There is a wide consensus among scholars and policy makers that knowledge is a key resource to support European agriculture in meeting new challenges such as e.g. international competition, food safety, health or environmental issues. Organisations delivering farm advice are targeted by different EU policies, such as the “Farm Advisory System” (FAS) or the “European Innovation Partnerships” (EIP) regulations. But precise and up-to-date knowledge on these services were missing: current transformations of their funding, organisation, advisory methods, performance for different groups of farmers and rural populations.

PRO AKIS aimed to fill this knowledge gap and to answer the question: How and from what sources can farmers get reliable and relevant knowledge, orientation and support to continuously evolve, to successfully solve problems and to respond to external expectations and development opportunities?