The overall objective of DEMETRA was to facilitate the development of agricultural entrepreneurship skills and tools for women in rural areas. The project aimed to establish a transnational network of partners in an attempt to share practices, experiences and case studies in the area of women's agripreneurship. Also, DEMETRA’s goal was to develop an in-depth analysis of the context in which women agripreneurs were called to act by identifying, their level of education, competences, their educational needs and the gaps and obstacles they face, with major scope to update policy recommendations at national and European level. The project focused in developing an innovative, interactive educational curriculum to help women acquire an innovative, greener and more sustainable mindset in agricultural entrepreneurship. It also promoted the development of a digital tool that enabled women with limited access to education, to access training material and up-to-date knowledge from experts and successful practitioners. Lastly, DEMETRA focused on connecting women agripreneurs with the labour market by bringing them into contact with agricultural stakeholders while at the same time enhancing awareness of gender inequalities in the sector.
In 2019, COPA's European Women's Committee addressed for the first time the gender gap in European agriculture. The conference concluded that both at the European and member-state levels, further actions are needed, for increasing female entrepreneurship in the agricultural sector. Official European statistics support these concerns, showing that agriculture is a male-dominated sector, with only 28.7% of farm managers in the EU being women. The situation is even more critical for rural women, who make up 45% of the economically active population, with 40% of them working on family farms. To add to these, limited access to financial resources, training, and lifelong learning hampers and limits the entrepreneurial initiatives of these women. The DEMETRA project aimed to empower rural women to engage in agriculture by providing training and tools for agricultural entrepreneurship. It focused on understanding and improving rural women's skills in this area and promotes inclusivity. The project responded to the educational needs of women through an innovative curriculum, platform, and mentoring scheme, and addressed the lack of resources for vocational training providers in agricultural entrepreneurship.