Model project to explore the potential of digitally driven social innovations for sustainable development in the agricultural sector. The model project explores the extent to which digital technologies can help small farms to improve their market access by creating synergies, thus promoting sustainable development in the agricultural sector and regional cycles, and strengthening the employment and economic potential of small farms.

The basic idea of the model project is to test innovative digital ways of organizing communication in order to improve market access for smaller farms and to achieve synergy effects. Agriculture has traditionally been of great relevance to rural areas as an employer and a factor that shapes the landscape. Due to its great influence on the natural and social environment, agriculture has become a key factor for sustainable development. Small farms play a special role in this context: in relation to the area cultivated, they perform more work per hectare. In other words, they provide more jobs in relative terms than their larger competitors, whose competitive strategies are based on efficiency and on low-price mass production strategies. Many smaller farms are therefore trying to tap into other markets and differentiate themselves from the large agricultural giants - through specialization, high quality, organic production or direct marketing models. On the consumer side, a lot has happened in recent years: food scandals, challenges such as climate change and sustainable development requirements have led to a rethink among many consumers. Demand for regional/sustainable food has grown. There are opportunities here for smaller farms, but these can still be insufficiently exploited because the issues of market access for smaller farms have not yet been sufficiently specified. Smaller farms lack their own brand or similar, through which, for example, credibility and trust could be communicated to consumers. Certifications and seals offer only a limited solution here, because they are associated with effort and the market access itself continues to be determined by large retail chains.

The model project should therefore start with these smaller farms and test digital technologies to improve communication at the level of producers and consumers in order to strengthen the economic situation for these farms. From this, concrete objectives can be derived for the model project: Testing and evaluation of innovative, digitally supported communication channels that improve sales opportunities for regional/sustainable agricultural products by creating trust and credibility based on digital technologies.