DigiFarmTour, Croatia

The region

Contact

About the Living Lab

In the Croatian Adriatic Region, the Living Lab will explore how to connect sustainable small farmers to tourists and consumers, by involving public institutions, tourist board, hoteliers, private renters, local administrations, local farmers, farmer organisations and LAGs.

This region along the coast of Adriatic Sea, is a touristic area covering four (out of six) counties from Istria to Dalmatia. In 2018, 63% of tourists visiting Croatia stayed in the area of the Living Lab.

Agricultural production is characterised by a large number of small family farms. One third of farms is specialised in permanent crops (mostly olives and grapes), the other third in keeping animals (mostly sheep), and the last are mixed farms. The majority of small family farms are rarely market oriented and with low level of development.

To enhance sustainability and development of agricultural sector in this area, an opportunity arises in creating a connection between agricultural producers and tourist service providers or directly with consumers and tourists. The main challenge is to find out how digitalisation could support the creation of short supply chains, and to foster coordination among tourist service providers when planning the tourist offer at local and regional levels by using and (re)testing existing digital tools.

Living Lab coordinator: Ministry of Agriculture, Croatia
Domain: Agriculture and Rural

Focal questions

How can digitalisation contribute to the availability of local products, recognition, flexibility and standardisation of local traditional small-scale products and services?

How can digitalisation contribute to strengthening the connections between farmers and tourists, and create a better position of the small family farms in the value chain?

Objectives

To increase competitiveness and market orientation of small and medium family farms by offering local products and services using digital technologies.
To improve the small and medium family farms position in the value chain by using digital technologies.

Main stakeholders

Public authorities: Ministry of Agriculture (public advisory service), local government (county administrative departments, municipalities)
Stakeholder institution: Institute of Agriculture and Tourism, Poreč; tourist board; chamber of trade and crafts
Local organisations: LAG’s, private consultants
Others: Hoteliers, renters, IT developers, farmers