Event - Seminar

EU CAP Network Seminar ‘Skills and lifelong learning for agricultural advisory and training service providers’

The EU CAP Network Seminar ‘Skills and lifelong learning for agricultural advisory and training service providers’ took place from Wednesday 21 to Thursday 22 February 2024

  • - CET
  • English
  • Vienna, Austria
  • In-person
People discussing in a field

The call for expression of interest closed on 26 November 2023.

The agenda is available below.

Background information

To speed up the twin green and digital transition in agriculture and, at the same time, make sure that it is socially fair and just, it is crucial to have a more skilled and qualified agriculture community, specifically farmers, advisors and the workforce. These actors should be able to learn and acquire new skills in a lifelong journey.

Increasing the level of skills and developing new ones is a key outcome of a well-functioning AKIS (Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation Systems). New CAP strategic plans provide several tools through various interventions to foster knowledge exchange and training on innovative approaches for farmers, foresters and advisors; with high potential for increased uptake by and enhanced impact among relevant stakeholders. Nevertheless, there is an ongoing need for the development of new, more interactive and effective approaches in addressing skills shortages in the agricultural sector - within the context of AKIS and the CAP. Against this background, several initiatives are taking place at the EU level. Supported by the European Commission, stakeholders of the agriculture and food industry have established a skills partnership under the EU Pact for Skills. While 2022 has been the European Year of Youth, 2023 is the European Year of Skills.

Moreover, under the new CAP, advisors have an increasingly important place in AKIS with their roles in transferring knowledge and innovation, capturing farmers’ needs, acting as innovation brokers, and participating in and sharing knowledge from EIP-AGRI Operational Group innovative projects. Additionally, their expertise is expected to expand to broader environmental, social and economic topics. Therefore, training and upskilling of advisors is necessary for supporting their expanding role within AKIS.

For all the above reasons, the EIP-AGRI Support Facility organised this seminar on skills and lifelong learning for advisory and training service providers for the agriculture sector with a focus on skills and training delivery.

Objectives

The main objective of the seminar was to exchange knowledge and identify good practices for training and advisory services to support lifelong learning AKIS-wide.

The specific objectives of the seminar were:

  • taking stock of the existing skills needs which have been identified as important for farmers and farm workers related to the green and digital transitions
  • identifying effective and new training methods and tools for advisors and others to deliver the required skills for the agricultural sector
  • improving the quality and attractiveness of training to agriculture actors including those directly interacting with advisors and training providers (i.e. farmers, farm workers, etc.)
  • building links between stakeholders and EU instruments/projects tackling skills development for agriculture actors (advisors, VET, Horizon Europe, Erasmus+, etc.)
  • supporting EU Member States in delivering knowledge to farmers/maximising CAP SP interventions impact in delivering skills to farmers, i.e. discussing how to use EIP-AGRI Operational Groups as a tool for learning and improving skills of farmers and farm workers
  • brainstorming of research and innovation needs for delivering skills for agricultural actors

The main target groups:

This seminar specifically focused on advisors and training providers including representatives from vocational education & training organisations. Other participants were: representatives of Managing Authorities whose work revolves around agriculture advisory and training, innovation brokers, representatives from farmer and forester organisations as well as researchers and representatives of EU-funded projects dealing with the theme of the seminar.

For any questions, please contact seminar.innovation@eucapnetwork.eu

Programme

English language

Agenda

(PDF – 245.26 KB)

Additional info

Venue

Vienna Austria

Organiser
EU CAP Network

Support Facility for Innovation & Knowledge exchange | EIP-AGRI

EU CAP Network

Resources

English language

Selection Criteria

(PDF – 104.9 KB)

English language

Participants list

(PDF – 174.54 KB)

English language

Speaker and facilitator bios

(PDF – 625.89 KB)

English language

The state-of-play in skills and lifelong learning for agriculture advisory and traning service providers – Aine Macken-Walsh, coordinating expert, EIP-AGRI Support Facility

(PDF – 893.59 KB)

English language

Inspiring examples from Member States – Florian Herzog, Austrian Chamber of Agriculture, Austria

(PDF – 644.59 KB)

English language

Inspiring examples from Member States – Hanna Tamsalu, Maaelu Teadmuskeskus (METK), Estonia

(PDF – 728.26 KB)

English language

Inspiring examples from Member States – Donald Aquilina, Agrinnova Malta Ltd, Malta

(PDF – 1.84 MB)

English language

Inspiring examples from Member States – Patrick Pasgang, Boerenbond Projects vzw, Belgium

(PDF – 1.05 MB)

English language

Inspiring examples from Member States – Carola Ketelhodt, Chamber of Agriculture in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany

(PDF – 631.5 KB)

English language

Introduction on EU measures to support advisory and training services – Inge Van Oost and Natalia Brzezina, DG AGRI

(PDF – 3.79 MB)

English language

Inspiring examples from Member States – Giorgio Trentin, Veneto Region, Italy

(PDF – 755.3 KB)

English language

Inspiring examples from Member States – Doreen Verbakel, Ministry of Agriculture, Nature And Food Quality, The Netherlands

(PDF – 803.79 KB)

English language

Inspiring examples from Member States – Dimitar Vanev, NAAS project teams for ModernAKIS, Climate Farm Demo and ClimateSmartAdvisors Horizon Europe projects, Bulgaria

(PDF – 1.62 MB)

English language

Inspiring examples from Member States – Effie Lazaridou, New Agriculture New Generation (NANG), Greece

(PDF – 1.79 MB)