Rural development success stories

Summary:

Brochure illustrating a selection of rural development projects co-financed during the previous and current programming period and developed by the Member States.

Further information:

Europe’s rural areas are precious and deserve to be cherished. They cover almost 80% of the European Union’s (EU) territory and are characterised by very diverse landscapes and climatological conditions. They are also very different in the challenges they have to face, ranging from restructuring agricultural activity, lack of adequate services, targeting environmental problems to battling depopulation.

Over recent years, the common agricultural policy (CAP) has tried to provide answers to these challenges by shifting from supporting production to supporting producers’ income directly and towards sustainable agriculture. It is important that farmers, and the rural community as a whole, receive encouragement, through the rural development measures, so that they can adapt their businesses to the growing demands regarding food quality and the conservation of nature and the countryside, animal welfare and product differentiation.