Once again an eventful year is drawing to a close. The year 2022 continued the trend of eventful times we’ve have in the recent years. Thankfully this year the worst of the Covid -pandemic subsided and life has returned 

S mentorship program that we are realizing in collaboration with YPARD. This program hopefully marks the beginning of a series of steps EUFRAS is determined to take in order to promote the importance of the young advisors for the future of the sector and at the same time hoping to make the advisory profession a tempting alternative for the youth today.

to normal at least to a reasonable extent. Once again though, life threw another unexpected turn of events at us as an armed conflict erupted in Ukraine. At least personally only a year ago I could not have imagined such a turn of events for 2022. The conflict of cou

rse brought all the horrors of war right at our own doorsteps, but at the same time it disrupted our economy in Europe with rather drastic consequences. The prices of a lot of our everyday necessities have risen drastically, this has been especially severe for the agricultu

ral sector where the prices of fuel, fertilizers etc. have risen comparatively even more than many other basic necessities. This of course has once again forced us to stop and rethink production strategies. Once again we, the advisory community, have been called upon to help farmers pull through the trying times.

If there was one fact, that these exceptional years have illustrated to the fullest extent, it is the importance of us, the advisor community. Whenever there are challenges posed to the agricultural sector, be it exceptional circumstance

s or mounting environmental pressures, we as advisors play a crucial role maintaining food safety and security all over Europe. This is also the message that we want to convey to policy makers. Looking at the new CAP 27 policy, I can see that we have also succeeded in this. Now the role of advisors has finally been raised to a level that it deserves. At the same time though, CAP 27 also places new demands on the advisors especially dealing with innovations. This means that we need to continue developing the sector and especially we need to be able to attract young professionals to the advisory community to ensure continuity. One concrete step taken by EUFRAS on this road, is the YEUFRA

 These are all topics that EUFRAS will strive to work towards next year as well, but now it has come time to take a break, spend time with our loved ones and gather energy for next year. I’d like to thank you all for another great year of networking and I’d also like to take this opportunity to express a special greeting to our colleagues at NAAASU in Ukraine! You are all in our thoughts, together we will pull through all the hardship!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 2023!

Warmest regards,

Jussi Juhola