CHAMBRE REGIONALE D'AGRICULTURE OCCITANIE

Their core work

Chambre Régionale d'Agriculture Occitanie is the official public agricultural advisory body for the Occitanie region in southern France — one of the country's most important agricultural areas covering viticulture, field crops, horticulture, and livestock. They provide technical advice, training, and innovation support directly to farmers and farm advisors across the region. In H2020 projects, they serve as a real-world testing ground and knowledge broker, bringing practical farming expertise and farmer networks into research consortia that need on-farm validation and dissemination to end users.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

Their early H2020 involvement (2015-2017) centered on foundational agricultural topics — soil management (LANDMARK) and crop diversification (DiverIMPACTS). From 2018 onward, their focus shifted clearly toward digitalization of farm advisory services and farmer-to-farmer knowledge sharing, as seen in FAIRshare, i2connect, and IPMWORKS. The trajectory shows a move from participating in broad land-use research toward actively shaping how agricultural knowledge reaches farmers through digital tools and peer networks.

Moving decisively toward digital advisory tools and peer-to-peer farmer knowledge exchange, making them a strong partner for projects bridging agricultural research and on-farm adoption.

How they like to work

They participate exclusively as a third party — brought into large consortia to provide regional farming expertise and farmer access rather than leading research activities. With 140 unique partners across 28 countries, they are embedded in a remarkably wide European network for a regional body, suggesting they are a sought-after partner when projects need real-world agricultural validation in southern France. Their consistent third-party role means working with them is low-friction: they deliver practical field knowledge without competing for project leadership.

Despite their third-party status, they connect to 140 unique partners across 28 countries — an exceptionally broad network for a regional agricultural chamber, reflecting strong demand for their on-the-ground farming expertise in pan-European consortia.

What sets them apart

As a regional agricultural chamber, they sit at the exact interface between EU-funded research and working farmers — a position that universities and research institutes cannot replicate. They offer direct access to the Occitanie farming community across viticulture, horticulture, and field crops, making them invaluable for projects that need real-world demonstration sites and farmer engagement. For consortium builders, they are the credible "last mile" partner who ensures research results actually reach agricultural practice.

Highlights from their portfolio

• FAIRshare
  Directly addresses digitalization of farm advisory — their most strategically forward-looking project combining precision agriculture with social innovation.
• IPMWORKS
  EU-wide farm demonstration network for integrated pest management, spanning multiple crop systems (horticulture, viticulture, field crops) that match Occitanie's agricultural profile.
• i2connect
  Focused on transforming how agricultural advisors work across Europe, positioning the chamber at the center of advisory service innovation.