Development of (the many forms of) short food supply chains (SFCs) is one of the approaches of the Common Agricultural Policy to improve competitiveness. There are many different types of SFCs, ranging from direct selling on the farm, farmers’ markets, community supported agriculture, collective direct selling etc. to food chains with one intermediary, as in restaurants, retail shops, collective catering, and also supermarkets where local procurement is highlighted. A lot of examples already exist but they are generally small-scale and limited in impact. Common characteristics are to establish a more direct relationship between farmers and consumers and to enable farmers to obtain a higher share of the value of the final sales price by reducing the number of middlemen and stages of the process.

Scaling up SFC management in the European Union is hampered by various factors. In this context, ‘scaling up’ broadly means increasing the number of producers involved and the total volumes traded through these chains. The objective of the Focus Group is to identify innovative solutions to stimulate the scaling up of SFCs to improve farmers’ income.