Fostering Agriculture Rural Development and Land Management Erasmus Project

Project Title

Fostering Agriculture Rural Development and Land Management

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for higher education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2020

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Agriculture, forestry and fisheries; Rural development and urbanisation; ICT – new technologies – digital competences

Project Summary

Knowledge, skills and innovation are the indispensable foundation of sustainable development. European agricultural and rural development policies have a long-standing record of stimulating innovation, moreover, sharing knowledge within networks speeds the process of adoption of innovations. Given these preliminary considerations, the first challenge of FARM project is to boost knowledge and technology transfer in the agricultural sector. The possibility to increase the level of information available to ARD (Agriculture and Rural Development) about new technologies is directly linked to sectorial investments, economic and environmental efficiency and sustainability, food healthiness and safety, ability to compete in the international market area.

The support in agriculture and rural development (ARD) remains a vital component for economic, social and environmental sustainability. The ARD faces the challenge in terms of sustainable management of natural resources, depopulation and contributing towards the economic development. The scientific development complements this challenge by focusing on knowledge share and fostering the technology and innovations in ARD. According to economic theory and practice, the formation and transfer of knowledge form a basis of economic development. Moreover, although direct demand for knowledge is today lower than in the past, economic literature confirms the importance of wide networking, in terms of diversification and number of subjects, for the introduction of new technologies in the agro-food sector (Muscio et al., 2017). There is still a huge gap in European agriculture concerning technological development and organization. Consequently, in a vast majority of European countries and regions, especially those of southern Europe, a well-developed sphere of formation and transfer of knowledge is required (CAPReform.EU, 2012). E2020 in ARD fosters innovation, cooperation, and development of a knowledge base in rural areas, enhancing farm viability and competitiveness of all types of agriculture in all regions and promoting innovative farm technologies and sustainable management (https://ec.europa.eu/agriculture/ruraldevelopment- 2014-2020_en).

The establishment of professional training programs for ARD stakeholders through educational institutions is desperately needed. In that context FARM project is focused on innovative approaches to knowledge exchange that will be taking advantage of new digital technologies, and will be based on synergies between information management and communication for development. Its objective is to contribute to ARD by bringing relevant expertise and resources across the international community into a more coherent and systematic approach. In order to contribute to the improvement in ARD, FARM project defines four intellectual outputs for introduction, popularization and application of the current ICT DSS tools in ARD, but also designing and developing the prototypes of two new tools as well as training course materials in ARD based on the DSS recognized and with a focus on green skills.

The scope of the project is on an systematic overview of existing ICT DSS tools in ARD that support crop farming, precision livestock farming, climate and quality control and farm management. A special focus should be on spatial DSS because spatial information is indispensable in the agricultural sector, and regional planning in general. Most information that is needed for problems of rural development are focused on geo-located points, lines, places, areas or other entities. Therefore, software services for the collection, analysis and visualistaion of spatial data can effectively support decision-making processes among different stakeholders. Based on such a systematically derived overview, existing gaps will be identified and filled by developing new training materials as well as two DSS prototypes for specific purposes referring to the FARM focus. The project activities are aimed at and tailored according to the needs of the target group such as ARD experts, trainers and policy makers, researchers, academic staff, students, farmers, development practitioners, as well skilled and unskilled adult and other members of vulnerable groups. FARM resembles a unique project which is innovative in its nature with a direct impact on linking the HE and ARD and contributing to the development of rural areas and socio-economic prosperity. The project goals are achieved through the interaction of five European partners from 5 European countries. Local rural businesses are also behind the project, which create a practical framework for feasibility and sustainability.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 249511 Eur

Project Coordinator

HOCHSCHULE HARZ & Country: DE

Project Partners

• VYTAUTO DIDZIOJO UNIVERSITETAS
• UNIVERSIDAD POLITECNICA DE CARTAGENA
• UNIVERSITY OF CYPRUS
• Association for Internationalization of Education and Science