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RECOMMENDATIONS
F O R T H E I N C L U S I O N O F T H E F A R M E R 4 . 0 T R A I N I N G M O D E L I N E U V E T S Y S T E M S

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F A R M E R T E A C H I N G A N D T R A I N I N G L A B O R A T O R I E S
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Recommendations for the inclusion of the training model in European

Union VET system

INTRODUCTION

This document summarises the main outcomes of the FARMER 4.0 project process, carried out during the years
2018-2021. Initiated in 2018 and reshaped from 2020 to adapt it to the regulations related to the health emergency,
making use of the online discussion modalities that we have learned to use more frequently in recent months. This
document describes some recommendations to encourage/boost the use of the training tools designed and created
in the framework of this project.
The FARMER 4.0 project is a European project within the framework of KA2 - Strategic Partnership Projects in the
field of Vocational Education and Training.
The key action is the cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices. In this sense, the aim of the
project is to train agricultural entrepreneurs and businessmen to become farmers 4.0.
The priorities of FARMER 4.0 are open training and innovative practices in the digital age as well as the
development of high quality and relevant skills and competencies; high quality, work-based vocational training" by
integrating experiential training elements in Job Shadowing and "intergenerational" co-working to stimulate the
transfer of competences between "traditional" farmers, technologists, researchers and agricultural entrepreneurs
of the digital age. Farmer4.0 promotes entrepreneurial education and social entrepreneurship in the agricultural
field, especially among young people and unemployed people looking to retrain in the "green jobs" sector.
The proposed training model facilitates the transfer and adoption of new production processes and business models
based on digital manufacturing, digital agriculture, and digital farming as well as the use of new technologies.
Furthermore Farmer 4.0 tools will design an open source and "inter-industry" collaboration as well as
"intergenerational" forms of collaboration (job shadowing and co working).
This entrepreneurial education also makes it possible to stimulate innovation and diversification of businesses
towards non-agricultural activities, as foreseen in the Rural Development Plan 2014-2020.

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We are one step closer to the synergy between digital artefacts and natural organisms. This synergy will reduce
sustainability costs, improving the working conditions of agricultural entrepreneurs.
Thanks to the proposed training, the agricultural entrepreneur of the digital age (farmer4.0) will be able to use the
most modern digital manufacturing technologies to :create tools, models and practices that revolutionise the
agricultural sector, without negatively affecting the quality of the products and "Km0" agri-food chains (e.g. with
traceability systems for agricultural products capable of facilitating the certification of their quality).
The impact of this new training will make the work of small farmers less burdensome, more profitable and easier,
while encouraging diversification of supply through social farming and a greater awareness of the need to improve
the quality of agricultural products.
The Farmer4.0 training model allows to orchestrate knowledge, share languages and facilitate communication
between traditional farmers, people used to getting by, finding solutions when problems arise using traditional
hands-on tools (Makers 1.0 or Analogue Makers) and new generation farmers, projected towards the digital age
and Industry 4.0 (the Makers 4.0). Thanks to a mix of blended learning (face-to-face and e-Learning sessions) and
experiential learning both in virtual environments (through manipulation and interaction with three-dimensional
models in "Virtual Reality Labs") as well as in virtual environments (through manipulation and interaction with 3D
models in "Virtual Reality Labs") and in job shadowing and intergenerational coworking, Farmer4.0 provides the
necessary skills to understand "how" to be able to:
1) reinvent multifunctional farms (the Global Farm 4.0) and open up to export thanks to targeted marketing
strategies, the use of social networks and targeted marketing strategies, use of social networks and state-of-the-
art IT platforms, effective use of EU and national resources made available to the sector.
2) realise what is imagined through collaborative 3D digital design tools and the use of creative tools, Stimulate the
creation of innovative agricultural ventures based on the "FabLab" approach, digital fabrication laboratories through
which the farmer 4.0 will be able to develop his own business, create at low cost and low environmental impact
(use of environmentally sustainable materials) small tools adapted to his needs, components for a "next generation
agriculture".
Through the multilingual Farmer4.0 platform, users can collaborate in an international "Open Innovation
Community" that aims to support the training of farmers and their families. This platform aims to support the training
of professionals able to take advantage of new technologies for the development of products/processes and to
enable them to exchange their knowledge and experience with experts and other learners across geographical
barriers ("open" platform) according to the open innovation philosophy.

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METHODOLOGY

In order to achieve the objectives and design the final products of this project, the following actions have been
carried out:
A1 Definition of the methods and instruments to measure the entrepreneurial attitude of the student.
A2 Definition of the "system" to measure the degree of entrepreneurial attitude.
A3 Definition of the Farmer 4.0 architecture and elaboration of methodologies and training contents.
A4 Beta-testing. Manuals for the teacher and the student.
A5 System of recognition, validation and certification of the competences acquired.
To carry out these actions, experts related to the training sector, the agricultural sector, the public administration
sector and the technological sector have been involved.

The tools used for the implementation of the actions were as follows:
1) 5 Focus groups
In each of the partner countries of the project: Italy, Spain, France and Bulgaria. The participants in these meetings
have been policy makers and agricultural entrepreneurs, trade associations, social partners, referents of the world
of education and training active at local level. They have gathered the opinion and information of the different
sectors involved in the project in order to give them a better understanding of the project.

2) Webinars
During the course of the project, 4 webinars have been held with the following contents:
- Presentation of the FARMER 4.0 project
- FARMER 4.0 platform
- Presentation of the virtual simulator

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3) Concertation tables
The consultation tables are a validation mechanism created to validate the different tools created.
They are made up of the heads of municipal, provincial, regional offices of education, training, agriculture, the heads
of the main trade unions operating in the agricultural sector, the heads of schools of educational institutions in the
field of agriculture, computer science, robotics, mechanics, the main associations of the third sector operating in
the social inclusion and labour insertion of disadvantaged groups (motor disabled, women, immigrants),
entrepreneurs and farmers.

4) Ideas competition
The aim is supporting the exchange of knowledge and the "open" exchange of ideas. An Idea Competition has
been carried out within the Stakeholders of the project. The aim was to stimulate creativity and the exchange of
new ideas concerning the realisation and creation of the "Global Farm 4.0" thanks to Farmer4.0 methodologies and
tools.
The ideas have embodied innovation/complementarity with respect to what already exists, environmental and
economic sustainability, and replicability, in other territorial contexts.

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5) Multiplier events and final transnational conference

National Multiplier Events have been organized for dissemination purposes. The general aim of the project and the
training model have been presented to agricultural entrepreneurs invited by local partners. Speaking in the local
language was an opportunity to make the project framework understandable to a varied audience.

6) Training of trainers
The 20 participants have been selected through a call for proposals (which has the same characteristics as the call
for proposals for the selection of staff, as described in the section "Training of trainers").

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The results of the project are identified in the following training pathway:
Evaluation - Orientation - Training I -Training II - Farmer's Laboratory

The steps are defined as follows:

1. System for measuring the degree of entrepreneurship:

The Recommendation of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 December 2006 on elements of
innovation, key competences envisaged for lifelong learning identifies the "spirit of initiative and impact and transfer
potential) entrepreneurship" (i.e. the ability to turn ideas into action) as one of the eight key competences to be
instilled at each stage of education and training.
The European Charter for Small Enterprises mentions that "small enterprises should be considered as the main
driver of innovation, employment and social and local inclusion in Europe... Entrepreneurship is a valuable and
productive human skill, at all levels of responsibility".
From these statements it is clear how important it is to talk about "entrepreneurship" in the agricultural sector, which
in Europe is mainly represented by SMEs, especially family micro-enterprises, whose livelihood is due to the
entrepreneurial skills of their owners.

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The Farmer 4.0 model has created a competence assessment tool that measures, first and foremost, an individual's
"degree of entrepreneurship", not only the "technical" competences related to running a farm using state-of-the-art
technology and processes, but also and above all those skills that identify among many candidates, those who
"have what it takes" to be considered / become entrepreneurs, capable, organised and motivated.
The system also offers an "orientation" module which has the function of guiding students in the choice of the most
appropriate training area and level of learning with respect to the needs to be covered, the gaps between what is
possessed in terms of competences and what is considered necessary to operate in the best possible way in the
labour market.
The measurement system is composed of a package of tests and questionnaires developed by the partnership in
a European (EU vision given by the synchronised work of the cross-sectoral and transnational partnership), gender
and multicultural key.
Technical competences are measured by screening systems on theoretical and technological knowledge and skills
and on the effective use of such knowledge according to the level required by the descriptors of the European
Qualifications Framework (EQF).
With regard to the measurement of the "degree of entrepreneurship", an instrument has been developed which is
able to measure, through the use of the
instrument capable of measuring, through a battery of tests and questionnaires, those transversal competences
which define the degree of entrepreneurship (entrepreneurial culture) of an individual as identified in the annex of
the Recommendation of the European Parliament and of the Council on key competences for lifelong learning of
10 November 2005: self-efficacy, creativity, risk-taking, entrepreneurship, Entrepreneurial intention, i.e. the
intention to be self-employed in the future: ability to identify opportunities, planning, organisation, management,
leadership and delegation, analysis, communication, giving and receiving feedback, negotiation: teamwork,
initiative, ability to avoid events, independence and innovation, determination to achieve goals.
The system for measuring student attitude towards entrepreneurship 4.0 is totally innovative and is inspired by what
has been done in the past in Heinnovate (https://heinnovate.eu/), a tool that aims to help and guide universities to
undertake (or reinforce) a process that, starting with self-assessment, then the realisation of an action plan to
become an entrepreneurial higher education.

Recommendation
In order to detect the person's training need and to be able to focus on the necessary and appropriate type
of training it is essential to know and recognise the starting point.

2. Farmer4.0 multilingual platform composed of two parts:

1) A "SOCIAL" part aimed at the exchange of ideas, materials and good practices between EU stakeholders and
EU policy makers on the topic of "innovative entrepreneurship in the agricultural sector" and benchmark training
models. It provides users with online tools for partner search, project development, sharing ideas, exchanging good
practices and materials to start working together immediately using various customised tools available on the
platform. This social part creates a multi-sectoral system, an environment with an international dimension of
innovation in the agricultural sector, a space aimed at making European training and entrepreneurship stronger
and more competitive, thanks to the "virtual mobility" that the Farmer 4.0 platform provides to its users.

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2) A "Training" space, dedicated to storage and e-learning. It contains training modules in the framework of e-
learning, as well as useful materials for teachers to teach in face-to-face sessions and organisation of digital
manufacturing workshops.
Farmer4.0 has used a "customised" system to deliver the training using the e-learning methodology and the
contents are located on the MOODLE platform.
In Farmer4.0, MOODLE is adapted to the teaching/learning proposal and to the training needs. he platform is based
on the concept of "active didactics", which goes beyond the content+support model (still very common in
"traditional" e-learning courses), in favour of an "immersive" or "discovery" approach. It will also allow for the
establishment of a constructive educational system.

Recommendation
The FARMER 4.0 platform is a great didactic resource that enriches the teaching-learning process and
facilitates the continuous evaluation of the student. The social part allows for an international exchange of
ideas and projects.

3. FarmerLab training laboratory, consisting of

A. A blended learning environment in which the following contents are taught:
- CAD/CAM/CAE/RE This course is firstly aimed at teaching 3D modelling techniques with the aid of CAD
software. Other contents including mechanical processing and reverse engineering are presented to make
this module more complete.

Recommendation
Even if this part is more technical and could be seen as non-trivial for the public in agriculture, this is
essential for the 3D printing phase. The trainers should keep in mind that the audience is varied and could
not have any background on this topic.

- Social networks for a global farm 4.0.

Today, companies, whether large or small, have to be present on the web: the market itself demands it. There are
currently 2.8 billion social media users worldwide. This means that over a third of the world’s population is using
some form of social media to communicate, making social media marketing an imperative tactic for boosting their
social networks.
Every day, thousands of potential customers, even before choosing a service or a product, ask Google about what
they are looking for. They look at photos on Instagram if it's clothing or restaurants and ask for information via
Facebook. However, not everyone has the ability to 'communicate well' online. The agricultural sector is no
exception! Never before has it been so clear that technology and the Internet can be a solution to bring the
entrepreneur closer to the market and the market closer to the entrepreneur.

Recommendation
While social media is a commonplace platform for communication today, it is necessary to consider how
significantly social media changed the way we communicate: our world as we know it has transformed

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from the start of text messages to the first years of Facebook, to today’s temporary stories, changing the
society and the way to live, to communicate and to make business.
The tables of concertation with the Policy Makers and the Stakeholders have confirmed that for a Farmer
4.0 is really important to understand at what each of the most used social platforms have contributed to
our new way of communication and how he/she can utilize them in his/her marketing campaigns.
For this reason, it is recommended that vocational training systems for farmers be encouraged to include
in their offerings in-depth knowledge and use of these platforms and to use them themselves in their
training and communication activities. In view of the spread of social phenomena of hatred and intolerance
on the Internet, it would also be appropriate to propose an awareness-raising session on media literacy, in
order to promote the proper use of social media.

- On line communication tools and techniques

The coronavirus outbreak has affected and changed the way agricultural enterprises across the EU are doing
business, both internally and externally with suppliers and customers. Indeed, a great part of suppliers and
customers face the new challenge of living and working remotely in a way that it is still productive, efficient but also
secure. Online communication tools (including video/audio conferencing, instant messaging, remote document
sharing/file exchange, internet streaming) are key to help agricultural enterprisis follow-up with these novel life and
working regimes. It is important to understand what kind of mean is the best for own aims and what are the most
important techniques to transfer messages and communicate.

Recommendation
On the basis of discussions in focus groups, consultation tables and further mainstreaming with
stakeholders and policy makers, it was possible to conclude that it's not enough to be online, you need to
be able to communicate well: bad communication can be more damaging than no communication at all! It
is therefore necessary that training courses aimed at agricultural entrepreneurs are enriched with the
knowledge that will allow them to move with ease in the web to get in touch with their customers even in
the case of social distancing, to exchange opinions with other agricultural entrepreneurs, to do business,
to buy raw materials and working tools. But above all, to make their activity known, promoting it not only
locally, but internationally (expanding their market). The EU's training systems should take this need into
account by offering continuous updates on ICT advances, promoting the funding of professional
development courses on communication, specifically structured according to the (hourly and seasonal)
needs of farmers. Given the ever-increasing number of young people and women involved in the new
Agriculture 4.0 activities, it would be advisable for national systems to use part of the funds provided
through Next Generation EU to finance these training courses.

- Agricultural entrepreneurship according to the FabLab approach. On the base of the information collected
during our focus groups, testing phase and mainstreaming activities, Farmer 4.0 teaching model, based
on a “blended learning” method, is the ideal for an international training, open to new contents and easily
adapted to different VET national systems.

Recommendation
Europe imports a lot of vegetable seeds as well as extra-EU workers every year. What is needed is a training
system that can up-to-date easily farmers about the products and processes innovations (as regard the

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seeds, but not only them), as well as that can to train the migrants that will be employed in the European
agriculture, that could have different approaches, technologies, regulations and laws compared to the
Countries of origin. And Farmer 4.0 can be a solution: with its online solutions, it’s open and easily
adaptable, with the possibility to add contents and to reach people everywhere in the world, 24h for any
kind of training (on seeds as well as their planting techniques or the regulatory metters).

- Internationalisation and sustainability for the Global Farm 4.0

Recommendation
This course offers an opportunity to discover the key concepts of
• internationalization for any farmer wishing to determine his strategy, and decide whether
it is worth or not to to scale and internationalize;
• sustainability for any farmer wishing to question his practices towards fundamental
environment issues such as climate, or pollutions.

B. A virtual reality simulation environment. The training path ends with a Virtual Reality environment
simulating a FabLab.

Recommendation
The user can navigate it and try to model three objects related to the agricultural field; then, these objects
are 3D printed. This environment is essential for the user to experiment the FabLab as much “on-site” and
“live” as possible.

C. A physical location (the FabLab workshop renamed "FarmerLab") for Job Shadowing and Co-Working.
Due to the pandemic, this physical part will not be held. It will be replaced by videos about FabLab activities with
teachers explaining the ongoing activities. Just in France the activity has taken place.

Recommendation
The double experimentation with 2 Fablabs partners in France, one more “urban” and one more “rural” has
shown how important it was to know the existence of such places before imagining to develop innovative
ideas and feeling ready to invest time to learn and prototype. We should then make sure that farmers are
aware of what is available around them, by making links with the local eco-systems.

For the correct use of the tools of the training environment the following manuals have been created:
1. Trainer's manual
2. Learner's manual
Finally, a "System of recognition, validation and certification of acquired competences" has been designed by
means of a certificate.

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Recommendations
In France, the certificate could be used as a validation of prior learning: the validation of professional
experience (V.A.P. 85) allows direct access to a university education without having the required diploma,
by validating professional experience (employed or not), training courses followed or personal experience
developed outside any training system.

CONCLUSIONS

Farmer 4.0, makes possible to put 4.0 technologies and the tools of "globalisation" at the service not of a model
leading to a standardisation of practices, but rather at the service of individuals and their projects while respecting
their physical (in the geographical sense) and cultural particularities. “Digital learning” as an additional instrument
of oral tradition.
The place of the learner could be in further steps enhanced in the co-construction/evolution of the digital tool
resulting from the interactions or the interactions and the networks/ecosystems that are formed.

This document was funded by the European Erasmus+ Programme (2014-2020).

The content of this document represents the views of the Authors only is their sole responsibility.

The European Commission does not accept any responsibility for use that may be made of the information it contains.

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