The trAEce project is aimed at providing training tools for farmers and trainers to adapt their agricultural practices to incorporate agroecological (AE) principles. We believe that the transition will contribute to the regeneration of agriculture since farming activity based on ecosystems is fundamentally different from industrial production that may be considered unsustainable. Agroecology - as a discipline - examines agriculture from an ecological point of view, keeping in mind the stability and optimization of the whole agricultural system. Agroecology - as a practice - based on traditional farming knowledge, is more forward-looking in terms of sustainability and energy efficiency in the long run. The practice of agroecology encourages farmers to become part of the ecological systems in order to strengthen and apply in practice the natural processes that are beneficial also for production. Accordingly, our project, trAEce is a new initiative that intends to take further this concept by pooling together the experience and expertise of 7 prominent institutes with different institutional structures from 5 European countries (Hungary, Romania, Austria, Czech Republic, Portugal). The common feature of all partner institutions is the belief in holistic approach of AE that can be reflected in practice. However the implementation of holistic solutions requires thorough analysis of the situation regarding AE in each partner countries. Therefore the project partners will make their own country-specific situation analysis that will assist to gain a comprehensive view of the level of knowledge and opinion of farmers regarding AE-based activities and to identify related political discourses, regulations, actors, practices, networks, etc. It will contain useful information for those who want to manage their farm based on AE and want to get acquainted with practical solutions.These solutions are the main focus of the AE vocational training that will be elaborated by the trAEce project team. The training will embrace topics that help farmers to design or transform their farms in line with the AE principles. The training with its carefully selected 6 modules (AE awareness shaping through practice; Permaculture farm design; Economic strategy and business; AE in action; Added value creation and marketing; Social benefits) strives for social and environmental sustainability and at the same time keeps the agricultural activity profitable. Each module can be delivered to groups of 15 farmers and multipliable as a series on farm sites in different regions of EU countries. The curriculum will be accompanied by learning materials including user manual and short films designed for farmers. The user manual will facilitate the learning process in the subject of the training modules. The films made at different locations will represent biodiversity as one of the basic elements of AE. Practical techniques will be filmed to use them during the training as visualization facilitates the learning process. The main target group of our project is the farmers, but we also consider it important that the opinion leader farmers - who will may carry on AE trainings as trainers - should also have educational methods in their hands. Accordingly, a methodological guide for trainers (opinion leader farmers) and educators (teachers of farmers) will be created during the project duration. A Methodological Guide will contain methods and tools for each modules of the training to facilitate the knowledge transfer towards the farmers.During the project lifetime 7 pilot training events will be organized for farmers and trainers that will provide the opportunity to test out the synthetized solutions before they are incorporated into the final project outputs. The structure of the pilot trainings will allow us to test out the full vocational training. Target group for the pilot training will have the same profile as the expected future target group for the planned licensed vocational training.Localization mechanism will be supported by 4 focus group meetings that will provide systematic feedback throughout the project about the relevance and applicability of the intellectual outputs of the project to key stakeholder groups, as well as a means of communicating the progression and the results of the project. The diversity of participants in other project-related events (5 events including final project conference) ensures the multiplication of the project results at international level and the opportunity to collect feedback.Our vision with the project is to provide tools to farmers and trainers to implement AE practice with its social dimension during their daily work and disseminate this knowledge and experience to reach the wider farming community. Thus the AE approach in farming which is quickly gaining traction globally, can reach farmers on the ground across Europe, to systematically address problems of social and environmental unsustainability.

Healthy soils are of major importance for the future of the European horticultural and agricultural crop production. Especially in intensive production systems, soilborne diseases are a major factor with a negative impact on soil health. Newly developed best practices and sound crop rotations permit to maintain, improve or re-establish soil health in Europe. The BEST4SOIL project will build a community of practice network across Europe by inter-connecting growers, advisers, educators and researchers. Through this network, knowledge ready for practice on 4 best practices for the control of soilborne diseases (compost/organic amendments; green manures/cover crops; anaerobic soil disinfestation (ASD); and (bio)solarisation) will be promoted. Open-access databases with information on the range of pathogens affecting host plants will help the practitioners to build appropriate crop rotations and innovative control strategies. As innovative tool will BEST4SOIL provide tutorial videos (youtube), easily understandable also to growers with limited language skills. Videos, databases and factsheets are edited in 22 official EU languages to facilitate the innovation management of practitioners throughout Europe. The information will be freely accessible and highly comprehensible to guarantee a smooth knowledge transfer from research to practice. BEST4SOIL will deploy local facilitators to set up a network with active communities of practice resulting in an intensive knowledge exchange. The consortium of BEST4SOIL includes advisers, breeder, communicators, educators, growers, and researchers from eight European countries. Together with facilitators in at least twelve more countries, the network will interconnect an important part of the European growers, advisers and educators, the main stakeholders of BEST4SOIL.

Soil health is crucial for challenges related to climate, environment and society. As such, this Soil Health and Food Mission proposal directly links in to the other HE missions, as well as to the European Green Deal and Farm to Fork strategies. Both public and private sectors are proposing a sustainable vision, that depends on a reliable assessment of the effects of management and policy innovations on soil health. Therefore, there is an urgent need to ensure that the EU sets the benchmark of a reliable cost-effective framework for measuring soil health. In alignment with existing initiatives such as EU Soil Observatory, EJP Soil and the LUCAS Topsoil survey, and using open science approaches, the BENCHMARKS consortium will co-design an Integrated Soil Health Monitoring Framework. This framework will build upon the assessment of soil-based ecosystem functions to co-develop an interactive soil health dashboard for (1) the selection of appropriate soil health indicators, (2) soil health assessment and indexation, and (3) recommendation of management practices to support soil health. The dashboard will be suitable at local, landscape, regional and European scales for a variety of stakeholders in urban, agricultural and forestry land use systems. BENCHMARKS indicators will be relevant to the stakeholder’s objectives, applicable to the different land use systems and pedo-climatic zone and appropriate in terms of logistical, financial and sensitivity requirements. To inform on the appropriate spatial resolution of indicators, the Soil Health Mission and BENCHMARKS proposed indicators (sample-based measurements, stats (data and model derived measurements), space (earth observation techniques)) and citizen science observations will be tested in 24 Living Labs across Europe. Finally, BENCHMARKS will support policy development and value-chain innovation through increased evidence on the links between soil health, functions and ecosystem services.

Climate Farm Demo is a unique pan-European network of Pilot Demo Farmers (PDFs) covering 28 countries and all pedo-climatic areas. Its overall aim it to accelerate the adoption of Climate Smart Farming (CSF) practices and solutions by farmers and all actors of the Climate Smart Agriculture Knowledge & Innovation Systems with a view of adapting agricultural production systems to climate change and of achieving a carbon neutral agricultural sector by 2050, thereby meeting the targets of the EU Climate strategy. To reach this objective, the project adopts a Multi-Actor approach by connecting 1500 Pilot Demo Farmers and their Climate Farm Advisors (CFAs) at European and national levels to increase knowledge exchange & cross-fertilisation in their respective AKIS. The CFA’s will support the PDF’s in implementing Adaptation and Mitigation Measures suggested by contextualised guidelines and will assess & monitor their environmental performance thanks to harmonized methodologies & tools. Technical and social innovations covering a broad range of thematic areas will be demonstrated to the wider farming community across six annual demo-campaigns (4500 demo-events) supporting interactive and peer to peer learning. New and innovative CSF solutions will be co-created in 10 Living Labs spread across Europe and lessons learned from multi-actor innovation will be shared and scaled. A set of public and private rewarding mechanisms will be identified, proposed and demonstrated to the AKIS actors, thus incentivising the uptake of CSF solutions while ensuring sustainable business models. Strategic and operational cooperation will be organised with projects, flagship initiatives and policy-makers at European and national levels in order to share knowledge, organize coordinated actions, and produce policy briefs. Finally, to accelerate the wide spreading and uptake of results, an ambitious dissemination, exploitation and communication strategy will be deployed at EU and national levels