Projects | EUFRAS

Climate Smart Advisors

Start date 1 April 2023

End date 31 March 2030

Grant agreement ID: 101084179

ClimateSmartAdvisors has the overall aim to mobilize the EU agricultural advisory community, leading to an acceleration of the adoption of CSF practices by the wider farming community within and across EU AKISs. ClimateSmartAdvisors aims to boost the role of agricultural advisors and advisory service providers (ASP)1 by strengthening their capacity in providing targeted advice, and by implementing the approaches and sharing the solutions developed in ClimateFarmDemo (CFD) on a wider scale, across MS and associated countries (AC). To do so, the project will set-up 260 advisory Communities of Practice (CoPs) to boost peer knowledge exchange and cross fertilisation on CSF practices and methods on a national and European level. The CoPs will be supported with dedicated training activities and a CSF interactive knowledge and methods repository. Connections will be made with national MA innovation projects (MIPs) and AKIS actors to further strengthen the advisor’s capacity in providing CS advice and supporting farmers in their systemic transition. To achieve this, we have brought together a consortium of 73 partner organisations, covering a wide range of CS-ASP across 25 EU MS and 2 AC (UK, RS). Through these organisations, we will directly engage with a minimum of 1500 advisors - 140 to be trained as Climate Smart Coaches (CSCs), equipped to support capacity building in their peers, and 1360 supported in their development as Climate Smart Advisors (CSAs).

EUFRAS actual projects

The EU FarmBook is being developed to test a big idea: Can all of the tangible outputs of EU-funded research and innovation projects be brought together and organized in one user-friendly platform to help get practical knowledge into the hands of the farmers, foresters and advisors across Europe who need it most?

The challenges to doing this are great – data(base) quality and compatibility issues, language barriers, and intergenerational considerations to name a few – but we believe that the future of agriculture and forestry innovation in Europe is digital, and requires a vastly increased and improved digital exchange of knowledge between EU regions and Member States, as well as between different agricultural stakeholders: researchers, policymakers, SMEs, advisors, farmers and foresters.

EU FarmBook is the result of two EU-funded Horizon 2020 “sister” projects, EURAKNOS (https://euraknos.eu) and EUREKA (https://h2020eureka.eu), which have brought together diverse partners from 28 organizations across 16 countries to work together using a multi-actor approach. Please visit the websites and check out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlId7Fjt9xU to learn more.

Find out more on https://eufarmbook.eu

EU-FarmBook

Start date 1 August 2022

End date 31 July 2029

Grant agreement ID: 101060382

Stratus

Start date 1 February 2024

End date 31 January 2029

Grant agreement ID: 101134711

Solutions for soil health and reducing nutrient losses in agriculture.

In the vast fields of European agriculture, sustaining soil fertility while mitigating nutrient losses is a challenge. As farmers grapple with the complexities of integrated fertilisation management, a critical need emerges for a unified approach. In this context, the EU-funded STRATUS project aims to connect advisors across the continent. Specifically, STRATUS aims to accelerate knowledge creation and sharing, guiding farmers in implementing sustainable practices aligned with the ambitious Farm-to-Fork and biodiversity strategies. By identifying 48 best practices, the project supports farmers and fosters local adaptation through 10 Communities of Practice, ensuring integration into the Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation Systems of Member States.

Erasmus+

Young EUFRAS

Start date 1 September 2022

End date 1 January 2024

Grant agreement ID:

Young EUFRAS – YPARD Mentoring and Training Program 2022/23

The program supported young advisors in rural advisory services by bridging the gap between theory and practice. Through mentorship, training, and networking, the program equipped participants with the skills and knowledge needed to thrive in their careers.

Participants engaged in a comprehensive curriculum covering essential topics such as communication, project management, and economic analysis. Mentored advisory visits and a capstone project provide practical experience and reflection.

Partners:

EUFRAS - European Forum for Agricultural and Rural Advisory Services (Lead partner)

YPARD - Young Professionals for Agricultural Development

TEAGASC – the Irish Agriculture and Food Development Authority

CAFS - Chamber of Agriculture and Forestry of Slovenia

Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.

Connecting advisers to boost interactive innovation in agriculture and forestry – i2connect project aims to fuel the competencies of advisors who will support and facilitate interactive innovation processes. The strategy in i2connect is to use the existing advisor networks and the experiences of success to create a broader network and momentum of change enabling a new culture of bottom-up led innovation support. This resource of over 40,000 advisors are critical to support agriculture and forestry on the ground and must be influenced in this project to support innovation with emphasis on EIP-Agri 2020.

An inventory will be made where best practices throughout Europe will be analyzed in an interactive way to guide the development of approaches and tools.

A pool of trainers will be trained to work with these materials in training to better coach advisors. Attention will also be given to the ‘enabling environment’: ways in which managers of advisory services, research actors, policy makers and others can create conditions that are conducive for interactive innovation processes. The project will support learning through courses in the main European languages. Training courses will include a period of moderated peer coaching on the job for advisors. Some advisors may join cross visit teams for studying interesting cases abroad. These activities feed into a professional network with many local branches, supported by the project through a moderated online platform for mutual coaching and sharing experiences on themes that emerge.

i2connect brings together 42 organizations, most of them directly involved in stimulating innovation in rural areas and food systems in all corners of Europe, especially in CEE countries. The major European farm and forestry advisory services are partners. They are committed to contribute to a continuous learning and improvement of advisory support making better use of the opportunities that the EIP-Agri program has created for bridging the gap between research and practice.

Find out more on the https://i2connect-h2020.eu

i2connect

Start date 1 November 2019

End date 31 October 2024

Grant agreement ID: 863039

Project Networking European Farms to Enhance Cross Fertilisation and Innovation Uptake Through demonstration (NEFERTITI) is a unique 7 M€ Network (selected under Horizon 2020, Societal Challenge 2, RUR 12-2017 call) comprising 32 partners and coordinated by ACTA, the head of Network of the French Agricultural Technical Institutes.

Under the project NEFERTITI 10 interactive thematic networks will be established bringing together 45 regional clusters (hubs) of demo-farmers and actors involved (advisors, NGOs, industry, education, researchers and policy makers) in 17 countries. The project NEFERTITI focuses on creating added value from the exchange of knowledge, actors, farmers and technical content between networks in order to boost innovation uptake and to improve peer to peer learning and network connectivity between farming actors across Europe. In the end, it all contributes to a more competitive, sustainable and climate-smart agriculture.

The project NEFERTITI addresses 10 themes that have been chosen based on key concerns of the farming communities. Together they cover a balanced range of topics in the three main agricultural sectors: animal production, arable farming and horticultural production.

A monitoring and learning program supports the systematic extraction of lessons learnt, lessons to be shared with wide audiences including AKIS (Agriculture Knowledge and Innovation Systems) actors and public authorities. A web based platform unlocks the experience, actors, demo details and the related content for widespread sharing, enhanced by the dedicated production of relevant material (including high-quality videos) in each partner’s language. NEFERTITI will engage a policy dialogue with EU Regions to meet farmers and policy makers’ interests in view of the networks’ sustainability.

Find out more on https://nefertiti-h2020.eu

Nefertiti

Start date 1 January 2018

End date 30 September 2022

Grant agreement ID: 772705

EUFRAS actual projects

Solutions for soil health and reducing nutrient losses in agriculture.

Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.

EUFRAS

concluded projects