The conversion of conventional aquaculture farms in sustainable aquaculture farms help aquaculture businesses to achieve economic viability and competitiveness. Sustainable aquaculture is undoubtedly the management technique that has most contributed to support aquaculture businesses to adopt aqua-environmental measures for protection of the environment, natural resources and landscape. Aquaponics is known as a sustainable production system for plants and fish that combines traditional aquaculture (aquatic livestock), such as fish, crayfish and shrimp with the hydroponics (growing plants in water) in a symbiotic environment. The Aquaponics is a production system where the waste is utilized as nutrients is a system sustainable for the environment, where high-value products on the market are obtained because they are grown with organic nutrients and free of chemicals or pesticides. By this research project, we aim at to improving onboard waste management and reduce the amount of waste disposed of inappropriately. In order to achieve this goal, we have the following objectives: to integrate aquaculture production system with agricultural production system (aquaponics) and to reconcile and achieve social, economic and environmental objectives with processing and marketing action to add more value to end aquaponics products. The project will develop concepts for the next generation of aquaculture production systems which can be used for multiple purposes, including aquaculture, agriculture and social farming. The project originality comes through its multidisciplinary character in the sense that it combines a research team specialized in various fields, whose experience will result in a production platform product, including all necessary technical indicators for developing and interpretation socio-economic of the results obtained.

"Allover Europe, more and more institutions are suffering due to ""growing mismatch"" with labor market. Labor markets are rapidly changing, due to technological advancement, greening, and ageing workforce. Higher education institutions have the responsibility to reduce this gap and prepare the young generations and foster their employability and personal development.On the other hand, Europe is constantly putting efforts in adapting its policies, strategies and actions to build a safer future for EU citizens. The European Green Deal is a set of policy initiatives brought forward by the European Commission with the overarching aim of making Europe climate neutral in 2050, by introducing new legislation on the circular economy, building renovation, biodiversity, farming and innovation. In this context, a joint declaration of intent was signed on 24 February 2020 by 24 research organizations from 16 European countries aiming “Towards a Chemical Pesticide-free Agriculture”. This European Research Alliance aims to rethink the way research is carried out and develop new common research and experimentation strategies throughout whole Europe.Horticulture represents the main source of food and urban well-being, by cultivation, processing, and sale of vegetables, fruits, nuts, grapes and ornamental plants. It also provides many additional services, as plant conservation, landscape restoration, soil management, landscape and garden design, construction and maintenance, and arboriculture. Food security and nutrition cannot be conceived outside the field of horticulture and fruits and vegetable production are suffering the highest negative impact due to the use of pesticides. Therefore, the general objective of Hort4EUGreen is to train European higher education teaching and non-teaching staff and graduates by enhancing their practical skills in using modern technologies to become highly specialized in key areas related to Europe Green Deal, e.g. nutritional quality of food, pesticide analysis, sustainable production, biodiversity monitoring. The specific objectives of our project are common for all four members of the consortium. 1. Enhancing the skills and competences of teaching and non-teaching staff of the partner institutions to use new methods and protocols in the fields of analysis of food and agricultural products by participation in three training programs and four staff mobillities.2. Enhancing the skills and competences of the master students of the partner institutions to use new methods and protocols in the fields of analysis of food and agricultural products by participation in three training programs and two mobilities..3. Transform the master students and staff of higher education in true factors of change for the sustainability concept, by delivering three educational materials and one digital tool to be implemented in all participating institutions.4. Implementing a trans-disciplinary approach and innovative pedagogy in three Horticulture master courses by introducing a research-based learning module. This module that supports the acquisition of transferable, forward-looking skills, in the field of Horticulture will be realized through three innovative intellectual outputs to be used by staff of higher education acting in organic production and biodiversity fields.These objectives description of activities; methodology to be used in carrying out the project; a short description of the results and impact envisaged and finally the potential longer term benefits."

Project Context :This project is the result of a request made in 2014 by a dairy company operating in emerging countries that has a problem training its European dairy technicians to work in these countries. Dairy processing is always undertaken locally in factories located near the raw material supply areas . In order to assure optimal production dairy companies are obliged to organize their mild collection in a manner that guarantees regular supply in both quantity and quality. Their technicians are European-trained, thus their technical reference points ( in terms of herd management, nutrition..) cultural references ( work organization, animal welfare..) are often not in sync with those in emerging countries where the conditions for animal husbandry and the technical-economic results are very different from European standards.ESA was contacted about this company issue and saw that a “Strategic Partnership” could be an appropriate tool to develop a training program to respond to this need. Objectives:The objectives are two-fold: Firstly, to create a one-month training module, preceded by a refresher course offered through distance learning, to a public destined to work as dairy technicians in emerging countries ; Secondly, to generate a pool of young European graduates available to work in international companies in the dairy sector. Number and profiles of the participating organizations:The project integrated the 4 following partners:- L’ESA: a Higher Education Institution ( HEI) in Agriculture based in Angers, France. Project coordinator.- CAH Dronton; HEI in Agricultural based in Dronton, based in The Netherlands- USAMV, HEI in Agronomy and Veterinary Medicine based in Bucharest , Romania.- Groupe Lactalis; a major European dairy company, implanted in 85 countries , including emerging countries where milk collection has to be organized. Description of principal activities put in place :A survey to establish the competences required by companies working in emerging countiesA mission to Kazakhstan in analyze its dairy sector in order to build a real-life case study. ( Mission not financed by the project but by Lactalis) The creation of an on-line animal science and economic management refresher course The creation of a four-week module taught in-houseThe teaching of this moduleThe creation of a 6 – language lexicon ( written and oral) in technical vocabulary3 dissemination events + participation in a scientific conference (Rabat, Morrocco)The administrative and pedagogical coordination of the projectResults and impacts achieved:The refresher module in animal science and economic management was created and put on lineThe two in-house training modules were run in January 2017 and January 2017 and attended by 43 students of 6 nationalities – XXX of whom validated the 10ECTS. To permit the module creation a survey was undertaken of 16 European companies in three countries in order to define the competencies they required for technicians working in emerging countries. 4 project team members effected a one-week study visit in Kazakhstan in order to create a case studyThe 6 language written and audio language lexicon of technical vocabulary was created and put on line. (French, English, Rumanian, Dutch, Russian and Brazilian) The partner company offered 2 internships during the programThe distance – learning module will be used by the project partners in the future. The one-month in house module will be integrated into a final year semester in ESA and iin a minor in CAHThe 3 HEI network was reinforced thanks to this project and has led to new cooperation: the opening of a joint bachelor between CAH and ESA in local food products in January 2017 . Thanks to the contact established during the Kazakh mission ESA Kazakh partner universities are now sending students to this bachelor program under an ICM program. This ICM is also a direct consequence of LADMEC.European dairy companies now have a pool of 43 young graduates from which to recruit technicians trained to give technical advice in merging countries. The training module was conceived in a way that allows its methodology to be transferred to other agricultural sectors – assuring the raw material supply for vegetable factories, for example. Eventual long-term benefits:The cooperation between the 3 partners HEIs has been endurably reinforced. Companies in three countries have been educated in mission and functioning of Erasmus+The pool of 43 program graduates will serve the long-term development of European companies in emerging countries.

The project coordinator is among Romania’s most competitive agricultural universities, yet at international level and in the agricultural economics discipline still struggles to become fully competitive. Three extremely innovative and well-known Western institutions of agricultural economics research have agreed to deliver the necessary know-how to improve this situation. Mainly four important bricks have been designed in response to the call text of “Significantly strengthening a defined field of research in a particular knowledge institution by creating a link between this institution and internationally-leading research institutions”: 1. Institutional support is provided to implement internal review processes and to strengthen the motivation of the workforce 2. Quarterly training sessions on scientometrics, supply and demand analysis and modelling is going to support the scientific staff of the faculty to become more proficient in applying quantitative methods. 3. Summer schools will be held on game theory, full-cost-calculation and policy analysis in which students of the faculty, but also of other Romanian universities may train their handling of economic issues. 4. Three-months exchanges in both directions will stabilize the exchange of methods and theories and will provide opportunities for joint research and publication. Two groups will support the process: An International Advisory Board will evaluate the quality of the process from a scientific viewpoint after one year and at the end of the project. The Stakeholder Board has the objective of formulating local needs and to link them with the process of scientific development in the faculty. Intensive communication activities additionally contribute to inform the local and scientific public about the twinning project.

Agriculture, agri-food industry and distribution sectors represent more than 5% of the European added value and 7% of employment, more than any other manufacturing sector. There were 10.5 million agricultural holdings in the EU in 2016, approximately one third of which in Romania. A large part of these farms are small, in particular in eastern and southern parts of the EU, such as Spain and Romania. The food chain is confronted with imbalances of power given the lower economic size of farms and the end links of the chain, retailers, in the context of increased globalization,concentration in the retail sector with main consequence of downward pressure on farm-gate prices, farmers not able to cover production costs. To increase their bargaining power farmers unite in cooperatives. Agricultural cooperatives represent 40% of the all supply, collection, and processing and marketing in the agriculture sector in EU. European agri-cooperative united in COGECA are recognized by the European institutions as representatives of farmers (currently there is no such representation from Romania). Agricultural education for many years has been aimed at increasing subject knowledge of farmers, but, as a consequence of the restructuring of the agri-food complex, different kinds of competencies are needed, including entrepreneurship, cooperative businesses, client orientation, sustainability, and innovation. Agricultural education institutes are therefore called to address better all these topics and to become a vital part of cooperative approaches to solving the problems of rural development. Professionals in the agriculture and agri-business sector need to be educated and /or trained in order to be able to provide necessary support to farmers & other rural entrepreneurs. All three participating HEI having a high specialization in the agri-food sector but need to improve the training of teachers and students in the field of cooperative enterprises and related good practices and policies in the agri-food sector. Cooperation business models and its specific management policies and practices are not taught in any of the agriculture universities in Romania. In this frame the specific objectives of our project are: to design and develop a European curricula for Higher Education focusing on cooperative business models in the agriculture sector necessary to educate agriculture students for further work as leaders, managers, staff, consultants, members of co-operative enterprises in the agriculture sector including through better use of open, digital multi-disciplinary learning and to promote excellence in teaching and skills development through training of 21 academics from the participating HEI in the field of cooperative business models in the agri-business sector and exchange of good practices in new and innovative pedagogies of the related topics. The main outputs are: a set of 14 case studies (4 for Spain, 4 for Germany and 6 for Romania) gathering best practices related to farmers/producers cooperation in the involved countries – in different sectors, fruit and vegetables, dairy, livestock etc. and with different functions marketing, credit, insurance, procurement, etc. depending on variable describing their competitiveness; videos capturing business models and management practices of cooperative enterprises, Teaching materials on Agriculture economics on Agri-food value chain and the position of cooperative enterprises; Cooperative enterprise and other collective farmers, rural organizations, including farmers associations –Legal /institutional aspects and public policies, and Management of Cooperatives– economic, financial and technical aspects and an Open Online Education Kit with practical tools on Starting an agriculture cooperative start-up, business planning and financial management of an agriculture cooperative in the context of agri-food value chain. Teaching materials will be used for the teaching in various disciplines of Agri-Food System related Master Programms at the participating HEI, such as: the International Master in Rural Development, the International Master in Natural Ressource Management and the Master in Agricultural Economics (Humboldt-University Berlin), the Master and post graduate studies at UAL and the Master studies of the Management Faculty at USAMV, mainly in the Agribusiness Master programme currently under -reaccreditation procedures for the following subjects Concepts of rural and regional development, management of enterprises, project planning, technology and economics of production, agriculture policies, marketing strategies, community project and enterprise planning. 19 HEI teachers will be trained in project topics and other 70 HEI teachers or professionals will receive this information directly through the multiplication events, 25 students will attend the ISP and around 50 Master students in Romania, 70 in Germany and 50 in Spain taking the coop course every year.