Guidelines and manuals:
Practical guidelines for conversion to ecological recycling agriculture: hands-on material for crop rotation, soil and nutrient management (calculation manual for nutrient conservation), and balanced animal husbandry.
Guidelines for economics on farm level, economic calculations for conversion to ecological recycling agriculture. Target groups: farmers and advisers.
Market strategy for organic foods, local processing (cereal products, meat products, milk products), based on practical examples in each partner country respectively.
Preparatory documents for specific investments:
Study for prioritized agro-environmental investments for conversion of farms to ecological recycling agriculture (ERA). Target groups: national and regional/local authorities.
Small scale processing, distribution, market and marketing (Branding – Diet for a Clean Baltic).
Ecological agro tourism.
Investment plan for establishing BERAS Implementation Centres/Sustainable Food Societies.
Investments and costs for restructuring agriculture to ERA farming systems in alternative time scales. Target groups: national and sub national authorities and local municipalities.
Thematic expertise:
Pool of advisers, cross border conversion expertise for nutrient conservation and conversion
- soil, crop and animal production;
- business plans;
- processing, distribution, marketing;
- investments in buildings, machines, technologies;
- financing;
- entrepreneurship;
- eco tourism services.
Pool of cross border Baltic Sea region expertise:
- local processing, distribution, marketing;
- public eco food, restaurants;
- institutional eco food (kindergarten, schools, hospitals and others).
Pool of cross border Baltic Sea region expertise in: university education, basic natural science and university for practical implementation of ecological recycling agriculture (organic farming), local food processing and consumption. Nordic BERAS Farmer University Collegiums to improve farmer competence.
Business plans:
Business plans and financing plans for conversion of highly specialized crop and animal farms to ecological recycling agriculture (ERA). Target group: authorities on regional and national level.
Business plans for BERAS Implementation Centres/Sustainable Food Societies, for tourism and the mobile unit, aiming to have costs covered also after the end of the project.
Market strategies for organic foods, based on practical examples in each partner country respectively.
Local organic food processing (cereal products, meat products, milk products).
Management plans:
Institutional plans for policy implementation to realize Ecological Recycling Farming system emerging from conversion farm studies.
Group of advisors for ERA conversion farms.
Implement ERA in the program for Watershed Management in cooperation with regional watershed stakeholder groups.
ICT-based supporting tools:
Internet portal/gateways to integrate issues of food production, sustainability of rural areas and the environment for general public and politicians.
ROTations in Organic farming systems (ROTOR model): a user-friendly decision support tool for site- and farm specific sustainable crop rotations including nutrient balances.
PC-based N-balance calculator for optimizing biological N-fixation in legume-grass leys (in excel) including a visual observation tool for assessing legume contents in leys.
Territorial development concepts/Transnational action programmes or plans:
BERAS Implementation strategies on policy level:
- conversion of specialized crop and animal farms to ERA, special focus North and West and industrial farms in whole BSR;
- conversion to ERA as a realistic alternative in East and South to industrialized agriculture to develop in East and South.
BERAS vision is to implement ERA farming and locally based food chain societies in the whole BRS region to meet the goal in Baltic Sea Action Plan of a healthy Sea by a reduction of nutrient load by half to the Baltic Sea. Including calculated nutrient balance scenarios.
Market clusters developed at BERAS Implementation Centres/Sustainable Food Societies, rural development.
Recommendations for transnational action plan to demonstrate realization of Baltic Sea Action Plan through Ecological Recycling Agriculture within BERAS Implementation Centres/Sustainable Food Societies and connected network of BERAS demonstration farms.
Recommendation for policies and strategies for conversion to BERAS principles in the whole BSR region.
Recommendations for Common Agricultural Policy reformation to become an active instrument to reduce nutrient leakage and prevent structural obstacles.
Investments and costs for restructuring agriculture to ERA farming systems in alternative time scales. Target groups: national and sub national authorities and local municipalities.
Branding and marketing concepts and strategies for BSR products:
Establishing marketing concepts and brandings for Baltic Sea products from Ecological Recycling Farms (Diet for a Clean Baltic)
BSR tourism products:
BERAS Implementation Centres/Sustainable Food Societies acts as models for conversion to ERA and learning centres and will be developed to attract farmers, consumers and tourists, coordinated with locally agro-tourism activities.
Educational products:
Series of regional and workshops about ecological recycling agriculture and tools developed in the project for best practice for advisory services.
Training events will be held on regional level to give presentations.
BSR expertise University education package implementation of ecological recycling agriculture (organic farming), local food processing and consumption.
BERAS Farmer University education material and education program.
Basic Educational package.
