Second study trip to Austria on 19 June 2018

On June 19th 2018 within the framework of the Agrishort project „PORA“ Regional Development Agency organized a study trip to the Vulkanland region in Austria where participants visited examples of good agricultural practice. It included around 100 representatives from the agricultural domain including representatives of project partners, local institutions, local action groups and agricultural producers from the cross-border region of Hungary and Croatia.
During the study trip the participants visited the traditional oil mill in the town of Fehring where pumpkin seed oil is produced in the traditional way. Within the mill there is a shop in which agricultural products from different local producers are sold. Beside the store, these agricultural producers organise various promotional activities in cooperation with the owners of the mill. In September they traditionally organize Open Doors Day where they jointly represent their products and strengthen cooperation with producers from other countries.
After the oil mill tour a lecture was organized for all participants of the study trip in the town of Hatzendorf. The lecturer, mister Michael Fend, spoke about the strategy behind the development of the Vulkanland region which focuses on three key development points: cookery, crafts and trades and rural tourism.
At the end of the trip, the participants visited the producer of the famous Volcano ham, where they had the opportunity to see the development path of this brand and the whole process of ham production, sample some meat products, and visit the shop which offers these meat products alongside products from other local producers.
The goal of a one-day tour was to get acquainted with examples of good practice related to the cooperation between various agricultural producers to further strengthen the preconditions for establishing short food supply chains that will help improve the agricultural sector in the Zala County, Somogy County, Koprivnica-Križevci County and Međimurje County.
The AgriShort project is funded within the Interreg V-A Hungary-Croatia Cross-border Co-operation Programme 2014-2020, and the total project value is 206.727,03 EUR. The lead partner of the project is the Public Institution for the Development of the Međimurje County REDEA, and the project partners are PORA Regional development agency of Koprivnica Križevci County, LAG Zala Termálvölgye Egyesület and the Lake Balaton Development Coordination Agency LBDCA.

Photos taken at the study trip are available in the "Gallery".