There are new challenges and opportunities for agriculture today, driven by the climate change, the greening of the products and processes, the reuse of side-stream products, the raised complexity of the chain and the increased availability of information.However, to successfully address and react to these drivers, agriculture and forestry needs new business models and skills. The identification of existing and emerging skills needs in bio-economy, agricultural sustainability and for the use of digital technology, is of paramount importance in order to develop a strategic approach to keep the European agricultural sector competitive and sustainable in the long term.The multi-stakeholder approach in the FIELDS project, with 30 partners from 12 countries (HEI, VET providers, agricultural and forestry sector representatives and agrifood industry) will allow tackling the complexity of the issues EU agriculture faces today.The FIELDS approach, starting from the current and future trends and skills needed, will lead to a sustainable European strategy to address these skill gaps. Since agriculture issues and opportunities differs a lot from country to country, the EU strategy will be customised to have a country strategy for 7 countries. It will address country-specific actions, occupational profiles and training material to reflect the country needs while keeping EU quality standards (ESCO, EQAVET, ECVET) to address the mobility of learners through Europe concretely.An Agriculture SSA will be established during the project to build upon the regulatory frameworks and opportunities at EU and country level, while proposing concrete and practical initiatives to address skills challenges, in particular through offering modular training inside the project while guaranteeing mobility of workers within the agriculture, forestry and agrifood industry.
FIELDS main objective is to achieve a dynamic integration of skills and competences for the agriculture and Agrifood sector into a coherent framework, linking knowledge and competition for a successful and sustainable EU agrifood sector in changing scenarios. Key to support the Agrifood Pact for Skills through its partners, develop a EU skills strategy and training material based on skills shortages and scenario analysis, considering soft skills, bioeconomy, digitalisation and sustainability.
European agriculture faces globalization, competition, price volatility, and low productivity, compounded by increasing food demand, environmental concerns, and climate change. Moving towards sustainable farming requires reshaping farmers' roles. Despite expertise, farmers and Agrifood workers lack skills for new technologies and climate challenges. A dedicated EU skills strategy and training is needed to address these gaps, improve risk management, and align training with industry needs.
<< Background >> European agriculture faces globalization, competition, price volatility, and low productivity, compounded by increasing food demand, environmental concerns, and climate change. Moving towards sustainable farming requires reshaping farmers' roles. Despite expertise, farmers and Agrifood workers lack skills for new technologies and climate challenges. A dedicated EU skills strategy and training is needed to address these gaps, improve risk management, and align training with industry needs. << Objectives >> FIELDS main objective is to achieve a dynamic integration of skills and competences for the agriculture and Agrifood sector into a coherent framework, linking knowledge and competition for a successful and sustainable EU agrifood sector in changing scenarios. Key to support the Agrifood Pact for Skills through its partners, develop a EU skills strategy and training material based on skills shortages and scenario analysis, considering soft skills, bioeconomy, digitalisation and sustainability. << Implementation >> Multi-stakeholder approach to engage the actors pertaining the training in agriculture and agrifood. Skill needs analysis and scenario analysis at EU and country level. Establish the cooperation among partners and the Pact for Skills. Formulate the EU skills strategy to upskill and reskill workers. Develop Occupational profiles in line with the skills needs, integrating and updating ESCO. Develop the training content and provide training and awareness of the content with strong dissemination. << Results >> FIELDS main results are: Skills gap analysis, Future scenarios (business as usual, sustainability, high tech), EU skills strategy and national roadmaps, 10 occupational profiles for Agriculture, Agrifood and Forestry sector and training material in the field of bio-economy, sustainability, digitalisation, soft skills and entrepreneurship. About 900 people followed the training that for Italy and Nederland was EQAVET and ECVET certified. Strong support to the Pact for Skills by its partners.