DigiWomen

New Scottish research has found that the shift to virtual meetings and events due to the Covid-19 pandemic improved accessibility to knowledge exchange, networking, and organisations for women working on farms and in agricultural careers across Scotland.
The research found the pandemic also provided a ‘legitimising’ window of opportunity for greater female involvement in farming and crofting activities. In some cases women family members replaced staff who were prevented from travelling due to lockdowns.
Dr Lee-Ann Sutherland, a research leader in the James Hutton Institute’s Social, Economic and Geographical Sciences group, said: “The experience of Covid-19 movement restrictions has shown that there are quite achievable ways to ensure that women can participate in more agricultural industry activities. It’s important to the vitality of the agricultural sector that these lessons are taken forward into the future.”
The aim of this latest project was to understand the impact of the recommendations of the Scottish Government’s Women in Agriculture Taskforce, and the influence of other initiatives that support ‘women in agriculture’, on women’s experiences working on farms and in the agricultural industry in Scotland.
Dr Annie McKee, a social researcher in land management at the Hutton, added: “However, barriers remain to the recruitment and participation of women to positions of leadership in Scottish agriculture. These barriers include cultural assumptions, attitudes, and arguably unconscious bias.”
Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and Islands Mairi Gougeon said: “Delivering equality of opportunity will make Scottish agriculture a more resilient and economically sustainable industry and this will help women realise their potential and support business innovation.”
Other topics discussed during the focus groups included the improved visibility of women in agriculture, the opportunities and challenges in accessing training, the provision of childcare in rural areas, mental health in agriculture, and the influence of generational change in driving greater gender equality.
Full report can be found at https://www.hutton.ac.uk/news/new-research-illustrates-impact-covid-19-pandemic-women-agriculture

New research illustrates impact of Covid-19 pandemic on women in agriculture | The James Hutton Institute New research published by the James Hutton Institute has found that the shift to virtual meetings and events due to the Covid-19 pandemic improved accessibility to knowledge exchange, networking, and organisations for women working on farms and in agricultural careers across Scotland.

We would like to invite you to our project event NATURE - WOMAN - LIFE. Come to Kosice, Slovakia this Thursday 22 September, we are looking forward to welcoming all of you! Information and programme attached below.

Eliška Štefankovičová Gieciová, manager of Muránsky salaš farm, says that their success during the corona crisis was brought about by reorienting to online sales. "People have moved from the big chains to us and are staying loyal. Domestic production convinced them. And word of the fresh sheep's cheeses quickly spread and attracted others". At the farm, they sell sheep products from the milk of sheep grazing on the beautiful pastures on the edge of the Muránska Planina National Park. More information: https://www.rimava.sk/spravy-z-regionu/muransky-salas-predaj-dodavka-muransky-syrec/

Muránsky salaš už predáva aj z vlastnej dodávky. Na kúpu muránskeho syrca je poradovník MURÁŇ – Muránsky salaš zaviedol pre svojich zákazníkov novinku. Svoje produkty bude ponúkať aj na rôznych podujatiach formou predaja z upravenej dodávky. My sme ich stretli na ich úplne prvom predajnom výjazde počas soboty 18. septembra 2021. „Zákazníci si naše výrobky môžu k....

Finally the Digiwomen team met in person. After all this time working on individual tasks and doing monthly online coordination meetings, we met for the TPM meeting in Maribor, Slovenia.

☝ Transnational Project Meetings promote interconnectivity between people, they complement ideas and approaches in education, foster collaboration among the project partner organisations and the involved people, promote innovation, an opportunity to plan ahead, monitor the progress and resolve any pending management issues.
📌 Here is a brief overview of the content covered during the TPM meeting:
📍 Steering committee meeting: revision of reporting, revision of dissemination plan and reach, revision of the timeline.
📍 Intellectual Output #3 - Update and revision of the plan of work.
📍 Intellectual Output #4: Update on the E-learning platform, the status of the art, and planning of the plan of work.
📍 Update on the dissemination.
📍 We have done round presentations of the work done so far in each of the organizations: contributions to IO's, dissemination activities, internal work, etc.
📍 Steering committee meeting: setting new deadlines and tasks after the TPM
📍 Cultural visit to Maribor.

Did you know that one of the main goals of the European Commission's "Farm to Fork" food strategy is to increase support for organic farming in all EU countries? By 2030, organic farms should account for at least 25 percent of EU agricultural land. The main objectives are:
- to reduce the use of chemical preservatives and fertilizers,
- to increase animal welfare,
- reverse the loss of biodiversity,
- make sure that everyone has access to sufficient, safe, nutritious, sustainable food.
Find out more about this strategy and how it relates to your country by clicking on this link: https://ec.europa.eu/food/horizontal-topics/farm-fork-strategy_en