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Malta's agri-food open-call path

Farms under one hectare, an ageing workforce and imported fresh food. Three open-call projects tried to put Maltese producers back in front of local buyers.

How did the Maltese pilot's three open-call projects build on each other, and what was the winning idea of the MaYA Agri-Tech Ideathon?

AgriFusion (Outreach) researched farmer and consumer needs, the MaYA Agri-Tech Ideathon (Mobilise) co-created solutions with young people, and MALTESE (Develop) trained 25 people and ran a no-account JackDaw chatbot and an e-market with 61 recorded sales. The ideathon was won by Go(v) Local First, a forecasting and matching platform that gives local producers preference in public food procurement for schools, hospitals and canteens.

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Malta: listen, co-create, buildMalta's farming is under pressure: only 23.7 percent of agricultural workers are under 45, average farms are under one hectare, water is scarce, and in 2022 there were only 1,200 registered young farmers under 40. Three open calls followed one path: AgriFusion (Outreach) listened to farmers, officials and consumers; the MaYA Agri-Tech Ideathon (Mobilise) on 3 October 2025 gathered more than 40 participants and chose Go(v) Local First; MALTESE (Develop) delivered a no-account JackDaw chatbot, a Map Whiteboard with field and soil layers and an e-market with nine producer stores and 61 transactions, and trained 25 people in Dingli. Malta: listen, co-create, build Malta pilot · three open calls, one path 23.7%of agricultural workersare under 45 < 1 haaverage farm size waterscarcity strainsproduction 1,200registered youngfarmers under 40(2022) AgriFusion: listenOutreach call · The Veg Box Ltdsurveys, interviews and focusgroupsAI-assisted analysis of thequalitative dataconsumers willing to support localfarm-to-table channels MaYA Ideathon:co-createMobilise call · Malta Youth inAgriculture Foundation3 October 2025, DiHubMT: 40+participants, five teamswinner Go(v) Local First: publicfood procurement gives localproducers automatic preference MALTESE: buildDevelop call · with SEMABLU andSelfhoodno-account JackDaw chatbotMap Whiteboard with field andsoil layerse-market: 9 producer stores, 61transactionsIoT soil-moisture sensors linked toJackDaw TRAINING Dingli, 5–8 May 2026: 25 people over 73 participant-days in digital tools, circular practices, smartirrigation and pitching; 3 participant-owned circular agri-business concepts. The tools stay publiclyaccessible until at least July 2029. Source: D7.3 Policy Brief, Annex 9 (Malta); D6.3 Comprehensive Report on Funded Activities (AgriFusion, MaYA, MALTESE); Malta pilotwebsite
Malta's farming is under pressure: only 23.7 percent of agricultural workers are under 45, average farms are under one hectare, water is scarce, and in 2022 there were only 1,200 registered young farmers under 40. Three open calls followed one path: AgriFusion (Outreach) listened to farmers, officials and consumers; the MaYA Agri-Tech Ideathon (Mobilise) on 3 October 2025 gathered more than 40 participants and chose Go(v) Local First; MALTESE (Develop) delivered a no-account JackDaw chatbot, a Map Whiteboard with field and soil layers and an e-market with nine producer stores and 61 transactions, and trained 25 people in Dingli.

Malta: small farms, scarce water, a digital route to local buyers

main tellingexample world: maltadepth: standard2 min markdown

The Maltese policy brief describes a sector under pressure. Only 23.7% of agricultural workers are under 45, average farms are under one hectare, arable land is lost to urban encroachment, and reliance on imported fresh produce leaves food security exposed to outside shocks. Water scarcity adds to the strain on production. The Malta RAP does not propose large structural reforms. It focuses on enabling actions: digital-skills training, awareness raising and informal collaboration (Malta pilot).

Three open calls, one path

1. Listen: AgriFusion (Outreach call, The Veg Box Ltd). The team combined surveys, interviews with farmers, officials and technology providers, and focus groups, and used AI-assisted workflows to analyse the qualitative data. It confirmed that consumers are willing to support local farm-to-table channels and drafted a roadmap towards a national coalition that links producers directly to urban value chains.

2. Co-create: MaYA Agri-Tech Ideathon (Mobilise call, Malta Youth in Agriculture Foundation). Two webinars in September 2025 prepared the event. The ideathon took place on 3 October 2025 at the DiHubMT innovation facility, with more than 40 participants in five teams. They worked with the PoliRural+ Rural Attractiveness Explorer and JackDaw on land access, market visibility and water resilience. The winner, Go(v) Local First, is a forecasting and matching platform that structures public food procurement (schools, hospitals, canteens) so that local Maltese producers get automatic preference. Follow-up consultations with national cooperatives were under way when D6.3 was written.

3. Build: MALTESE (Develop call, Projektberatung und Management Expert Assoziation with SEMABLU and Selfhood). The team delivered:

A four-day course in Dingli (5–8 May 2026) trained 25 people over 73 participant-days in digital tools, circular practices, smart irrigation and business-model pitching. Three participant-owned circular agri-business concepts came out of it and were presented at the final event at the Malta Digital Innovation Authority on 25 June 2026. D6.3 states that the tools will stay publicly accessible until at least July 2029.

Where water fits

In the Maltese work, water is part of the skills and business picture rather than a separate infrastructure project. The RAP recommends peer-led sharing of small-scale practices such as hydroponics, composting and smart water use. The ideathon treated climate and water resilience as one theme among several, and MALTESE taught smart irrigation next to e-commerce. The binding constraint is still people: in 2022 Malta had only 1,200 registered young farmers under 40 (pilot website). The public-procurement idea from the ideathon may matter as much as any sensor.

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