The aim was to successfully engage small-scale and young farmers, agriculture students and agribusiness owners in the countries represented by the consortium. The other core group were vocational education and training (VET) professionals since they played a pivotal role in shaping the E-Course. Secondary target groups also included agriculture support organisations, agriculture colleges, cooperatives, environmental organisations and VET companies. By reaching all of these target groups, the key objectives were to first understand the digital and marketing skills gap in agriculture and then design learning materials and a digital space that can help close the gap, primarily in the countries represented by the consortium with the possibility of wider impact to target groups that can speak English. The wider vision is that by developing these tools and freely accessible learning materials, this will serve as part of a greater transition not just to more sustainable agriculture practices, but also indirectly link to citizens gaining awareness about what sustainability means and in doing so, are more conscious about what they consume, which then links to food waste reduction and support of shortened food supply chains.
The Agriculture 4.0 movement is growing, and with that, the need for more farmers to adopt advanced technologies. SUSTAGRI4.0 was developed to address this need by focusing on small-scale and young farmers who will be leading this shift and also to empower local producers with necessary skills in digitalisation, marketing, storytelling, sustainability and entrepreneurship to gain a competitive edge against industry. A crucial aspect of this is not just the skills to understand and adopt technologies, but also the shift from farming as a lifestyle to farming as a business. SUSTAGRI4.0 had addressed these needs by developing an E-Course and E-Commerce Platform called Grass. These resources and tools, provided in English, Italian, Spanish, Greek and Dutch (although Dutch is only for the E-Course) help navigate technological advancements, EU agriculture policy, marketing, sustainability and e-commerce. The E-Course modules were developed through research in the respective countries represented by the consortium and therefore the content represents not just a dive into digital skills and marketing, but connects the dots between this, starting a business and how and why sustainable agriculture must also fit into the bigger picture.