Stakeholders will be substantially involved in the project through four annual local/regional/national stakeholders’ workshops (one per year) that will be organised in the case study areas. In total 96 stakeholders’ workshops will be organised during LIFT’s lifetime. The importance of workshops lies in their dual information flow. Stakeholders will contribute through active participation to numerous issues such as informing the typology of farms; designing the integrative performance indicators; assessing territorial sustainability; providing local knowledge on constraints and societal expectations faced by farmers in the case study areas; and giving expert opinions on LIFT’s frameworks, tools and outcomes. This will help in providing policy-relevant conclusions that are relevant to the reality in the case study areas and the countries covered by LIFT. Participatory approaches, Q-methodology and Delphi exercises will be used.

Workshops will be also a platform of networking for different stakeholders. The workshops will be organised by the LIFT partners in their own case study areas under the supervision of WP7 leader and using methodological guidance from a committee consisting of WP7 leader and of leaders of WP and tasks requiring the use of the stakeholders’ panels.

Stakeholders will include farmers’ representatives (e.g. unions, farm producer groups), chambers of agriculture, up and downstream companies, retailers, farm advisory services, banks, land management bodies, governmental bodies, certification organisations, citizens’ associations and NGOs (with objectives towards the environment, the communities, etc.) and consumers. They will relate to the local, national or European level. Stakeholders from EIPAGRI, ENRD and from EU countries not covered by the LIFT consortium will also be involved. Stakeholders across the 13 countries represented in LIFT have been consulted on the main concepts and approaches included in LIFT.

Interactions with stakeholders are crucial for LIFT, as innovative ideas may arise from those who have the best practical knowledge and vision for the future. And some innovations may only be successful when several stakeholders jointly design and implement them. LIFT will be conducted along the concept of Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) where a diversity of actors, depending on their knowledge, expertise and role in the society, will be integrated into most tasks in the project. LIFT partners already have strong links with local and national stakeholders, and have extensive experience in collaborating with them through participatory approaches.

Annual stakeholders’ workshops planned in the LIFT case study areas

Name of the case study area	Geographical level	Partner responsible
Ireland	Country	Teagasc
Bavaria (DE)	NUTS1	ECOZEPT
Flanders (BE)	NUTS1	KU Leuven
Auvergne (FR)	NUTS2	VetAgro Sup
Brittany (FR)	NUTS2	INRAE
Eastern Scotland (Scotland, UK)	NUTS2	SRUC
Highlands & Islands (Scotland, UK)	NUTS2	SRUC
Lubelskie (PL)	NUTS2	IRWiR PAN
Podlaskie (PL)	NUTS2	IRWiR PAN
Nouvelle-Aquitaine (FR)	NUTS2	INRAE
Areas in North Sweden (SE)	Several NUTS3 (FADN region)	SLU
High Weald AONB (England, UK)	Several NUTS3	UNIKENT
Plain areas in South and Middle Sweden (SE)	Several NUTS3 (FADN region)	SLU
Cluj (RO)	NUTS3	IAE-AR
Hadju-Bihar (HU)	NUTS3	KRTK
Heraklion, Crete (GR)	NUTS3	DEMETER
Lasithi, Crete (GR)	NUTS3	DEMETER
North Kent (England, UK)	NUTS3	UNIKENT
Ravenna (IT)	NUTS3	UNIBO
Salzburg und Umgebung (AT)	NUTS3	BOKU
Sarthe (FR)	NUTS3	INRAE
Steyr-Kirchdorf (AT)	NUTS3	BOKU
Suceava (RO)	NUTS3	IAE-AR
Veszprem (HU)	NUTS3	KRTK
Areas surrounding large cities (SE)	Municipalities	SLU