<< Background >>The EU Skills Panorama identified Renewable Energy Sources related skill needs in agriculture crucial. It underlines the need for improving skills on “using renewable energy”. Green jobs are growing at double rate in Agriculture than other sectors, but there is indeed a lack of technical, management and legal skills needed to upkeep and maintain RES plants on a daily basis. With green deal and bioeconomy we could expect raising demand of skilled people in this area.<< Objectives >>The partners identify RES-related skills needs and provide training to fill in this gap for both professional and unemployed people. They aimed at developing attractive, ECVET certified training programme in country language, that will allows upskill and reskill workers in the of operation and maintenance for the following RES plants in agriculture: biogas, biomass and solar. By the implementation of the project we provide improved level of skills for employability and new business creation.<< Implementation >>The training setup by agriculture RES experts, address farmers, advisors, and students. The training is completely modular and divided into five modules: 1) ICT, 2) biogas and biomethane, 3) solid biomass and 4) solar thermal and 5) solar photovoltaic. It was developed following the innovative “flipped classroom” methodology, mixing online training modules, in-class modules, and work-based learning periods, and available in 5 languages.<< Results >>The project design 5 platforms, with about 400 h of blended training (online, in-class) per language. The languages supported are Dutch, English, French, German, Italian. About 230 people followed the training and were fully satisfied with the training. The course is certified by Piedmont Region, in Italy and is listed in the VET catalogue course. The training material is free of use. Users can follow from only one day up to the whole course (50 days).

The aim of SAGRI “Skills Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture” project was to provide the agricultural workers (mainly farmers), as well as other agricultural stakeholders with knowledge, skills and competences in the field of agro-environmental technology for sustainable agriculture. SAGRI project enabled agricultural workers to acquire the skills, knowledge and ability to understand and approach agri-environmental systems as natural ecosystems modified by human activity, though with an emphasis on environmental technologies that can be applied to achieve sustainable crop production by means of improved systems’ management.The main project results, which were achieved during the project lifetime, can be summarized as following:- The identification of specific skills (with particular focus on “green skills” and “digital skills”) that agricultural workers require, as well as the analysis of most recent practical advancements of the agricultural sector. These results were useful for the development of SAGRI training programme. - The development of an innovative curriculum that responds to specific training needs of agricultural workers and integrates the latest advancements of the “agri-tech” sector. The programme abides by the European Qualification Framework (EQF) and the European Credit System for Vocational Education and Training (ECVET) standards. Six (6) training modules were developed targeting to a max EQF level 4, supported by relevant learning and assessment material: Module 1: Precision AgricultureModule 2: Integrated pest management in plant protectionModule 3: Agricultural reuse of organic residualsModule 4: Drip irrigation and water conserving technologiesModule 5: Renewable energy and its application as green agriculture energy sourceModule 6: Bioenergy and energy crops- The development of a virtual learning platform which makes all training resources widely available as Open Educational Resources (OER). The SAGRI OER platform (www.sagri-vet.eu) is linked to the SAGRI website (www.sagriproject.eu) and both will remain active and sustainable beyond the project end. The SAGRI OER platform as well as the project website are available in English and all consortium languages.- The organization of training workshops and the delivery of the SAGRI training programme in 219 agriculture engineers, agricultural researchers and extension staff in three partner countries (Greece, Portugal and Italy).- The organization of training workshops and the delivery of the SAGRI curriculum in 855 agricultural workers/farmers in all partner countries.- The development of the certification scheme where the trained agricultural workers can be assessed and awarded with the certification of “sustainable farmer” according the international standard ISO/IEC 17024 for personnel certification. - A plethora of dissemination activities bringing together major stakeholders of the agricultural sector, including agricultural workers (mainly farmers), extension staff and agriculturists, Higher Education Institutions, VET providers and social partners such as: * Portfolio of dissemination material * SAGRI website* SAGRI Facebook page* YouTube Channel* Participation and Publications in conferences, exhibitions, Trade Fairs, info days etc. * Interviews and Articles in Newspapers* Training workshops to the agricultural extension staff* Training workshops to the agricultural workers/farmers* Dissemination Conference at the end of the projectA developed exploitation strategy will ensure the sustainability of the project's results which will be maintained and exploited beyond the project lifetime. Particularly, the innovative curriculum, supported by relevant learning and assessment material will be integrated into the education and training programme of the partner Universities and VET partners specifically indented for agricultural worker.

13 participants (11 beneficiaries and two affiliated entities) from 7 EU and 1 third countries join forces for supporting the Strategic Research Agenda of the future joint research program on the subject of Blockchain by shedding light on the current partial and fragmented picture of block chain technology (BCT) applications in the agri-food domain and by clarifying the benefits and opportunities which BCT can concretely to stakeholders throughout the food chain offer. The project intends to prepare the way for R&I activities for the decade to come, basing its assumptions on systematic monitoring and reviews of national, European and international R&I pilots/use cases, experiences and best practices and on consolidated and balanced stakeholder views. The active involvement of users is required from the very beginning for the identification of needs and use cases, which will be subsequently translated into operational requirements for services. The goal of the project is to understand why communities, i.e. users, accept/reject blockchain-based projects, the mistakes done by others for not repeating them, the best and innovative practices in blockchain development in agri-food sector (considering its complexity) for arriving to shape different possible futures for BC application. The project will investigate and discuss both technical aspects as well as non-technical barriers to BCTs deployment, but also other issues fostering BCTs deployment, such as interoperability, innovative business models, standardisation and regulatory issues and will be at the base of White Papers addressed to EC. At the same time, the project intends to provide to users some a framework of services (and guidelines) for empowering them in future BCT implementation.

h-ALO aims to develop and demonstrate in real-setting a new photonic-based sensor which will allow local food producers and retailers to control food quality and safety, therefore increasing competitiveness in the whole food production value chain. The sensor will provide: • Unprecedented high sensitivity, low limit-of-detection and large dynamic range compared to previously developed portable systems through the combination of an analyte pre-concentration and a multi-modal detection scheme; • Miniaturization and integration of optoelectronic and plasmonic components allowing portability in optical detection; • Multiplex-analyte recognition, allowing the unprecedented detection of both microbiological and chemical contaminants such as pesticides/antiparasitic, heavy metals, micro-organisms; • Easy and fast sample preparation protocols which are adaptable for a wide range of food samples; • Measurement automation and fast response, making the sensor reliable for on-site use by farmers, retailers and non-expert operators; • Mobile-phone connectivity and cloud-based data management allowing a distributed, anonymous food monitoring along the farm-to-fork chain. The innovative technologies at the basis of the h-ALO sensor are: i) highly integrated organic/hybrid photonic components as light-source and photodetector; ii) nanoplasmonic biofunctionalized surface assessing innovative multimodal optical transduction; iii) innovative aptamer- and immunoassay-based bio-recognition elements for multiplexing; iv) a smart microsieve membrane for analyte pre-concentration. The h-ALO prototype will be validated in lab by quantitative comparison with benchmark commercially available methods and demonstrated on-site in small selected agri-food chains such as aquaponics, craft beer, raw milk and organic honey, and introduced into an HACCP manual.

VISION4FOOD aims to enhance the sustainability and resilience of EU food systems through the development of innovative governance models that contribute to better informed decision-making processes while promoting social engagement and innovation in 5 European regions (Finland, Spain, Italy, Greece, Poland) with different innovation ecosystem maturity levels. Through the project, our regions will be supported to strengthen their role in the creation of Food Innovation Platforms (FIPs), fostering collaboration among Quadruple Helix stakeholders and facilitating the identification, and scaling of innovations for food system transformation. The methodology involves co-creating R&I strategies, emphasizing open science, and Responsible Research Innovation (RRI). Through VISION4FOOD multi-stakeholder approach and the integration of tools and services we will provide them all the necessary support for knowledge exchange, networking and priority setting in the form of an acceleration agenda tailored to each region’s priorities and needs while facilitating the transition to an innovative and inclusive food system. We will closely monitor and evaluate the performance of the governance models’ operation, providing evidence of its impacts.