Training in the Production and Marketing of Organic and Craft Beer Erasmus Project

Project Title

Training in the Production and Marketing of Organic and Craft Beer

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 vocational education and training

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2020

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Enterprise, industry and SMEs (incl. entrepreneurship); Agriculture, forestry and fisheries; New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses

Project Summary

The TAPROOM project aims to develop a multidisciplinary, interactive & comprehensive b-learning training course in the production and marketing of organic and craft-beer making. It seeks to promote beer as part of the art and intangible cultural heritage of the EU. All of this is linked to the EU organic products market that has been experiencing a strong growth in demand and production over the last 10 years.

Such great demand for Organic and Craft Beers (OCBs) has raised the necessity for the existence of this type of training course; one that’s fully dedicated to beer and organic farming, targeting the interest of entrepreneurs that are seeking to tap into this market segment and would like to overcome any knowledge gaps in this regard.

Thus, it is important for industry professionals (craft beer producers, breweries, farmer entrepreneurs) to have the key skills and competences needed to match and address these challenges. It is a question of perceiving organic brewing and craft beers not only from a technical point of view, but also with regards to the given territory and heritage, and the producers’ relationship with their customers.

In the partners’ countries, there are courses on organic farming in agricultural universities – however, such courses are largely classroom-based and of at least a two-year duration. There are also several courses on agricultural farming offered by VET centres, but they are too generic and have no specific focus on beer production or compiled methodologies for craft beer techniques. Farmers and entrepreneurs who do not have the time or the possibility to attend a full course in order to start growing and producing organic beer, therefore have no other viable training option in their communities. As proven in past Erasmus+ projects, targeted and tailored training is required to meet the needs of the target group, in our case, focusing on organic malt and hops farming.

The TAPROOM proposal offers an innovative vocational training process to support the development of OCB in Europe, integrating into a common curriculum all aspects of the development of organic production (farming techniques, production methods, marketing, communication, ethics & social responsibility, as well as bridging with art and cultural heritage).

The main outputs of the project are: a TAPROOM learning Model; a TAPROOM Training course; a TAPROOM Manual for trainers; a Platform with an Interactive repository section; aTAPROOM Guidebook on certification of organic & craft beer production & marketing.

The aim of the project is to enhance the competitiveness of European breweries and craft beer makers through development of their potential for the production and promotion of organic and craft beers. The project therefore seeks to:
-Develop a course dedicated to organic and craft beer production for professionals and future professionals, complementing the training offered in agricultural and agronomic education.
-Develop specific knowledge and competences in EU beer makers to produce and promote organic and craft techniques.
-Meet the needs of the breweries and craft-beer-makers for specific and tailored-made training on production.
-Support beer makers to enter the organic and craft beer market and boost their growth potential.
-Encourage the application of organic farming and production approaches.
-Promote the use of sustainable agricultural methods
-Facilitate cooperation and technical transfers among European countries and European stakeholders;
-Remind & develop awareness on the fact that beer is part of the cultural, gastronomic and landscape heritage of the country.

The specific target groups of the project are:
– Breweries & craft beer-makers wishing to engage in conversion to organic farming but lacking comprehensive and integrated training with detailed information for each step of the process.
– Potential entrepreneurs who do not come from the agricultural world and have not gone through the traditional agricultural training systems – therefore often missed by the professional agricultural organizations supporting traditional beer producers.
– Trainers from EU VET institutions active in the field of Agri and processing sector.

The expected impact and long term benefits on national and EU levels are:
– Coverage of the needs for innovative multidisciplinary, experience-oriented and user-friendly approaches for the development of professional competences of farmers, agronomists and breweries in production of organic and craft beers;
– Transfer of know-how and experience on beer production & marketing;
– Raised awareness of the local community on the value and importance of the intangible cultural heritage of brewery traditions.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 272422 Eur

Project Coordinator

MALTA BUSINESS FOUNDATION & Country: MT

Project Partners

• GAL Molise verso il 2000 scrl
• AVA Creations Foundation
• OUT OF THE BOX INTERNATIONAL
• Italienische Handelskammer München-Stuttgart Camera di Commercio Italo-Tedesca