Agrof-MM
Start date: Sep 1, 2015,
End date: Aug 31, 2018
PROJECT
FINISHED
The Agrof-MM project in Agroforestry Education, Mediterranean & Mountains ereas, is aimed at farmers, future farmers, advisors and stakeholders in Agroforestry. This agricultural system has experienced a strong abandonment in the 20th century, to count today only a few million ha in Europe. Following the work of scientific research, development structures-agencies, and the experiments of some professionals, in recent years, agroforestry has met a true national and European recognition.
Depending on the country, states or professional organizations and training actors reintroduce Agroforestry in the course of training and qualification in initial education (VET) and in adult training. Based on the results of scientific research, development structures and those of the "farmer-researchers", experimental courses were conducted in different countries, including FR, in the UK or in IT, on a small scale, as resources, trainers and available skills are scarce. It is on these four components: the results of scientific research, professional practice formalized training based on business situations, innovative teaching resources, the transfer from past AgroFE ToI project, the AgroF-MM project is based. In the partnership countries, the need for conversion and development is between 25 000 and 30 000 farms in the next 5 to7 years, which means training 25,000 to 30,000 farming managers (L4 to L6 by country) as well as the same number of workers and ‘’small farmers’’, L2-L3-L4 by country.
But in order to achieve, to support these conversions, these profound changes in modes of practical production, we need counsellors-advisors, trainers, specialists and the level of human resources is low! The partners have identified training needs in the short term: These needs are on the one hand farmers and future farmers, adults and pupils - students, on the other hand, middle managers and teachers-counsellors-specialists. These requirements therefore relate to two levels of qualification L2-L3-L4 L5+/L6 and 3 types of learners (target groups):
- Students (in VET) and adults, small farmers, future farmers and workers in farming on the one hand, mainly L2-L3, sometimes L4,
- the farmers and future farmers (in larger farms) and middle management, mainly L3-L4-L5, sometimes L5,
- the advisors-teachers-specialists, mainly level L5+L6,
and the stakeholders of the oriention-pretraining tools and support systems, to attract learners, future farmers or to inform farmers and farming workers..
In the short term, the project will address these 4 needs / three publics through a AgroF-MM training system established by the partners, partly based on the AgroFE Leonardo ToI project, the development of the EU AgForward RTD 7th research, the EURAF EU research association and its working groups, and the outcomes from the French RMT and Casdar programme. The project would be build on innovative teaching and training practices, FR, UK, IT, GR, for instance on professional situations providing (training and certification at the workplace / SPS), access to recognized qualifications (NQF, EQF, ECVET, ECTS), a process based on ‘’russian dolls’’, the certified and accredited inferior level giving access to the superior one.