Boosting the Alpine agri-food value chains with the "100% Local" approach

Consumers are increasingly interested in the “values” associated with the food they eat. The “values” may be that products are locally produced, by small or mid-scale farms, or the use of environment friendly production practices. The project focuses on the valorisation of Alpine agri-food short value chain (meaning all actors involved in the production, marketing and selling of products) that provide products fully produced and processed locally. In EUSALP there are some best practices of this approach, herewith called “100% Local!” (100%L). The project considers the spreading of the latter a positive outlook and develops a transferable model to enhance its application. It also uncovers potential for entrepreneurship and innovation in the field of agri-food value chain valorisation. Reasons of the current under-use of the 100%L approach are the lack of: awareness on potentials; framework conditions; know-how on processes, product- or marketing- innovation; gaps in the production chain. The project faces these issues by: developing a replicable model based on the 100%L approach (WP2); raising awareness & testing the model potential in selected case study areas (WP3); connecting the agri-food value chains actors with the relevant competence centres to match problems with concrete solutions and uncover opportunities for entrepreneurship (WP4). It follows a cross-border perspective, trying to bridge territories that share a cultural identity and complementary products (WP5).