Inspirational ideas: Developing jobs for people with disabilities

In the past seven years, EIP-AGRI Operational Group projects have become a successful tool for turning innovative ideas into real solutions for European farmers and foresters. Based on the provisional agreement for the new Common Agricultural Policy (2023-2027), Operational Groups and other EU-funded innovative projects will be able to tackle an even broader range of challenges in agriculture, forestry and rural areas, including social innovation. 

In the more than 2000 Operational Group projects that have started since 2014, farmers, foresters, researchers, businesses and other partners have worked together to unlock solutions to specific problems facing European agriculture and forestry. By sharing their results widely across Europe, Operational Group projects have helped to strengthen innovation and knowledge exchange under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), making the sector more sustainable and competitive.

The reformed CAP, which has provisionally been agreed on, is now set to bring fresh opportunities for EIP-AGRI Operational Groups and other innovative projects. Based on the current proposal, this new CAP (2023-2027) will have a wider scope, and will focus on supporting environmental, economic and social sustainability in agriculture, forestry and rural areas. It will also foster modernisation, digitalisation, knowledge sharing and innovation. A CAP that covers more topics will allow Operational Groups to tackle a wider range of challenges, covering all types of rural innovation. This includes themes such as protecting food and health quality, increasing farm competitiveness, preserving landscapes and biodiversity, rural areas, climate change, social innovation and more. 

In the region of Saxony, Germany, Operational Group project ‘InnoLAWI’ has already explored rural challenges and social innovation. During its three years, the project has been developing job opportunities for people with disabilities in the agricultural sector. This means that inclusive employment is offered on seven pilot farms, to combine the best of both worlds – agriculture and social work. 

“Agriculture offers a diverse field of activities, and is therefore very suitable for creating work opportunities on the farm”, says project coordinator Stephan Beetz. “For the farms that participated in the project, employing people with disabilities has helped them activate different fields of work, establish a social branch of the business, or explore options for farm succession. People with disabilities have welcomed farming jobs as an alternative to existing sheltered workshops. Working in a team has allowed them to develop new social skills in an atmosphere close to the primary labour market.” 

The model farms received intensive support from Mittweida University of Applied Sciences and other partners, to help them create good job offers. Most of the work was integrated into the existing daily operations. Some farms made changes to their overall organisation. Stephan explains: “When necessary, the work places were adapted to the specific needs of people with disabilities. Some farms hired specialist staff, and three project managers passed an exam to become certified specialists in employment and professional development. The project gave rise to new cooperations between farms and social institutions.”

The Operational Group project has now ended, but Stephan sees new opportunities in the future: “We are still in close contact with the farmers and other partners in the Operational Group. At the moment we are looking for follow-up financing, to be able to solidify the project results and establish new and necessary advisory structures.”

Project coordinator: Prof. Dr. phil. Stephan Beetz – beetz@hs-mittweida.de

More information on InnoLAWI in the EIP-AGRI database, in the database of the German Rural Network, or on the InnoLAWI project website  

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