Vine and wine production is one of the most historic and emblematic sector of European economy. With several thousands of workers in the whole sector, sustaining this agricultural production is of high importance for both EU economy and cultural influence all over the world. Europe is indeed the largest vine producing region in the world. In 2013, France, Italy and Spain represented more than 66% of the worldwide exportations of wine. However, the amount and quality of wine production is threatened every year by grapevine virus diseases. By providing a relevant training ProgrAmme TO improve GrapEviNe virus knowledge and management addressing winegrowers, nurserymen, consultants and advisors, PAThOGEN will improve basic and transversal skills of professionals and tighten the relations between VET programmes and the vine sector. To do so, PAThOGEN will mix e-learning methods with field trainings to be both more relevant and interesting to vine professionals. This approach as well as the content of the modules will be very innovative. They will provide new skills and increase the interest and the efficiency of VET offer. The PAThOGEN project will provide three levels of training in order to be more efficient and adapted to the targeted audience. A first level, mainly dedicated to winegrowers, vineyard technicians and nurserymen (practitioners) will enable them to detect, recognise, manage and prevent virus diseases. A more advanced level will address consultants and advisors, which are key stakeholder because they are in contact with a lot of practitioners. In order to have an even wider impact, a third level will be implemented in order to provide advisors with skills to give training sessions to practitioners on grapevine virus diseases. The high quality of the training as well as the adaptation of its level depending on the country and the professionals’ knowledge will be ensured by the implementation of a specific quality plan. An advisory board composed by one winegrower and one advisor in each country will be consulted during the project to make sure that the content is perfectly relevant. Besides, an external and independent expert board will check the content of the training to make sure that all the scientific content is accurate. PAThOGEN consortium gathers 5 partners from France, Italy and Spain with complementary skills from education to professional world. It will be led by IFV (French Institute of Vine and Wine) which has a strong expertise in vine and wine sector as well as a lot of experience in collaborative projects at both national and European scale. Moreover, IFV already delivers trainings for winegrowers and advisors, making it aware of stakes, expectations and possibilities. CRA (Italian applied research centre) has a strong expertise in grapevine viral diseases and is used to organising training courses every year for technicians and advisors mainly. HORTA is an SME specialised in ICT development whose mission is to transfer the technological innovation to practical agriculture. FEUGA, a non-profit private foundation, is specialised in fostering knowledge and technology transfer. It has a strong experience in collaborative and European project such as INTRERREG. Vitis research group from university of Santiago de Compostella (USC) is specialised in training in viticulture and has a strong knowledge of grapevine viral diseases. In the short term, PAThOGEN project aims to train at least 150 French, Italian and Spanish stakeholders. They will come from different vine regions, meaning that the impacts of the project will be National. To reach practitioners, at least 5 interprofessional organisations per country will be contacted and 3 institutional organisations to reach advisors and consultants. PAThOGEN project answers to international concerns and thus, the dissemination will be done at European and international scale through organisations like OIV (International Organisation of Vine and Wine) and other EU countries that have already expressed their interest in the project. In the long term, the exploitation plan will define how the PAThOGEN platform will be used after the end of the project. Since it will have been demonstrated in France, Italy and Spain, the replication of the project in different parts of these countries is expected. Partners expect that at least 10 Regional organisations use the PAThOGEN training programme to train professionals to manage grapevine virus diseases. Partners are also expecting that the PAThOGEN platform will host 2 additional versions of the training, adapted to 2 new countries. In some countries such as Eastern Europe MS, VET isn't so developed and the PAThOGEN training can represent a great opportunity to improve skills of stakeholders. The objective is that, 5 years after the end of the project, at least 300 people will have been trained in the 3 participating countries and at least 150 people in new EU and non-EU countries.
Wine production is one of the most historic and emblematic sector of European economy involving thousands of workers in the whole sector. Europe is the largest vine producing region in the world and wine exportation is a key economic sector. However, the quality and amount of wine production are threatened every year by grapevine virus diseases. Indeed, more than 60 different viruses can affect the vineyard. PAThOGEN aims to improve basic and transversal skills of wine professionals (winegrowers, nurserymen, consultants and advisors, students) by providing a relevant training ProgrAmme TO improve GrapEviNe virus knowledge and field management. PAThOGEN proposes an innovative training scheme combining e-learning with field trainings providing on-hand experience dispensed by high level trainers. PAThOGEN proposes three levels of training in order to be more efficient and adapted to the targeted audience. A first level, mainly dedicated to winegrowers, vineyard technicians and nurserymen enables them to detect, recognize, manage and prevent virus diseases. A more advanced level, addressed to consultants and advisors, who are key stakeholders as they are in contact with a lot of practitioners, provides deeper insight in the virus management with additionnal modules . In order to have a wider impact and multiply the available field sessions, a trainer level provides advisors with skills to give training sessions to practitioners on grapevine virus diseases. A special attention has been given to the scientific quality of the training by involving high level experts on grapevine viruses, but also to the organization of the modules giving a smooth progression, through interactive media and a common methodology for field sessions. An advisory board composed of winegrowers and advisors from France, Italy and Spain were consulted during the project to make sure that the content and progression is relevant for their profile. Besides, external and independent evaluators checked the content of the training to make sure the scientific content is accurate. PAThOGEN project was coordinated by the French Wine and Vine Institute and involved four other partners from Italy and Spain. High level trainers and vine virus experts from the French Wine and Vine Institute, the Italian Experimentation and Research Centre for viticulture and enology (CREA) and the viticulture and plant pathology group from the University of Santiago de Compostela (Spain) were involved in the writing the content of the modules and in providing a progression adapted to each level. The eLearning platform and website were managed by HORTA, an Italian SME specialized in ICT tools for agriculture. The communication, dissemination and exploitation aspects were managed by FEUGA, a foundation representing the research groups of the University System of Galicia in Spain. The project was organized in several operational stages. First partners established and agreed on a common methodology to build the training and also evaluation methods and procedures. An important part of the project was to write and build the content of the eLearning modules and quality check them. Then, the modules were put into eLearning format on a dedicated platform. The combined training (eLearning and field training sessions) was then tested and evaluated by 200 volunteers trainees from different selected profiles (winegrowers, nursery professionals, advisors and technicians). Improvements were made in order to adapt the training to the professional’s needs. All through the project duration, communication and dissemination activities were made, focusing on our main targets (winegrowers, technicians and advisors in the wine sector). As a result, the project has enable to produce a high quality combined training, dedicated to wine professionals, for improving the knowledge and management of grapevine viruses. The elearning course is available in four languages (French, English, Spanish, Italian) and field sessions are available in France, Spain and Italy. We believe this innovative training will be highly beneficial for the wine sector. Professionals involved in the evaluation and testing of the training have been very positive and enthusiastic about it. Partners have agreed on a common exploitation plan in order to spread the knowledge on grapevine viruses in each partner country (France, Spain and Italy) and replicate the PAThOGEN training in other regions and at national level. Several promising contacts, including in Greece, are interested in adapting the training to their country. Also, the training has been promoted at international level, including Canada, Chile and South Africa where vineyards are also concerned by grapevine virus management. The objective is to train at least 100 new professionals per year from Spain, Italy or France and additional trainees from other countries in Europe or abroad. The report is written in English as it is the common language for partners.