The aim of this project is to strengthen cooperation in the field of innovative pedagogical activities between selected higher education institutions and professional practice.Areas of cooperation will be the issue of education with a focus on small and family farms and their functions (business, economic, production, organizational, technical, ecological and social functions). In regional terms, the project will focus on small farms in selected regions of Europe. Recently started in the developed countries rapidly expand business networks as a form of cooperation agreements associating small farms and that brings special effects for the economy and for entrepreneurs (particularly in terms of cost reduction, use of new technologies, more information, etc.). The project will also focus equally on the problems of young farmers, who are the future of agriculture and they must first apply for innovative tools of business.The content of the project will be evaluation of the various functions of farms and determination and quantification of the key determinants of the sustainability of small farms in selected regions of Europe with regard to natural conditions, as well as with a view to ensure food self-sufficiency in analyzed selected regions.Project outcomes, intellectual outputs: common methodology for farms and commodity evaluation in chosen EU countries, evaluation analyzes of small farms in selected regions of the EU, specified innovative model of small farms analyzed for different regions, which will be useful in teaching as well serve as the underlying research tool. The model will be processed in the form of a software product in multiple languages available and will be applied by all project partners.Other outputs will be two conference within multiplier events, as well as two workshops within the educational activities of the project.
The aim of the submitted project was to strengthen cooperation in the field of innovation of pedagogical activities between selected higher education institutions and professional practice in the field of agriculture. The area of cooperation was the issue of education, focusing on small and family farms and their functions (business, economic, production, organizational, technical, environmental and social functions). From a regional point of view, the project focused on small farms in selected regions of Europe. Recently, business networks have started to expand rapidly in developed countries as a form of cooperation agreements associating together small farms and bringing a special effect to the economy and business (especially in terms of cost reduction, use of new technologies, more information, etc.). The project also focused on the issue of young farmers, who are the future of agriculture and they must first apply innovative business tools. For this reason, the project involved not only universities (Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra, Mendel University in Brno and Vytatutas Magnus University in Kaunas), but also partners of the association of young farmers from Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Hungary (6 subjects altogether). The aim of the project was to evaluate the individual functions of farms and to identify and quantify the key determinants of the sustainability of small farms in selected regions of Europe with respect to natural conditions as well as to ensure food self-sufficiency in selected analyzed regions. The aim of the project was to evaluate the individual functions of farms and to identify and quantify the key determinants of the sustainability of small farms in selected regions of Europe with respect to natural conditions as well as to ensure food self-sufficiency in selected analyzed regions. The outputs of the project were intellectual outputs: common methodology of farm and commodity evaluation in selected EU countries, analyzes of small farm evaluation in selected EU regions, specified innovative algorithm of small farm for individual anlyzed regions, which can be used in the teaching process and also serves as a basis for research. The algorithm was developed as a program product in several language versions and was applied to all project partners. Within the project three transnational project meetings were organized (Nitra, Slovakia; Prague, Czech Republic; Kaunas, Lithuania), where partners discussed about project activities and divided others for the next period. There were organised two multiplier events, which were the part of international scientific conferences (Nitra, Slovakia; Kaunas, Lithuania). The reason of joined activities with conferences was the big amount of domestic and foreign participants at one place and there was a bigger possibility of dissemination of project results. Within the project two training activities were organised (Soponya, Hungary; Haklovy Dvory-České Budějovice, Czech Republic) for project partners, where participants could learn more about the work from domestic and foreign colleagues as well as from farmers. By discussions at project meetings, training activities and multiplier events we could complete all outputs of the project. They can be used in the academic and research field and between farmes and experts. The most important output of the project is a software – program product which can be used by all interested users. The product can help in the decision – making process for the farmers, who want to make efficient activities with the aim to gain a profit and with the help of software they can program different situations in the business. The program product will be update annually and with this the sustainability of the project will be ensure.