Since Slovenia became one of the new members is of the European Union, farmers in that country need to adjust to the European environment and rules. Three so called EU Twinning projects between Slovenia and The Netherlands were executed from 2006 through 2009 dealing with this adaptation. This cooperation focussed on dairy farm management, food quality products, strategy and sector development. 66 experts, mostly from The Netherlands, spend in total 553 working days in Slovenia participating in 126 open educational meetings and workshops. In addition, one technical advisor stayed for 16 months in the host country. The first Twinning project was ranked highest in performance of all EU agricultural projects in this region in that period, which resulted in a work visit of the Dutch Minister of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality to the project.
Special about this project is that it does not only aim at explaining the application and consequences of EU rules and regulations, but it also paid quite some attention to the entrepreneurial component. To this purpose, it utilised the concept of Interactive Strategic Management (ISM). The bilingual publication 'Interaktivni strateški management', released upon the project’s completion, explains the ISM method in both English and Slovenian language. The explanation is illustrated by a number of examples of strategies developed by Slovenian farmers as result of a series of ISM training sessions. Also local colour is well illustrated in the publication.
Publication 'Interaktivni strateški management'