NEXTFOOD

Educating the next generation of professionals in the agrifood system

Program: Horizon 2020

Call: H2020-RUR-2016-2017 Topic: RUR-13-2017

Budget: 7 Million Euro Duration: 1/5/2018 - 31/4/2022

Sweden SVERIGES LANTBRUKSUNIVERSITET (SLU) (coordinator)

Sweden LUNDS UNIVERSITET (LU)

Romania UNIVERSITATEA DIN ORADEA (UNIOR)

Czech Rep. JIHOCESKA UNIVERZITA V CESKYCH BUDEJOVICICH (USB)

Norway NORGES MILJO-OG BIOVITENSKAPLIGE UNIVERSITET (NMBU)

Greece AMERICAN FARM SCHOOL POST SECONDARY EDUCATIONAL AND TRAINING ASSOCIATION (AFS)

Italy ALMA MATER STUDIORUM - UNIVERSITA DI BOLOGNA (UNIBO)

Czech rep. BIOINSTITUT (Bioinstitut)

Sweden FORESTRY RESEARCH INSTITUTE OF SWEDEN (SKOGFORSK)

Greece AGRONUTRIOTIONAL COOPERATION OF THE REGION OF CENTRAL MACEDONIA (ACRCM)

France CENTRE INTERNATIONAL DE HAUTES ETUDES AGRONOMIQUES MEDITERRANEENNES (CIHEAM)

Germany DEUTSCHE WELTHUNGERHILFE E.V. (WHH)

Egypt SEKEM DEVELOPMENT FOUNDATION (SDF)

Etiopia MEKELLE UNIVERSITY (Mekelle)

Greece ALEXANDREIO TECHNOLOGIKO EKPAIDEITIKO IDRYMA THESSALONIKIS (ATEITH)

Austria ISEKI-Food Association (ISEKI)

Denmark PROFESSIONSHOJSKOLEN METROPOL (MUC)

Italy UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI SCIENZE GASTRONOMICHE (UNISG)

Chile UNIVERSIDAD DE CHILE (UChile)

A consortium of 19 partners

Sustaining food production

The learning landscape

Testing new education models -based on a multiactor approach

Action research in educational cases

Closing the “Knowing – Doing gap”

The overall aim The overall aim of NEXTFOOD is to generate an innovative European(and pan-European) science and education road map for sustainable agriculture and forestry along the value chain from research via production into application.

Specific objectives • Create an inventory of the skills and competencies needed for a transition

to more sustainable agriculture, forestry and associated bio-value chains • Facilitate case studies to identify gaps and needs • Test new relevant curricula and training methods • Identify policy instruments that support the transition towards action-, and

practice-oriented learning methods • Peer-review tools for evaluating quality of the practice-oriented research • Create a platform for knowledge sharing

Research question 1? What skills will be needed for agrifood and forestry professionals to drive the change towards a more sustainable food and forestry production? • Inventory of skills • Gaps in research and education

• Roadmapping for new curricula

Results from a pilot focus group interview in Greece

• Two focus groups a) farmers (table grape producers and sheep farmers and b)advisors from the private sector

• Difficult to get access to knowledge produced at universities (producers and advisors) • Low accountability to formal education (producers): “agriculture is something you

learn in the fields at the farm”

• Widespread use of technology social media groups for updates on market information, insects, sensors for information in the fields. Need for technological skills is widespread.

Results from a pilot focus group interview in Greece

• Soft skills, like communication with customers and collaboration with partners (producers and experts)

• Understanding the market is important in the future (producers and experts), in order to get paid for the quality of the produce

• Education programs for agronomists and food science lack these skills development

• Need to build trust between actors in the knowledge chain, advisors give advice for free but are sales representatives for agroproducts

Research question 2? What are the supporting and hindering forces for developing an action-oriented, highly participatory and multi-disciplinary education? • Action research in 12 educational cases in different countries • Testing of new education and training systems • Development of learning platform for teaching practitioners

The NextFood cases

✅ Czech Republic – Masters course in Agroecology

✅ Sweden – Sustainability for foresters (professional education)

✅ Austria – MSc course in Aquaculture

✅ Italy (Ciheam) – Masters course sustainable farming systems

✅ Greece – Sustainable production for farmers and advisers

✅ Norway – Masters course in Agroecology

✅ Italy (Unisg) – Masters course in Gastronomy

The NextFood cases

✅ India Calcutta – One month course for farmers sustainable farming

✅ India Kerala – One month course in Agroecology

✅ Egypt – Sustainable production for farmers and advisers

✅ Ethiopia – Farmer field schools

✅ Romania – Product development high school

Research question 3? How can research better be evaluated according to long-term social and economic impact on society? • Review of best practices; literature, interviews, questionnaire

• Pilot testing of evaluation tools for evaluation for education and research

• An evaluation system ready to go

What is socioeconomic impact: • Impact on economy, technology and commercialization • Impact on knowledge, human capital • Impact in networking, social capital • Impact on decision making, legislation, policies • Impact on social and physical environment (Lätheenmäki-Smith, 2006)

Challenges in assessing social impact

• Causality • Attribution problem • Internationality • Evaluation time-scale • Time-consuming

Maybe a solution: ”The successfull generation of societal impact lies in the interaction between scientist and soociety”

Thank you for listening! Martin Melin PhD, Researcher, C.V. Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) Dept. of Work Sciences, Business Economics and Environmental Psychology Box 88, 230 53 Alnarp Phone: +46(0)768 347 956, +46(0)40 415 420