The launch of the supra-regional Operational Groups is now a reality, with the publication of the grants for their creation within the framework of the National Rural Development Program (PNDR), which took place on August 7, 2017.

This journey began on November 28, 2016, with the publication in the Official State Gazette (BOE) of the call for these grants. The grants currently have a budget of €2,700,000. Their objective is to promote the creation of supra-regional operational groups to conceive, design, draft, and implement their corresponding agricultural innovation projects. These grants are 53% co-financed by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD), under submeasure 16.1 of the PNDR.

Among the numerous applications from different research groups, funding was approved for 60 operational groups whose proposals range from the use of robotics to crop modernization or improved agricultural management. These working groups are groups of stakeholders from diverse backgrounds, such as farmers, ranchers, foresters, agri-food or forestry industries, public or private R&D and IoT training and advisory centers, technology centers, or non-profit institutions, among others, who have joined forces to solve a problem or seize an opportunity through innovation. You can learn more about them in the Operational Groups section of our website.

One of the first steps was the meeting held with these supra-regional operational groups on September 19th at the headquarters of the National Rural Network in Madrid. The objective of this training session was to facilitate the use of the funds awarded to the beneficiary operational groups and prepare their payment applications. The session provided an overview of the complex regulatory framework for these grants and the steps they must follow regarding modifications, documents to be submitted, and the necessary form of final presentation of the work completed to comply with the requirements of these grants. The presentations from this meeting are available here .

We'll keep you updated on the next steps in the news section of this website and through our social media channels.