Rural district description

Apulia is a Mediterranean region where productive countryside, historic villages, coastal tourism and urban markets are deeply interconnected. Agriculture, food culture, landscape heritage and rural hospitality are central to regional identity, yet many rural functions remain undervalued in development practice. The pilot uses this rich mix of natural, cultural and entrepreneurial assets to explore how rural areas can create more value through stronger short supply chains, social and educational farming, agritourism and closer links between producers, citizens, innovators and policy-makers.

Challenge description

The pilot seeks to strengthen the primary sector by connecting farming with services and experiences that make rural life more economically viable and socially attractive. Key challenges include engaging young people, improving digitisation and skills, strengthening ties between research and practice, and making connected models such as social farms, educational farms, educational forests and agritourism more visible and scalable. The pilot also has to show how governance can better support cooperation across rural and urban actors rather than treating agriculture, tourism, innovation and social inclusion separately.

Anticipated result

The anticipated result is a more integrated territorial model for Apulia in which short supply chains and connected rural services create stronger innovation ecosystems, better access to opportunities and renewed vitality in rural places.

The pilot should support better governance, stronger valorisation of cultural and natural resources, and improved understanding of how rural and urban communities benefit one another.

Over time, this is expected to contribute to resilience, social capital, entrepreneurship, vocational learning and a stronger territorial identity rooted in inclusive rural-urban development.

Open Calls

DEMO-IT
DEMO-IT aimed to identify key stakeholders and create a shared space for discussion on Short Food Supply Chains in Apulia. Focus groups contributed to gathering local needs and experiences, highlighting strong producer awareness and adoption of SFSCs, but also barriers such as fragmented supply, weak cooperation, logistics, communication costs, limited training, and low awareness of regional policies.

INCO

The INCO project built a network of experts, producers, and consumers to explore business models for enhancing Short Food Supply Chain development, including the role of AI-based solutions in the market. Activities were organised in four phases: identifying relevant technology experts and case studies, analysing consumer profiles and communication needs, engaging producers and potential partners, and organising a knowledge exchange session to propose potential solutions. The project laid the foundations for future cooperation, operational partnerships, and the wider adoption of innovative solutions within sustainable rural-urban value chains.

Field2ForkAI Hub

Field2Fork AI Hub proposes a novel digital middleware to enhance short food supply chains by connecting urban consumers with small‑ and medium‑scale producers across Puglia. Leveraging an AI‑driven “Personal Farmer” chatbot, the platform interprets natural‑language dietary and ethical preferences to generate multiple, personalized shopping‑cart scenarios.

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