Research project launched to enhance women in agriculture

According to a press release by the university, the Horizon Europe project, FLIARA, which stands for Female-Led Innovation in Agriculture and Rural Areas proposes a unique and innovative approach to improve understanding, awareness and recognition of women’s role in a more sustainable rural future.

One of the key targets is to develop more effective policy and governance frameworks that can support and enhance the capacity of women who live and work in rural areas.

Launching the FLIARA project, President of University of Galway Professor Ciarán Ó hÓgartaigh said: “At University of Galway, we are here for the public good. This project speaks to that mission in such an important aspect of the lived experience of women in our rural communities. We give credit here to our colleagues in their work respecting the role of women in sustaining and maintaining rural life for the generations which have gone before us and how they are key to renewing it today and into the future. 

The project is being led at University of Galway by Associate Professor Maura Farrell. Outlining the vision for the project, Professor Farrell said: “To overcome Europe’s rural challenges and embrace potential opportunities, there is a need for all individuals and communities to participate in rural innovation. “Traditionally, rural women’s employment opportunities and contribution to innovation has been overshadowed, and often suppressed, by a patriarchal ethos.”

Funded by the European Commission’s Horizon Europe programme, FLIARA is a three-year project, which aims to combine futures and case study methods, alongside network building and policy benchmarking, while being underpinned by a co-created conceptual and assessment framework. It will actively involve female farmers and female rural entrepreneurs and investigate women-led innovations on farms and in wider rural areas.