In the past 15 years rural areas in the new Member States of the European Union have been facing dramatic change. The agricultural sector was restructured from a state driven system to a private, market oriented system. This has led to substantial unemployment rates and economic decline as well as considerable population losses in most of the affected rural areas. The RFO “E-Farmer - Stimulating entrepreneurship, competitiveness and regional development in rural areas” will, therefore, focus on exchanging experiences and know-how on competitiveness of SMEs in rural areas and transfer these to the new Member States. Overall objective / Objectif général The overall objective of the operation is to share experiences and different approaches on ICT based rural development between regions from old and new EU Member States. It aims to transfer related expertise to new Member State regions and help them build up adequate advisory capacities. It further aims to create efficient tools for implementing EU policy directives for the agricultural sector in new Member State regions, in particular as regards agro-environmental programmes to support environmentally friendly farming practices. The RFO also aims to improve rural development know-how and skills of key actors in the regions and increase the competitiveness of the regions’ agricultural enterprises as well as improve their access to advisory and educational tools and services.