Digitization is increasingly shaping the world of work. While computerisation has until recently been confined to routine tasks involving explicit rule-based activities, algorithms for digitalisation are now rapidly entering domains reliant upon smart data handling and can readily substitute for labour in a wide range of non-routine cognitive tasks. This will change the nature of work across industries and occupations. In the field of agriculture digitization, digital transformation is gaining momentum: already back in 2015, 30 percent of all value created with agricultural machinery worldwide came from software, electronics and sensors, surpassing the value created in the automotive industry three times over.
According to a recent study (Saiz-Rubio, V., and Rovira-Más, F. - 2020), it is essential for farmers and for the environment that processes are adapted to a digital technology concept, because innovative processes can potentially lead to efficient and resource-friendly sustainable farming. Rapid developments in the Internet of Things (IoT), cloud computing, robotics and Artificial Intelligence are accelerating the transition to smart farming and the promotion of big data and precision agriculture to improve agri-food sustainability. The expectation is that smart farming approaches will ultimately improve knowledge on enterprise and human resource level via efficient sharing and learning from data from
multiple enterprises.
However, although this “fourth agricultural revolution” brings the promise of multiple gains, it
also brings technical, social, economic, ethical and practical questions, with significant implications for how commercial agriculture is structured, practiced and governed. It also becomes evident that employers and employees in the agricultural sector will put more emphasis on basic and transversal competences and on creative and social skills. Therefore, the overall objective of AgriSkills is to raise awareness about these developments, and how this will require continuous skill adaptations, especially on personal competences and soft skills. Our aim is to train people working in the agricultural labour market service and in VET about successfully implemented innovations in digital farming (e.g., smart farming and precision farming) and consequently focus on initiatives and methods for training, developing and selfimprovement of personal skills, and for evaluating and assessing personal development and competences).
OBJECTIVES
The AgriSkills project aims to strengthen the sustainable development in rural areas at regional level in Europe contributing to turn the European rural area agriculture into a learning environment for entrepreneurial skills and innovation. The overall objective of the project is to showcase and communicate innovative engagements and approaches in the agriculture-specific production and services, putting a specific focus on the training and education needs of our target groups such as
- Individuals with interest to develop business entities and live in the rural areas;
- SMEs and micro companies in rural areas;
- Regional agencies for rural areas development; and the
- General public
Entrepreneurship and innovation are a key competence that contributes to the regional development. In this context, our target groups benefit from a focus on eco-innovation solutions such as sustainable innovation methods and applications as well as from the shift of labour-oriented work forces to knowledge-oriented work forces. AgriSkills will involve partners from regions with different level of development of innovation policies and entrepreneurism. Moreover, AgriSkills will promote consolidation of existing cooperation between regional authorities of participating regions or to the development
and establishment of new regional partnerships. These partnerships should act as a first step for organisations into cooperation at European level to
- Support the inclusion of target groups with fewer opportunities;
- Increasing quality in the work and practices of the organisations and institutions involved, opening up to new actors not naturally included within the agriculture sector;
- Building capacity of organisations to work transnationally and even across sectors;
- Addressing common needs and priorities in the fields of education, training, youth and sport. Thus, enabling transformation and change, leading to improvements at individual, organizational or sectoral level.
Grant value: 208 780 €
Duration: 1. 2. 2022 - 31. 1. 2024