#RURALWOMENVOICE: CORENET GIVES A VOICE TO WOMEN IN RURAL COMMUNITIES ACROSS EUROPE
ICONS launched the campaign ahead of the International Day of Rural Women on 15 October. It brings together the experiences, perspectives and contributions of women connected to European research and innovation projects, and COREnet is proud to be part of it.
Women play a central role in rural Europe. They run farms, process and sell local food, keep traditions alive and hold communities together, yet their contribution is still too often invisible. With this initiative, ICONS brings together four European projects working with rural communities: SMART ERA, RootLinks, GUARDIANS and COREnet. Each project shares stories of the women it works with: what they do every day, and what still needs to change. For COREnet, joining the campaign was a natural step: women are at the heart of many of the short food supply chains the project works with.
2026, the International Year of the Woman Farmer
The campaign takes place during a special year. The United Nations General Assembly has declared 2026 the International Year of the Woman Farmer, with FAO, together with the other UN Rome-based agencies, invited to support its implementation. The Year aims to raise awareness of the contribution of women farmers to food security, nutrition and rural economies, and to address the barriers they still face. Women make up around 39% of the global agricultural workforce, yet they have less access than men to land, credit, services and decision-making. In the EU, women led about 31% of farms in 2023, and their farms are on average less than half the size of those managed by men.
Women at the heart of short food supply chains
For COREnet, the role of women is not a side topic. Short food supply chains are often where women’s work is most visible: direct sales, farm shops, processing, agritourism and the relationship with consumers. Many of the Golden Cases collected by the COREnet feature women producers. In October 2026, COREnet also joined Teagasc, the Irish Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) and the TEDY project in organising Land Citizenship: Rural Women Cultivating Good Food for All, an associated event of Ireland’s Presidency of the Council of the EU, in recognition of the International Year of the Woman Farmer.
The stories
For #RuralWomenVoice, COREnet collected video interviews with women from across its network. Each one talks about her role in her community, the challenges she faces and the change she would like to see:
Ilenia Diana, Project Manager of Only Food Association in Foggia (Italy), an all-women association that has promoted local food excellence for over 11 years. She talks about women’s role in handing down food traditions, and about the support they need to access funding and leadership roles.
Kerstin and Anna Biärsjö, mother and daughter at Hallongården in Skåne (Sweden). They turned an 18-hectare farm into a berry business with processing, a café and pick-your-own that welcomes 70,000 visitors a year.
Mariska van Koulil (Netherlands), who has worked with entrepreneurial rural women for over 25 years. She explains why women often lead farm diversification, yet fewer than 6% of Dutch farms are officially managed by a woman.
Mónika Kiss, owner of Iglauer Park in Városlöd, and Szilvia Lükő, owner of Menedék Eco garden CSA farm, both in the Bakony region (Hungary). One keeps the local Swabian traditions alive for visitors; the other left a career as an economist to make artisan goat cheese and built a community around her farm.
Different countries, different paths, one common message: rural women are innovators, entrepreneurs and community builders, and their voices deserve to be heard.
Watch the videos in COREnet #RuralWomenVoice playlist!
