The overall objective of EUNetHorse is to establish an active multi-stakeholder network in France, Portugal, Spain, Belgium, Germany, Romania, Poland, Finland, in order to increase the resilience and performance of their equine farms to face environmental, social, health, economic or political crises by widely disseminating practices, tools and solutions that improve:

 (1) their resilience and socio-economic performance,

 (2) animal welfare and health on farms, and

(3) the environmental sustainability of the sector.

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES: 

• To connect organisations across 8 (National Horse – Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation System) NH-AKIS at regional, national and European levels in order to foster cross-fertilisation between the main branches (sport/leisure, racing, agriculture and food production) of the equine sector throughout the project lifetime.
• To identify equine farmers’ needs and make the inventory of grassroots best practices and scientific solutions organised in at least 8 priorities across 3 thematic areas.
• To evaluate the best practices and solutions collected on the basis of resilience/performance and cost-benefit analysis criteria, and at the same time ensure their acceptance in the field by means of a multi-actor assessment.
• To transfer knowledge thanks to trainings and the organisation of field-oriented activities for equine farmers, trainers and advisors across 8 EU countries and Switzerland.
• To Disseminate and communicate on EUNetHorse results at EU wide scale.
• Raising awareness on the importance of proper litter disposal and the negative impact plastic and other discarded materials have on nature by creating “PETaBear”, a recycling bear, a “monument” created from waste;

EXPECTED RESULTS:

• The project’s results will comprise of:
  1. Methodology for cross-visits developed and validated.
  2. 170 organisations connected to NH-AKIS.
  3. 8 cross-visits organised (one per EUNetHorse country).
  4. One Trainers and Advisors Network (TANet) established and operational throughout the EUNetHorse project and beyond the end of project, connecting trainers and advisors at EU level.
  5. Collection of needs, grassroots solutions and best-practices from at least 320 equine farmers representing the 4 main branches.
  6. Collection of other solutions and best practices from 12 Operational Groups (OGs), 7 Focus Groups, 14 European projects, 200 regional/national projects and thanks to the bibliographical work of our 3 European Thematic Area Leaders (TAL).
  7. Identification of gaps to be then used within the consortium to generate appropriate recommendations to improve the sectorand the different actors.
  8. At least 80 solutions and best practices well-assessed, adapted and ready to be disseminated on the field.
  9. At least 2 EU-tools as expansion of already existing tools.
  10. 800 equine farmers participating in peer-to-peer learning and training activities.
  11. Trainers and Advisors Network (TANet) involved in the design of training activities based on their trainers’ and advisors’ needs, and reaching 300 trainers and 120 advisors with EUNetHorse digital trainings.
  12. Participation to at least 6 European or international congresses or conferences during the project lifetime.
  13. EUNetHorse website regularly updated.
  14. 25,000 equine farmers reached via the website, the EUFarmBook social media and the bi-annual newsletter.
  15. Use of the most popular and trusted national communication and dissemination channels.

OUTCOMES:

• The cross-cutting objective of modernising the sector by fostering and sharing of knowledge, innovation and digitalisation in agriculture and rural areas, and encouraging their uptake, as well as European Green Deal and Farm to Fork objectives;
• The collection and distribution of easily accessible practice-oriented knowledge on the thematic area chosen, in particular the existing best practices and research findings that are ready to be implemented, but not sufficiently known or used by practitioners.
• Conserve practical knowledge for the long term - beyond the project period – in particular by using the main trusted dissemination channels that farmers/foresters consult most often.
• Increase the flow of practical information between farmers/foresters in the EU in a geographically balanced way, creating spill-overs and taking account of the differences between territories. In order to better reach and capture knowledge from the targeted farmers/foresters, the networks may organise 'cross-fertilisation' through sub-networks covering, for example, a region, a language or a production system;
• Achieve greater user acceptance of collected solutions and a more intensive dissemination of existing knowledge, by connecting actors, policies, projects and instruments to speed up innovation and promote the faster and wider co-creation and transposition of innovative solutions into practice.