Preparing farmers, their workforce and advisors to the future of agriculture by providing the relevant knowledge, skills and competences at the right time and place

Overview

Objectives

The aim of this call is to support proposals that will enhance the  knowledge, skills and competences of farmers, their workforce and advisors that they need to transition to a more competitive, sustainable and resilient agriculture.

Activities/actions supported

Proposals should:

• develop, improve and apply methodology to assess and foresee what knowledge, skills and competences farmers, their workforce and advisors currently have and need/will need in the future to improve the competitiveness, sustainability and resilience of agriculture
• map, assess and explore how farmers, their workforce and advisors are and should acquire knowledge, skills and competences 
  investigate how to widely and effectively disseminate new practice-oriented knowledge and innovations, among farmers, their workforce and advisors
• map, assess and compare agricultural LLL, including education and training systems, across the EU and beyond, explore and assess best practices on how to embed the knowledge collected within the Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation Systems (AKIS) structures to provide valuable input for LLL, and provide recommendations for improving LLL
• co-create, pilot, test, and share new, interactive, effective approaches and tools to stimulate LLL
• explore potential synergies between EU instruments and develop new practical approaches to better connect Horizon-funded projects, EIP-AGRI operational groups projects and Erasmus+ projects to LLL in agriculture, including education and training systems, to maximise the impact of these projects for LLL and promote a more coherent approach to knowledge, skills and competences development
• develop and test a system(s) compatible with existing EU-wide initiatives that acknowledge(s) and reward(s) farmers, their workforce and advisors who engage in LLL. 

Anticipated outcomes

Projects are expected to contribute to:

• ensuring that lifelong learning, including  agricultural educational and training systems, is innovative, fit-for-purpose, more responsive to  diverse and fast-changing needs of the learners, and effective in preparing the current and future generations of farmers, agricultural workers and advisors to the future of farming;
• ensuring farmers, agricultural workforce and advisors have the relevant, comprehensive and up-to-date knowledge, skills and competences to cope with and benefit from the various drivers of change, and improve competitiveness, sustainability and resilience of their farms;
• introduction, spread and implementation of new knowledge and solutions

Institution providing the funding

European Commission

Size of funding

Lump sum covering 100% of project costs (if eligible) - Total budget available EUR 8,000,000

Conditions

Overview of eligibility criteria

Any legal entity established in an EU Member State, or countries associated with the Horizon Europe programme can apply. Applicants must form a consortium of at least 3 legal entities established in different elibigle countries.

Proposals must implement the 'multi-actor approach', with a consortium based on a balanced mix of relevant actors, including farmers, advisors, agricultural educators and trainers, and other relevant AKIS actors with relevant knowledge and information.

For further information, please see the Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes available here.

Overview of award criteria

Award criteria include:

• Excellence, i.e. the clarity and pertinence of the objectives, and the extent to which the proposed work is ambitious and goes beyond the state of the art; as well as the soundness of the proposed approach;
• Impact, i.e. the credibility of the pathways to achieve the expected outcomes and impact;
• Quality and efficiency of the implementation.

For further information, please see the Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes.

Procedures

Application procedures

Applicants must submit their proposals exclusively through the designated online application form available at this link: https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/docs/2021-2027/…

Please see more information in the text of the call.

Useful links

Link to funding opportunity

Link to the programme for more info