human capital, create a space for farmers’ interactions and general sharing of ideas and experiences. Unfortunately, if not well-regulated, DT can allow big tech companies to exploit users’ data.Based on lessons learned from COACH workshops, these are the recommendations for practitioners:- Incentivise use of non-proprietorial digital tools in order to protect the freedom and rights of individuals and improve their quality to provide an ethical alternative to the smooth mainstream solutions.- Provide training explaining how to use DT.- Support data interoperability to provide a greater operational coherence between the various existing Free-Libre Open Source Software (FLOSS) platforms, which give users the freedom to run, study, modify and redistribute the program. For example, the COACH Beacon, Open Food Network provides a software platform enabling farmers to sell online (https://openfoodnetwork.org/software-platform/).- Use FLOSS solutions that emphasize equity, democracy, accessibility, save time through standardization of file storage and increase the work efficiency through digital project management.- Build communities around compatible and widespread technologies to avoid the burnout of small-scale farmers not specialized in running digital innovations.- Protect farmers from becoming “data providers” and digital colonialism led by Big Tech companies.More here: https://coachproject.eu/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/D2.4-COACH-Spotlight…

Education and Information are essential to transform food systems in the long term. To raise a new generation of agroecological farmers, assist chefs with serving sustainable meals, and educate consumers about the social and environmental impact of food and its real cost, EU policies should address issues raised by COACH Beacons and:- Fight with prejudices about the inferiority of the farming sector and opinions that only 'unskilled’ people work in agriculture.- Promote initiatives engaging CSA people with tactile spaces and experiential practices (e.g., attending food distribution, cooking more) which are proven to increase participants’ understanding of farmers’ reality. Practical activities related to food create compassion for its producers and thus reshape environmental ethics.- Implement adequate and transparent labelling informing consumers about all food “ingredients” – those eatable but also those tasteless aspects of food (e.g., working conditions of food producers, its environmental impact and relation to human rights). E.g.: Our Food, Our Future (https://ourfood-ourfuture.eu/about-the-project/).- Reshape consumers’ understanding of food production by opportunities offered by CSAs (e.g., farm tours, classes, newsletters, recipes and cooking utilities).- Encourage students and adults to practise farming skills in the field during short-/long-term internships, learning-by-doing training on sustainable farms.- Incentivise updating national school curriculums to create space for traditional but also more flexible, agroecological farming driven by permaculture principles.More here: https://coachproject.eu/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/D2.4-COACH-Spotlight…

Women stand for approximately half of the global agricultural labour, and as consumers, they are more likely to experience food insecurity and barriers to accessing productive resources and services. At the same time, women remain significantly underrepresented in public institutions and governance mechanisms, and they have less decision-making power. While improving collaborative short agri-food chains, it’s crucial to opt for gender-sensitive solutions.Based on the material collected during COACH workshops, these are the recommendations for practitioners:- Address forms of power and privilege within agricultural production and supply chains by including more diverse human voices and addressing structural issues.- Invite women to the policymaking process.- Listen to the podcast “A journey through Feminist Agroecology” co-created by COACH partner – Coventry University – and find out “What does feminism have to do with the food you eat?” (https://open.spotify.com/episode/0GPlXjkOYT4ZQgXhwIzVVa).- Recognize that each person does not begin in the same place in society. Identify markers such as race, class, disability, gender, and sexual orientation in order to distribute resources and opportunities based on the needs of recipients to reach an equal outcome.Read the COACH Spotlight Analysis to learn more about gender equity in collaborative short food supply chains: https://coachproject.eu/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/D2.4-COACH-Spotlight…

Enabling small-scale food producers to access public sector contracts can have a positive impact on the food quality served in public institutions, its accessibility and consumers’ healthy eating habits. Based on data generated via workshops attended by COACH Beacons, and feedback provided by them, COACH identified the following barriers hindering small-scale farmers’ desire to participate in Public Food Procurement (PFP):• Volume of produce – individual small-scale producers alone can't deliver the minimum required quantity to access the tender• Logistical issues – collaboration with small-scale producers requires more advanced organization (e.g., food hubs) to smoothen the delivery process, etc.• Extensive digitalization – not all individual producers are technologically advanced; they don't know required software thus cannot access the PFP• Financial risk for the supplier – small-scale farmers can't afford to be paid days after delivering products, which is often how public institutions pay To enable small-scale farmers to access PFP, one solution is to use relevant procurement criteria focused on the quality of food, the production’s impact on the environment and more, rather than price alone. Public food demand should be divided into smaller lots and be informed by market dialogues.To learn how City of Copenhagen implemented 90% organic food across all administrations serving public meals in a cost-effective manner, listen to an interview with Betina Bergmann Madsen, chief procurement officer in Copenhagen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CCkUOztoCE&ab_channel=OnePlanetnetwork… info: https://coachproject.eu/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/D2.4-COACH-Spotlight…