About

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VTskills, Cooperation for Upskilling and Building Regional Ecosystems in Sustainable Precision Viticulture, is a project focused on viticulture in the Mediterranean region.

Challenges / Needs

VTskills respond to three challenges: the need for quality nutrition, the need to reduce environmental impact and not cause significant damage, climate change.

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Specific objectives

VTskills objective is to identify green, digital, and resilience skills necessary for viticulture farmers and workers to manage sustainable activity in the sector.

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Work packages

VTskills have six main work packages.

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Needs

NEED 1

Approaching, in an accessible and practical way, the use of new technologies and the removal of barriers to access for SMEs in the wine sector, which make up the majority of the European wine system.

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While technology is indeed an essential ally of sustainability, we have yet to create technology models designed for small and medium-sized enterprises, which are often at risk of being challenged by digital transformation. This is, on the one hand, because of a lack of knowledge and skills and, on the other hand, the proposed development models are very well suited to large companies but are hardly scalable, making them difficult to apply to small businesses. SMEs should be able to understand the opportunity and know that it can have a compelling benefit for their small businesses if they direct their efforts and investments correctly. Strengthening and promoting digital skills is the starting point for enabling farmers to adopt and manage new technologies (“Modernizing and Simplifying the CAP,” EC, 2017) would bring them closer.

NEED 2

Systematise the skill sets that allow overcoming the misalignment between viticulture SMEs, organic production, and intensive agriculture.
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There is a dualism in sustainable approaches to agriculture: on the one hand, technological farmers tend not to adopt the systems approach of organic farming and, therefore, need to acquire green skills. On the other hand, there are small and medium-sized organic farmers who have know-how based on existing knowledge but are reluctant to implement technologies due to previous bias or lack of knowledge. It is therefore necessary to improve resilience skills to increase the capacity of the farming system to prepare for and respond to changes (COM/2020/274). Therefore, providing specific training on SPV is essential to give agricultural workers access to the latest knowledge, contributing to the implementation of the Council Recommendation on Vocational Education and Training and the Osnabrück Declaration (2020). This SPV training needs to be developed within an integrated and systematic framework of digital, green, and resilient skills so that farmers have a broad view of the opportunities and benefits and can improve their ability to plan strategically in the short, medium, and long term, managing with increasing dexterity the risks caused by a changing environment.

NEED 3

To create a favourable environment for developing skills: tackling the deficit of digital, green and resilient skills is not straightforwarrd.

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Providing SPV experts is essential to tackle the current skills mismatch. VET providers, such as consultants, technicians, and managers, play a vital role in the agricultural ecosystem, as “they represent one of the main information sources for farmers’ decision-making” (Preparing for future akis in Europe, SCAR, 2019). They need to integrate a wide range of specific issues such as technology, mitigation and adaptation to climate change, etc. Therefore, a favourable environment is needed to bring VET, HE, and farmers together to share their knowledge and cooperate by following the multi-actor approach to help build more sustainable food systems. Currently, no validated network allows a direct (physical) or indirect (virtual) link between the stakeholders of the viticulture chain. The existence of a place in a local area where subjects can create a new product, use it, or repair it is a necessary and inclusive condition to enable the effective use of a new product and lay the groundwork for system innovation. Additionally, this place where the different sector agents can interrelate, with the appropriate guidance, is essential to stimulate a sense of initiative and entrepreneurial attitudes, mindsets and skills in learners, academic staff and other workers, in line with the Entrepreneurship Competence Framework (EntreComp).

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES

SO1

Identifying the skills needed by current and future sustainable viticulture farmers/workers.

By identifying the skills needed by current and future sustainable viticulture farmers/workers, it will be possible to provide the necessary training and support to enhance their digital, green, and resilient skills. This will enable them to adopt new technologies and implement sustainable practices in their vineyards.

SO2

Providing new curricula for HE, VET and farmers within sustainable precision viticulture.

By identifying the skills needed by current and future sustainable viticulture farmers/workers, it will be possible to provide the necessary training and support to enhance their digital, green, and resilient skills. This will enable them to adopt new technologies and implement sustainable practices in their vineyards.

SO3

Strengthening the digital, green and resilient skills for sustainable precision viticulture of HE students, VET learners and farmers/workers of the sector.

This will enable them to adopt and use new technologies effectively and implement sustainable practices in their vineyards. By strengthening their skills, they will be better prepared to respond to changes and challenges in the sector.

SO4

Boosting entrepreneurial skills and supporting the design of sustainable viticulture businesses.

By providing the necessary training and support, it will be possible to promote a sense of initiative and entrepreneurial attitudes among learners, academic staff, and other workers in the sector. This will also contribute to developing a favourable environment for the growth of sustainable viticulture businesses.

SO5

Design and implement a new model for e-demo farms.

This will provide a platform for farmers and other stakeholders in the viticulture chain to share knowledge, expertise, and best practices. The e-demo farms will also serve as a space for testing and validating new technologies and practices in a collaborative and supportive environment. This will contribute to developing a validated network that allows direct or indirect links between the stakeholders of the viticulture chain.

SO6

Increased knowledge transfer between partners and promotion of developed solutions and curricula within and beyond partner countries.

This will reduce innovation capacity differences between EU member states, with free and open access, curricula, training materials, exchange of good practices and information through the e-demofarms, cooperation on conferences, paper preparations, etc.

Work packages

Work Package 1

Project management and coordination, quality assurance and evaluation.

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WP1 concerns the management and administration of the project. It aims to ensure that all project objectives, tasks and results are achieved on time and on budget. WP1 contributes to the management of project risks to ensure the achievement of objectives important to farmers, students and other stakeholders.

Work Package 2

Professional skills pillar assessment.

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WP2 aimed to identify the skills needed by current and future farmers and workers in sustainable precision viticulture. These competencies are the key elements for identifying and creating the training course topics. These skills will be identified through an extensive state-of-the-art study, which will be validated through stakeholder surveys.

Work Package 3

Preparation of training materials.

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In this WP, the e-learning course will be created and implemented. The data obtained from WP2 and from a previous e-learning course (SPARKLE) experience will allow the structure of the course topics. Different modules for both HEI and VET will be created; this way, the e-learning course can ensure a valid learning experience for both stakeholders.

Work Package 4

Course implementation and evaluation.
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In this WP, the course will be tested on a panel of HEI and VET students. Through the students’ feedback, it will be possible to implement the course structure and content. After the validation, a Handbook will be created, containing information relative to learning methodologies, expected learning outcomes, assessment techniques and others.

Work Package 5

E-demofarm: How to build a regional ecosystem and boost innovation.
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In this WP, the e-demofarm concept will be created and implemented. Using previous experience in traditional demofarms, the conceptual and technical design for the e-demofarm will be created. The e-demofarm will have three operation areas: demonstrative, informative and formative.

Work Package 6

Dissemination and exploitation of results.
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This WP promotes the project, assures a continuous update of the results, and involves the target groups and local, regional, and national stakeholders from the beginning until the end of the project. In this WP, the results will be disseminated, providing a systemic view and opportunities for training for target groups and companies.

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