"European agriculture is experiencing a major crisis due to the decline of family farming and the trend towards industrialisation. Paradoxically, while farms are getting bigger, consumers, environmental groups, local authorities and others are increasingly supporting local food and sustainable farming systems. European agriculture urgently needs to find and train a new generation of farmers, particularly agroecological farmers. Based on various studies carried out at national and EU level, access to land is the number one obstacle faced by new farmers. All organisations collaborating in this partnership are grassroots organisations training and supporting farmers and future farmers in agroecology. We focus on helping them to secure farmland to start or develop their farming activity. RationaleEuropean exchanges are key for us as in each country very few organisations and public institutions focus on land for farmers. Besides, most of us are recent and seek inspiration from others to build up their activities and the capacity of our staff and volunteers. Objectives- create materials to document and analyse ways of doing on our core activities (e.g. acquiring land, advising farmers…). These materials are both practice-oriented and based on the experience of grassroots organisations and comparison between their approaches- Make these materials fit for the needs of grassroots organisations beyond the project partners and make them widely available- structure an educational programme for peer-to-peer learning, around our core activitiesTo reach these goals, it was particularly important to bring together experienced organisations with younger startup organisations. Our approach has rested on the following pillars: - practice-oriented, - peer-to-peer learning, - supporting start-up organisations, - added-value of European experience-sharing, - creating an open and lasting access to key professional resources. Participants and beneficiaries - Staff and volunteers of our organisations, engaged in supporting farmers, mobilising citizens and advising public and private landowners. They gained professional skills, as well as a wider understanding of their role, through European exchange and inspiration. Within this group, we had special attention for start-up organisations (Czech Republic, Romania, Greece). - Other grassroots land initiatives who invited to participate in our activities (webinar, on-line training, publications) - Key groups who indirectly benefited from the partnership, through being trained and supported by better skilled and more strategic organisations are: farmers and future farmers; citizens interested in food and farming; private land owners; and local authorities. Tangible outcomes- An analysis of the needs of land initiatives in terms of skills, tools and resources. Based on answers from 40 organisations, it offers a state of the art of existing organisations and their needs - A “Beginners’ Kit” on how to start a land initiative in 2 parts: how to set up an organisation and how to develop core land activities. - Series of advanced learning packs on core land activities, including:* 4 advanced European packs on Public Engagement, Impact Assessment, Land Matching Platforms and Land Acquisition. Various formats, depending on the audience: print, digital, videos. Our highlight publication is “The Guardians of the Land” published in 6 languages to be widely available to interested citizens* 8 country packs on topics such as future farmers’ needs, fundraising strategies, farm succession, private landowners, etc. Various content and formats: policy analysis, guidebooks, toolkits, educational videos, etc. – 6 webinars, including ""How to assess the impacts of agroecological farms?"", ""Buying Farmland"" or ""Managing farm donations""– 5 mentoring in groups of 2 or 3 enabled us to gain new skills and consolidate approaches in new areas of work– 2 Trainings: 1 on “Business Models”; 1 on “Fundraising” decisively helped consolidate our professional skills– 7 Multiplier Events enabled us to share our results with about 250 participants: rural organisations, farmers and aspiring farmers, public institutions, citizens- On-line communication, notably on www.accesstoland.euKey intangible outcomes include (see impacts): - consolidated skills, tools and strategies of partners in various areas: fundraising, public engagement, capacity to advise farmers...- new work areas and added legitimacy to work on them: farm succession, acquiring land buildings, etc.- quality of the group as a support network (e.g. in covid times) and a key resource for inspiration, tools, contacts, etc.- improved networking with other rural development organisations and public institutions in our own country-improved understanding of the needs of our stakeholders: farmers, future farmers, private landowners, etc. and capacity to turn these into both practical action and policy recommendations"

The Organic-PLUS project has the overall aim of providing high quality, trans-disciplinary, scientifically informed decision support to help all actors in the organic sector, including national and regional policy makers, to reach the next level of the EU’s organic success story. By doing so organic food systems can be more true to organic principles but equally to the EU Bioeconomy agenda. Organic-PLUS objectives are to: 1) identify and valorise contentious inputs currently used in European agriculture 2) provide specific technical solutions to minimise or phase-out their use 3) provide environmental, social and economic assessments of phase-out scenarios 4) disseminate and broker knowledge, ideas and results to maximise impact. We use a trans-disciplinary research approach; the consortium includes 11 universities and 15 multi-actors from 9 EU and 3 associated countries. We combine scientists from many academic disciplines with advisors, farmers and other stakeholders in participatory research design. Organic-PLUS has three large ‘topical’ workpackages called PLANT (researching alternatives to copper and mineral oils), LIVESTOCK (researching alternatives to synthetic vitamins, antibiotics and novel animal bedding) and SOIL (researching alternatives to peat, animal-derived fertilisers and plastic mulch). The topical work is supported by IMPACT (researching consumer conceptions of contentious inputs and disseminating knowledge together with stakeholders) and by MODEL (using sustainability assessment methodology to deliver phasing-out scenarios). The LEAD workpackage is also responsible for managing the International Scientific and the European Industry advisory boards ensuring impact to industry and policy development. The results of the project are disseminated through peer-reviewed and farmer-facing publications, social media, on-farm events and international conferences and we will also ensure impact through citizen juries and engagement with policy makers.

"Demeter project was a three-years KA2 Erasmus+ project started in September 2018 and ended in August 2021. The entire title ""DEveloping new interdisciplinary MEthodologies in education Through Enhanced Relationships between schools and farms"" express the need of accompany the use of technology at school with the use of natural settings and inspiration provided by one of the first activity of the history of man: agriculture. Skills-related memories from planting, smelling and walking around a farm, doing experiments and using language are harder to forget. Cognitive memories from the classroom are more likely to be forgotten. Furthermore, all the project partners come from rural areas and are interested in giving new impulses to the local communities by fostering the relations among all the components of their system (Schools, business and public authorities). The partners have defined the following specific objectives on the basis of common needs of participating schools and organisations: 1. To increase the integration of experience of farms into the school curriculum in the framework of a wider path of education to food, respect for the environment, health 2. To improve the teaching skills among school teachers and educational farms operators by exchanging, consolidating and developing methodologies appropriate to a farm experience 3. To create synergies among education, institutions, business and research for the improvement of education. In order to achieve the above mentioned objective, the partners have developed 2 intellectual outputs: IO1: An interdisciplinary teaching methodology based on the collaboration between schools and farms. It consists of a physical and virtual toolkit containing all the practices divided for subjects that can be carried out in a school year with the collaboration of farmers. The toolkit has been translated in 4 languages: English, Swedish, Italian and Portuguese in order to facilitate the use. IO2: Guidelines aimed at facilitating the use of the interdisciplinary methodology in other schools and countries. They contain step-by-step procedures to set up educational activities between schools and farms, including, the preconditions necessary, the practical/operative instructions and quality indicators to evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of activities. The partners had the possibility to meet in three physical Transnational Project Meetings (hosted by Vänersborg municipality, Washingborough Academy and SERN). The remaining three TPM insteead took place in a digital form, on the Teams platform, due to the covid-19 pandemic and travel restrictions. A Learning Teaching and Training Activity was organized digitally: the event was attended by 30 participants, among teachers, school and university staff, civil servants, and technicians with the aim to preparing the practitioners involved in the testing of the interdisciplinary methodology developed. According tho the project application, we should have arranged 2 sets of multiplier events, carried out in parallel in Sweden, Italy, Portugal and England. Due to the covid 19 pandemic, each country, in a digital form. Each country organized single multiplier event by inviting so many participants as possible. The purpose of the events was still the same, that to spread information about the project outputs and results among school staff (teachers, managers, administrators...), public authorities (politicians and civil servants in the municipalities, regions as well as national agencies), Universities/research centers, business representatives. Dissemination activites were carried out by all the project partners. The multi-actors composition of the partnership has been and added value in terms of dissemination of project´s results, since partners had access to multiple networks of stakeholders dealing with school education from different perspectives and at different levels (local, regional, national, European). As a result of the activities carried out, DEMETER has: delivered two innovative outputs; increased the collaboration among farmers and teachers; increased the skills and knowledge of the participants.One of the most relevant impacts of DEMETER has been the increased collaboration among teachers in school through the interdisciplinary methodology that linked learning outcomes of multiple subjects to teaching in farm or with farmers. Last but not least, pupils have been the final beneficiary, the project has created more interactive teaching practices that increased their participation and performance in all subjects, especially science and maths, which are a priority at European level. By studying in farms they also learned transversal competences such as: raise awareness on environmental, food related issues, and the resources of their rural community. All these elements will contribute to raise more aware citizens of tomorrow."

In the Strategic Partnership “Learning place Bio-Farm” 8 partners from 7 countries developed an e-learning course and interactive online portal, offering learning materials and Open Educational Resources (OERs) for training of teachers, farmers, staff of coordinating agencies, other pedagogues and NGO staffs as “Bio-Farm Guides”. Educational farm visits provide an alternative and innovative space that enables “informal and formal learning” to take place alongside the more conventional school learning environment. Bio-Farms are ideal for teaching. Groups of children and young people can spend the day on farm in practical way. Visits on the farm are interactive workshops. Learning first-hand on a farm about the realities and challenges of food production can be an important formative experience. Farm visits are ideal practical complement to the knowledge acquired in the schools (biology, geography, economics, ecology and environmental protection, sustainability). Teachers and other pedagogues can find in farm life various links to school curricula and experience areas, to open a practical and non-cognitive access to educational subjects and issues. Attending a farm visit brings particular benefits for teachers, who educate pupils with difficulties in mainstream learning systems. Classes including children and youth with special needs (e.g. refugees, children with migrant background, and children with developmental disorders, learning disabilities or social problems) get intensive and new experience for the group apart from conventional patterns of learning and competing in classrooms. Visits on organic farms can support teachers in integrating those children and young people.A special focus in the project was laid on refugee children and families. Europe has to face the challenge to integrate a lot of refugees in the society. The “Learning place Bio-Farm” has a big potential to offer this group of people new perspectives outside their living in refugee camps. Visiting the countryside offers an inside into the European culture and nutrition behaviour. Besides this the organic farming sector is an economically growing branch that needs motivated young people to work in. Job perspectives (as an organic farmer, bakers, butchers, or shop keepers) can be explained during the farm visits not only for young European pupils but as well for refugees.Target groups were farmers, coordinating agencies, pedagogues, teachers and educational institutions, other trainers and stakeholders, NGO staffs, representatives of public administration, teachers, other educators and farm guides. The partnerships consisted of 8 partners from 7 countries – Austria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Norway, Poland and the United Kingdom. The partners are institutions with experiences and competences in different areas of farm education.The first result of the project is “Guidelines and a Didactic Concept for training at the Learning Place Bio-Farm” (O1). It contains materials for the preparation and implementation of visits at the “Learning Place Bio-Farm” and instructions for the use of the e-learning course and online portal. It is provided as PDF for download and print in all partner languages and English. The second result is the English pilot e-learning course “Learning place Bio-Farm” (O2). With 6 thematic modules it trains teachers, farmers, farm education officers and coordinators how to prepare and structure farm visits and workshops. The course is based on learning materials and course content developed before and available as PDF for printing. The course is provided at the online portal as OER and based on the Learning Management System EasyAdmin, which has been developed especially for this project.The third results are seven national versions of the e-learning course for training on “Learning Place Bio-Farm” (IO3) in all six partner languages, shaped according to their particular national conditions, requirements and needs. It consists of 6 modules. The course is not only translated, but adapted to the specific backgrounds, needs and requirements in of the partner countries. Based on a testing with important national target groups and stakeholders and regarding evaluations the revised final versions are published on national online platforms in each partner country. The fourth result is the Online Portal “Learning Place Bio-Farm” (IO4), available in all partner languages. It comprises a broad spectrum of interactive educational resources - the e-learning course, additional training materials, as well as case studies and examples of educational activities that can be accessed to demonstrate good practice in outdoor learning. Further results are dissemination workshops and multiplier events carried out for farmers, coordinating agencies, pedagogues, teachers and educational institutions and an international network established within the project.

LIAISON aims to make a significant and meaningful contribution to optimising interactive innovation project approaches and the delivery of EU policies to speed up innovation in agriculture, forestry and rural areas. Researchers, policy advisors, actors from interactive innovation projects, initiatives and networks, farm/forestry advisors, decision-makers and administrators will jointly investigate the design and implementation of interactive innovation project approaches. Looking with the eyes of a larger number of interactive innovation initiatives we will assess the infrastructure of H2020 and Rural Development Programmes at the project, national and European levels. Central in the project are a 'light-touch' review of the experiences in 200 projects and initiatives, and an in-depth assessment of 32 interactive innovation project approaches in a broad range of agricultural and forestry sub-sectors and countries. We will present the diversity of projects and practices through an online 'story map' with entries from all over Europe and select 15 practitioners from innovation projects who will contribute to the project's analyses and outcomes. LIAISON will produce practice-ready methods, protocols and tools, co-designed in processes involving the target users themselves. These include participatory tools for co-creation and co-learning, for networking, communication and dissemination, impact assessment tools, and methodologies and tools for self-evaluation. An Interactive Online System will help innovation actors to access these. LIAISON will develop detailed best practices and approaches for H2020 multi-actor projects, Thematic Networks, Operational Groups and other interactive innovation approaches that contribute to the implementation of EIP-Agri. All project outputs generated by LIAISON will be subject to a process of validation and fine-tuning based upon practical peer-review by consortium members and other closely involved actors and stakeholders.