Dec 11, 2022
Empowering Women in Agri-Food
More opportunities for women, more diversity for the agri-food system, and more prosperity for all.
Women are most affected by the climate crisis and less responsible for it. Women in agriculture are equal just only in quantity. Still, they have fewer rights, less access to natural and financial resources, less contractual power, and fewer strategic roles in the food value chain. Empowering women is not a women’s issue. On the contrary, it means working to create real prosperity, it means raising the value of the entire food system, improving every single phase of the chain and its impact from a social, human, economic, environmental, cultural, and institutional perspective.
Empowering women is not (only) a matter of values. It’s a matter of business, a sustainable future, and human rights. It’s not just a matter of inclusion. It’s a matter of understanding how crucial human rights are when talking about sustainable food systems.
That’s why the European Union will execute in the next two years the EU Gender Equality Strategy in a territory where patriarchy is still dominant.
Only one in ten EU farm managers is under 40, according to the European Commission.
Less than 30% of farm managers are women, just 23% if we consider female farm managers under 40. In both cases, women earn 16% less than men in the EU agri-food system.
Empowering Women in Agriculture (EWA) aims to reverse this trend.
EWA is the EIT Food initiative that involves female entrepreneurs in a 6-months entrepreneurial program tailored to create business solutions for specific challenges in agri-food.
The program, officially launched in 2020, reached more than 260 female entrepreneurs, virtually connected over 500 female entrepreneurs and mentors in the agri-food sector, and contributed — also financially — to support new and existing female entrepreneurs: 20 new female-led businesses have been registered, and over 40 agrifood startups have grown.
In Italy, EIT Food partnered with the Future Food Institute. EWA is designed to increase the presence of women in positions of corporate responsibility and reduce the current gender gap in the agri-food sector. How? By connecting startups, solopreneurs, corporations, investors, and the agribusiness ecosystem at large and offering female agro-preneurs a six-month training, mentorship, and financial support to improve their business model, viability, and scalability.
Last week, we celebrated the conclusion of the third edition of the program.
130 women entrepreneurs from 13 different European countries (Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, Malta, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Portugal, Spain, and Turkey) gathered together in Bilbao (Spain) for the closing event. Besides the enthusiasm given by these numbers, the real magic has been to see the multi-heterogeneity of ideas, solutions, and perspectives brought to the table both in Spain and in Bologna (Italy), where we had the pleasure to host in our Scuderia Living Lab the closing event of the Italian program of EWA with 10 Italian female entrepreneurs in the agri-food systems.
What have been our main learnings?
1.Declaring equal opportunities do not automatically generate more opportunities for women
To rebalance the economic system and embrace integral regeneration, the enhancement of women’s talents is crucial. The generative and regenerative force of women will be able to develop its maximum potential only if their design qualities and unique perspectives find the enabling environment to shine and emerge. “Gender equality certification is not enough. This is the time for change: skills, creativity, foresight, to go beyond the declaration of equal opportunity” shared Isa Maggi, national coordinator of the States-General for Women in Bologna during the panel Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life that anticipated the Italian EWA Pitch Day in Bologna.
2. Female empowerment does not equal better solutions but different solutions
The agri-food sector can become one of the driving sectors of the circular economy if water and energy efficiency, waste, packaging, and social value of food will be tackled consciously, and these are all European political priorities, reminded Simona Caselli, President of AREFLH, the Assembly of Regions of European Fruit and Vegetable Networks.
Ideas and solutions touching new forms of experiential tourism, emotional connection with the land, reinvention of grandma’s pantry, recovering unsold products from companies, restoration of the narratives behind products, family and territorial bond, art for sustainability and better nutrition, and food as cure, land preservation are all clear examples that values are the real drivers behind female solutions in the agri-food system.
Not better solutions than men’s, but different, because they reflect their different perspectives, approach, and sensitivity. Diversification is the real key to prosperity.
3. Regenerative business models should go beyond the rigid battle of men vs. women
In the past, the role of women involved in agriculture was conceived in support of their husbands’ activities: this often meant that their work was less evident and flashy but undoubtedly precious. Now that multifunctionality has become central also in agriculture, and the role of the farmer is not only that of producer (farmers are sentinels of change, guardians of biodiversity, and protectors of traditional ecological knowledge), women’s role has also been changing and adapting as reminded Roberto Mazzei, from one of the most famous Italian trade associations for farmers (Coldiretti — Campania Region).
The greatest danger from the wave of much-needed greater women’s empowerment would be to expect agriculture to now become all-female. This would be equally the result of a short-sighted and limiting approach that hinders the need for inclusion, collaboration, and co-creation.
These drivers can regenerate the European agri-food system by reconnecting our country with all the other European countries because real innovation requires diversity and inclusion.
Rather than being the finish line, the ceremony in Bilbao represents the springboard to echo this value and support the implementation of some of these ideas.
Let’s not waste time!
The wave of energy and enthusiasm from the EWA award has already generated positive effects. A ripple effect, beauty attracts beauty, and so from a group of EWA fellows CiRCE was born.
Yesterday at our Paideia Campus Living Lab in Pollica, we hosted CiRCE.: Cilento Resilient Conscious Empowerment — a unique gathering of conviviality to share stories of agricultural regeneration and innovation from the voices of local protagonists of the Mediterranean Community. There were Cilento protagonists of the EWA program, including Elisa Altomonte, the national winner. We are starting from their stories and seeds of change to unleash the enormous potential hidden in marginal lands, empowering the “F” Quotient to trigger a true process of cultural, social and economic regeneration, including in the debate the voices of the local community, their ambitions, their needs, and their expectations. Think global but act local: this is our way to implement it.
The Future Food Institute (FFI) is an international social enterprise that believes climate change is at the end of your fork. By harnessing the power of its global ecosystem of partners, innovators, researchers, educators, and entrepreneurs, FFI aims to sustainably improve life on Earth through the transformation of global food systems.
Through an integral ecological regeneration approach, FFI trains the next generation of changemakers, empowers communities, and engages government and industry in actionable innovation, catalyzing progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Learn more at futurefoodinsitute.org, join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, or YouTube. Or attend a program through the Future Food Academy!
