Hi everyone,

As we’re starting our second week of our e-conference: While we are looking forward to your continued input to the specific SALSA questions, I would like to summarize some questions your fellow participants are interested in, related to the SALSA topics at hand.
Your input would be much appreciated.  We have over 800 participants in our e-conference, representing a vast range of experiences and expertise, so let’s capitalize on this collective knowledge!  - If any of you have other specific questions you’d like to have the opinion/input from your fellow participants, don’t hesitate to put them in your feedback too, as long as they are related to the SALSA questions at hand.
— Thanks, Peter.

A summary of incoming questions (and I referring to the SALSA questions these relate to, so please refer to these in your questions):

On Topic #1: on cooperation among small farms

Q1.1 From Mayank Jain <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>> (India)

Can someone share consumer cooperative examples that have helped the cause of small farmers?
(From the moderator: this is slightly different from small farms’ cooperation, but concentrates on consumer cooperation models.. do these help small farmers getting access to markets?..)

On topic#4: on the future challenges for small farms

Q4.2: From Mayank Jain <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>> (India)

How can we ensure that weather information obtained is processed and presented as an advisory to the farmers which has considerably helped them. Any success story to share and learn? Anyone?
(From the moderator: as climate change has a direct impact on small farmers, specifically on weather variations, weather information has become increasingly critical for small farmers, possibly defining the difference between a successful and a failed crop…)

On Topic #6: How can policies affect small farm activities and their resilience?

Q6.1 From: Mayank Jain <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>> (India)

I want to know the opinion of fellow participants on "contract farming" with small farmers, through examples across different geographies.
How does it help the cause of farmers? Because agriculture is not only a business but a way of living too. Isn't becoming employee in your own land taking us at an alarming pace closer to industrial agriculture?
(From the moderator: In many parts of the world, industrial agriculture might be considered as one of the main threats for small farmers. Is “contract farming” a viable “in-between” or not?)

Q6.2 From: Irina Toma <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>> (Romania)

We're curious to hear whether you have any good examples of successful projects in your country:
- Do you know of any cases where agricultural Knowledge and Innovation Systems (AKIS) had good results on Food Nutritional Security (FNS) and market integration?
- Were these AKIS systems using any interesting communication/ICT technologies and innovations?
- Are there other cases where innovation policies helped solve key issues related to Food Nutritional Security (FNS)?
(From the moderator: And we can easily relate these to Topic #6 on local/regional/national policies…)






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