Red Cock Project - Holidays on Farm in Alto Adige, "Progetto Gallo Rosso - Agriturismo in Alto Adige"

Best Practice

Topics

• Regional value added
• Protected areas, Mobility

Short description

The project is located within the alpine perimeter, in a periurban and rural region. The quality label project "Red Cock" is an initiative of the "South Tyrol Union Farmers", which is an association established in1905 and formed by 21.000 members. In 1999, considering the difficulties linked to the promotion of a label that was not very effective, the Union decided to invest in a project that could support at first the tourist offer (accomodation in tipical local building) and, since 2003, even the local products that cannot compete with other products in the global market. By this way, a label has been created and registered at the Province of Bolzano and in Geneva, a label that represents the so called "Red Cock" and which allow to qualify with common and integrated criteria the holiday ond the farms centres, bars and local products. On one side this partnership gives the possibility to offer a tourist product contextualized in the local way of life (traditional farmsteads), stimulating the farmers to organize the tourists' accomodation and integrating their income; on the other side the joint tourist promotion allows even those farmers who do not own a farmstead to involve the tourists in their activities (apple harvest). The project guarantees constant improvements both of the process and of the offer. Endogenous resources: local agriculture products, rural traditional architecture (farmsteads), landscape, local employees in restaurants and tourism activities. Economic sectors involved: agriculture, farming, tourism, catering

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Project executive

South Tyrol Union Farmers ("Unione Agricoltori e Coltivatori Diretti Sudtirolesi", established in 1905).

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Participants

Südtiroler Tourismusvereine und -verbände, Südtiroler Marketing Gesellschaft (SMG), Handelskammer Bozen, Hotelier- und Gastwirteverband, Verband für Kaufleute und Dienstleister, Autonome Provinz Bozen (Assessorat für Landwirtschaft, Assessorat für Tourismus), Kooperationen mit der Privatwirtschaft (Indexport Bozen, Sennereigenossenschaft Milkon, Aspiag Service - Gruppe Despar und andere). There is not a key person behind the project since it started in the South Tyrol Union Farmers to help the members. The participants can identify with the project and they are working at the improvement of the quality offer. More than 700 tiles with the Red Cock symbol on have been bought by the project partners.

Objectives

1. To promote and to diversify the high quality tourist offer about holiday on the farms of the region in order to support the competitiveness of this alternative form of tourist accomodation; 2.to support the income integration of the local farmers; 3. to open new channels to sell the local products; 4. to economically support the farmers in the advertisment, promotion, accounting and fund raising activities.

Activities

1. Specific criteria for the concession of the "Red Cock" label to holiday on the farms centres, bars and local products (such as jam, juices, scirops, dried fruit, herbs, liquors, winegars, cheese and, in a future, meat and delicatessen) have been defined. 2. The subjects who want to receive the quality label have to pay about 250 euro (it depends on the extension of the farms) to the Union, which has to control and promote the label; 3. Every year, a Commission formed both by members of the Union and by external auditors verify that the quality label criteria have been applied. The products have to come from integrated and organic farming; 4.Promotion of holiday on the farms centres and bars, organization of events and of alternative form of tourism through a web site and a dépliant, participation to national and international festivals; 5. organization of courses for the partners' upgrading; 6. Consulting activities.

Process

1.Involvement of the farmers and listening to their requests. 2. Co-operation with the public authority (the Province). 3. Creation of initiatives linked to integrated form of tourism. 4. Promotion of the offer. 5. Professional training of the farmers in order to improve the quality of the structures.

Results

About 1000 holiday on the farms centres, 30 farmers, 120 local products and 30 bars have participated to the project. Every year 85.000 copies of the catalogue have been sent to 40.000 users and distributed in national and international festivals. In the last 3 years, 408 partners have attended base professional training courses (84 hours) and 283 partners have attended specialization courses (150 hours). An increasing number of farmers has launched its personal internet site. The specific results for the Alps are: 1. The choice to open new markets for the local alpine products. 2. The multifunctional use of farms, which integrates local culture, agricutlure and tourism.

Evaluation

A report on the results of the project is presented to the partners every year. The evaluation shows a constant improvement in the fileds of new partners, number of products and number of tourists.

Difficulties

A part from the usual scarcity of funds, some difficulties were related to the number of tourists and to the opening of new markets for the local products. Another difficulty was connected with the involvement of the local farmers who were a little scared about the project, but finally convinced by its credibility. Now there is an increasing request of information and of changes. The big participation to the project has convinced the South Tyrol Union Farmers about the necessity of a more severe selection of the holiday on the farms centres to be put in the catalogue, in order to avoid the increase of the mailing costs.

Budget

400.000 euro per year. (Euro)

Financial backer

Financements come from the annual individual quotes paid by the partners, from the public authority (which is an independent province) and from the EU. Part of the budget comes from the consulting activities (advertisment, promotion etc.). The partners' training has been financed by the European Social Fund.

Source of information

Competition

Participant at the 2005 Future in the Alps competition

Homepage

http://www.gallorosso.it http:// www.sbb.it

Publication

Catalogue "Agriturismo - Le vacanze diverse 2003 - Alto Adige"

Project executive as above

Contact person as above

Comments

Impact on nature and environment

1. Preservation of the traditional landscape through the promotion of local products and the support to local agriculture. 2. Improvement of the environmental performances of agriculture through the application of integrated and organic farming methods, which allows to reduce the impacts on nature, pollution and the consumption of resources. 3. Development of alternative forms of tourism, which do not need new buildings, through a multifunctional use of the traditional farmsteads.

Economic value added

The project supports the local farming through the integration of the farmers' income, deriving from tourist activities and the additional cost of the quality label. The products whit "Rec Cock" label have been included in the bigger supermarket chains and this brought in 2004 an increase of the volume of business of 98.000 euro. Normally, the majority of sales happens in the province of Bolzano, while only a small part in the rest of the region Trentino Alto-Adige. The annual overnight stays are increasing, but it is still difficult to quantify how much this depends on the "quality label effect". In 1998 there were 13.000 beds and the overnight stays have been 691.000, in 2004 the number of beds was 18.000 and the number of overnight stays was 1.300.000. More than new working places, the project contributes to keep the already existant working places and to increase the volume of production. The increase of tourism and the promotion of local products contribute to the diffusion of multiplier effects in commercial sectors such as delicatessen shops, specialized shops and local handicraft. The project has a high potential to keep people in the region. The promotion of the project in international contexts contributed to increase the number of foreign tourists.

Socio-cultural value added

1. Keeping the local farmers' income, avoiding them to abandon their activity. 2. Integration and cooperation between farmers and tour operators, which creates social cohesion. 3. Preservation of the local farming traditions, which rise the tourists' interest. 4. Possibility to keep the job even for those women employed in catering services. 5. Cultural exchanges.

Innovative content

1. Success factor: external auditing for the concession of the quality label (the auto-certify policy experimented before 1999 was very ineffective). 2. Services offered to the partners of the project. 3. Creation of networks that can bring down costs, which could not be easily sustained by single people.

Good governance

Partners' paritcipation to the decision processes proposed by the South Tyrol Union Farmers.

PR impact

The promotion of the project through catalogues, web sites, local newspapers has led to the increase of the toursits' number.

Multiplier effect / networking

1.Co-operation between tour operators, farmers and producers all linked to each other through the samequality label "Red Cock". 2. Development of a network of shops that sell the "Red Cock" products. 3. Some shop keepers in Rome or Genoa asked for some of the "Red Cock" products.

Transferability

The methodology is transferable, even if the Province of Bolzano is characterised by the presence of farms (farmsteads) that are particularly suitable to the development of the project. It is important to underline that the considerable number of partners represents the key element of the project.