Confederação Nacional das Cooperativas Agrícolas e do Crédito…

CONFAGRI was founded in October 1985 to represent the cooperative Portuguese sector in international and national forums. It is member of COGECA (General Confederation of Agricultural Co-operatives in the EU), Member of the Economical and Social Committee of the European Union and in Portugal, as well as members of some forecast groups in the European Commission. CONFAGRI also participates in various Advisory Groups in the EC and Consulting Groups in COPA-COGECA. CONFAGRI’s main goal is the sustainable development of the agricultural sector, as a support for rural areas viability, counting with its own associative structure, in a close dialogue with around five hundred cooperatives (rural areas’ SMEs), which represent more than 50% of Portuguese farmers. CONFAGRI participated in several European and national projects, like TESLA, SCOoPE or UP_running, European projects on energy. CONFAGRI, as a partner, participate involving Portuguese wineries and olive oil mills and other cooperatives, detecting the potential of exploiting the woody residues from the farming activities associated to collect grapes and olives. Relevant network and experience in National and European projects: – CONFAGRI has been engaged in many national and European projects, working with stakeholders engagement in rural areas as well as in the energy sector, giving it relevant experience with the key actors from and related to rural areas (farming organizations, farmers, technology, research and investment funds):

• INOVAGRI, a training action project with cooperative leaders and managers, for the competitiveness improvement of SME cooperatives; 61 entities were beneficiary of this project, with 25 trainers and 46 consultants (2010-2014);
• Advisory Farming System, with CONFAGRI as coordinator, with more than 50 local cooperatives as partners (since 2012); A second project on farming advisory with more than one hundred local cooperatives is starting in 2018.
• Rede Program, applied to Portuguese SMEs in specific sectors: olive oil and forestry (2001) http://www.rede.iefp.pt

Website:  https://www.confagri.pt/