Pompeu Fabra University (UPF) is coordinating an international research project dealing with the perception of agricultural and farm work in Europe. It aims to help change and improve the way in which the work of the first sector is understood and valued across Europe. The principal investigators of the project “Harnessing Agricultural Renewal via Voice, Engagement, Storytelling and Transformation, HARVEST”, funded by the EU, are the UPF professors Antoni Luna and Rosa Cerarols of the Department of Humanities.

Antoni Luna and Rosa Cerarols: “The research we will conduct at UPF will have a very important social, cultural and communicative element, and will link agriculture, social perceptions and the future of the rural environment”

UPF is the coordinating centre of a European consortium made up of fifteen entities with very diverse profiles linked to Catalonia, France, the United Kingdom, Greece, Austria, Germany and Ireland. Consortium members include local administrations, farmers’ networks (such as the Association of Rural and Maritime Initiatives of Catalonia, ARCA) and other stakeholders from the rural world. Universities are also involved (including the Open University of Catalonia), as are research centres and organizations specializing in data and communication (such as Domestic Data Streamers), NGOs, and cultural and creative entities.

According to Antoni Luna and Rosa Cerarols, “the research we will do at UPF will include both the Catalan context and European comparisons between the different participating regions, it will have a very important social, cultural and communicative element, and it will link agriculture, social perceptions and the future of the rural environment”.

A cross-cutting project to transform community agricultural policies

HARVEST focuses on the daily reality of people who are dedicated to farming, with their personal, local and global challenges, with the aim of creating new public policies. It will do so by combining scientific analysis, policy recommendations and creative participation, in order to reposition public perception as a key driver for public health, territorial equilibrium and generational renewal.

The four-year project is set to begin in the autumn of 2026, with a kick-off meeting of all the institutions participating in the consortium that will be held in Barcelona. It is part of the European Union’s Horizon Europe programme, in the research and innovation actions area. It is funded with a total of six million euros, with 494,470.17 euros earmarked for UPF.