A user-friendly farmers knowledge reservoir is very much needed in Hungary, that is why it is important for NAK and AKI to be a part of the EUREKA project and support the development of a European online Knowledge Repository – Interview with Anikó Nagy from the Hungarian Chamber of Agriculture (NAK) and Szabolcs Vágó from Institute of Agricultural Economics (AKI).
Anikó Nagy from NAK joined the EUREKA project in the summer of 2020. She has been working in rural development for many years. She is interested and experienced in farmer’s cooperatives and short food supply chains, she is involved in the project based on her field experiences. Anikó explains:
“As my organization is in daily contact with farmers and advisers, it is important to get out practical results for our members. There is a huge need for our members (farmers and advisers) to be a bit more up to date on information from Europe and enhance network for knowledge exchange e.g., through a user-friendly knowledge reservoir such as the EU FarmBook to enhance network for knowledge exchange. Without effective knowledge transfer, innovation research results will not reach farmers and support their development.”
Szabolcs Vágó has an economist background, and he has been working at the AKI for 20 years. He has participated in research activities, collected data and analyzed the milk sector, and became responsible for agricultural statistics for a 10-year period. During this period, he also became active in international projects.
“AKI has a long tradition; as a leader in the digitalization process of Hungarian agriculture, AKI operates and develops such EU and national agricultural information systems of outstanding importance as the Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN), the Market Price Information System (MPIS) and the Agricultural Statistical Information System (ASIS). By the extensive collection and processing of data, policy analysis and decision support, AKI provides valuable assistance for progressing agriculture and strengthening rural livelihoods”, Szabolcs says.
The EUREKA project relies mainly on interviews and surveys for gaining a deeper understanding of both Horizon 2020 Multi Actor Projects as well as the needs and preferences of the potential end-users of the future EU FarmBook platform. Szabolcs has expertise in collecting and analyzing these kinds of data. He is involved in nearly all aspects of the EUREKA project in some way from gathering information on end-user needs and preferences to details of data management and storage on the EU FarmBook knowledge platform.
The EU FarmBook is a good possibility for Eastern-European smaller countries, as there are not enough information sources for local users which are reliable, objective, freely available, and can be used also in the local language. It is a great feeling for the people of the region to be involved in such a big scale, important EU-wide innovative challenge.
