Sustainable Food, from now on a priority sector for ERDF funding in Brussels!

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In April  2014, the Government of the Brussels-Capital Region approved the new Operational Programme for the implementation of the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) for the 2014-2020 programming period. The sustainable food sector is one of the 5 priority sectors specifically identified to be funded and developed.

The programme stresses: “Developing agriculture and sustainable food in Brussels would create tens of thousands of jobs, according to a study by the faculties St. Louis and Greenloop. An axis of the Employment-Environment Alliance is dedicated to linking projects related to the implementation of urban and peri-urban agriculture, organization of short circuits […] The objective is to promote the development of this sector, considering the different stages of
chain – from experimentation, training, production, sale and catering. In this context, catering projects that contribute to the development of the industry can also be seen as helping to strengthen this sector – noting also that the catering industry is a historically important area in the capital and generates a lot of jobs requiring little qualification.” 

More than 160 projects responded in July to the 1st call for projects and now await selection by early 2015, of which many are related to food – production, transformation and retail, centres of excellence, support to SME creation and development, foster links between stakeholders and towards universities…

Regional Operational Programme (in French and Dutch)

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