The demand for professional knowledge of milk processing has recently increased, which has been noted in every participating project consortium country. Increasing demand for dairy production training/education is mainly from farmers and their (family) members who are interested in on-farm dairy processing on a smaller scale. This trend is mostly a consequence of prices of milk falling considerably in recent decades to a point where farmers are not able to cover production costs and the only way to keep their farm alive is by adding value to their products by processing the milk into dairy products. Even the policymakers of the Common Agricultural Policy note, that the solution for farmers is to create added value for their products with on-farm processing of raw materials as a subsidiary farm activity. The main target groups of this project are Farmers and farm members; Workers in dairy production companies; Dairy production experts who wish to upgrade and share their expertise; and other interested individuals. Specific needs of these target groups were identified with the help of a survey conducted by BC Naklo, and by day to day work with target groups of other partners. According to the survey, our target group is willing to participate in an online course due to its availability, convenience, free access etc. Majority of people are interested in combining traditional with modern milk processing techniques. Furthermore, they expressed interest in innovative technology and modern products. However, the main need identified in all partner countries is simply to gain sufficient knowledge and skills to be able to process milk on their farms and to learn how to market their products efficiently. MILK-ed project has the following objectives: - To offer LEARNERS free access to the dairy processing course, which can be recognized as part of formal or non-formal (NVQ) education, which corresponds to their needs - To enable EXPERTS (teachers and trainers) in the field of dairy production exchange of knowledge and skills - To ENCOURAGE DIGITALISATION in participating organizations - To promote RURAL DEVELOPMENT, the existence of dairy farms, by encouraging farmers to participate in multifunctional and subsidiary activities on farms The main project results: - CASE STUDIES - EDUCATIONAL PLATFORM - Modern innovative milk processing CURRICULUM - TRAINING CONTENTS to be uploaded to the educational platform - 2 Learning, Teaching, Training activities - curriculum development workshop in Spain where we will design a draft curriculum as a framework for further reference. The second workshop will be carried out in Croatia as a study trip and the pilot filming of video materials. With MILK-ed project, we aim at developing a training programme that is going to equip farmers with the necessary knowledge, skills and competencies for the establishment of an on-farm dairy processing subsidiary activity. To ensure sustainability of small farms, the backbone of all rural areas, we need to provide farmers with knowledge and skills to diversify their farms to ensure they are not dependent on only one source of income. The training programme will be prepared with the cooperation of different partners – existing farmers and practitioners of on-farm dairy processing, professional dairy processors, farmers that are interested in establishing dairy processing on their farms (direct beneficiaries), training providers in agricultural VET and university researchers. That way we will be able to identify and address all the necessary training needs and prepare a tailored made training, which will lead to the creation of new successful on-farm dairy processing activities. In addition to this, the training programme will be designed and uploaded on an online Educational platform in English, Croatian, Italian, Serbian, Slovenian, and Spanish language and it will be freely available to all interested farmers and other actors. The training materials also will be uploaded on other OER repositories making them available to an even wider audience. The MILK-ed consortium is made of the following partners: BC Naklo (SI): A public educational institution COAG (ES): A professional farming organisation OnP (ES): A project management and project evaluation consulting enterprise VUKA (HR): Karlovac University of Applied Sciences UNS (RS): University of Novi Sad ISIS TODI (IT): A public educational institution BETI (LT): Educational technology institute
Our mission for this project was to provide farmers and dairy production experts with knowledge, skills and competencies for innovative and modern dairy processing online and free of charge. We wanted to achieve our mission by implementing: - Providing inclusive education and training focused on modern and innovative dairy processing - Providing a comprehensive online educational platform and promoting the integration of digital technologies in VET - Promoting access to learning through OER - Promoting OER in different languages (English, Croatian, Italian, Serbian, Slovenian, and Spanish) and produced in Europe - Fostering the initial and continuous professional development of formal and non-formal VET providers/trainers in the field of agriculture making them able to train family farmers, students of agricultural programmes, landowners and other rural entrepreneurs for the establishment of an on-farm dairy processing activity.
Farming throughout Europe is facing a challenge in how to survive with income only from agricultural activity. In Common Agricultural Policy orientations 2014-2020 it is stressed that it is necessary to encourage the creation of additional sources of revenue for farms. One of the possible ways to deliver alternative services to broaden and diversify the scope of on-farm activities with other subsidiary activities is processing primary farm products. The 3-year Secondary school programme to gain the qualification for a Dairy Operative has not been carried out in Slovenia in the past ten years while demand for non-formal adult education in the same field has been growing. Farmers who attend these courses, are faced with the issue of course accessibility due to afternoon farm work obligations. With MILK-ed project, we aimed at developing a training programme that is going to equip farmers with the necessary knowledge, skills and competencies for the establishment of an on-farm dairy processing activity. To ensure sustainability of small farms, the backbone of all rural areas, we need to provide farmers with knowledge and skills to diversify their farms to ensure they are not dependent on only one source of income.