<< Background >>The enormous increase in population, economic growth, urbanization, industrialization, and agricultural production is coupled with the accumulated waste generation, creating a serious problem in the environment. In order to dispose of this waste safely, it should be converted effectively. This is achieved by bio-composting and vermicomposting of the farm, urban and agro-industrial waste and remains. It is being increasingly realized that composting is an environmentally friendly process, convert a wide variety of wastes into valuable agricultural inputs.Global exploitative industrial agriculture, reliant on the excessive use of agrichemicals is attributed to be the key contributor to the widespread destruction of the soil and is accountable for 50% of total GHG emissions (Koont, 2011). The rising economic and environmental cost of agricultural chemicals, coupled with the ever-increasing cost of landfills, calls for a reorientation of agricultural management. The process of utilizing surface-dwelling species of earthworms to efficiently and ecologically break down organic waste, producing a superior organic fertilizer as a byproduct, referred to as vermicomposting, is successfully providing sustainable solutions in food production and organic waste management worldwide. The integration of vermicomposting in agriculture and mainstream waste management presents economic, environmental, and social benefits for Europe, building resilience in response to the impacts of climate change, natural resource depletion, and desertification.It is the belief that harnessing the power of the earthworm to provide the foundations to transform our food system that underpins the purpose of the PowerWORM project proposal. Worm composting, otherwise known as vermicomposting delivers the foundations for building a local organic food movement that simultaneously provides sustainable solutions in organic waste management. From a political and cultural perspective, Europe has to focus on the role of vermicomposting as an integrated model within agriculture, looking at both urban and rural farming within the private, cooperative, and state governed sector.The value and importance of earthworms in agriculture was first recognized in writing by the father of ecology Charles Darwin, who in 1881, declared“Worms are powerful than the African Elephant and are more important to the economy than the cow”.Partners from five European countries recognizing the Power that Worms can bring to organic farming came close in collaboration towards the realization of the New Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) 2023-2027 for sustainable soil management and the European Soil Strategy (ESS) for the restoration of degraded soil by promoting to the European family VERMICOMPOSTING as The Future of Sustainable Agriculture and Organic Waste Management in Europe.So the PowerWORMS consortium has been devoted to addressing in the most efficient way and to a certain level of degree the improvement of the response of EU agriculture to societal demands on food and health, including safe, nutritious and sustainable food, food waste, foster sustainable development and efficient management of natural resources such as water, soil and air promoting formal and informal educational and training on vermicomposting to farmers, students, families, teachers, and professionals.<< Objectives >>STRATEGIC PROJECTS OBJECTIVEOur overarching objective is to promote, facilitate and accelerate the global transition to regenerative agriculture and food systems, farming, and land management in order to restore climate stability, increase biodiversity, rebuild soil fertility and produce healthy food.CORE PROJECT OBJECTIVESThe main purpose of this project is to: (1) determine the level of vermicomposting contribution to productivity in agriculture and farming in rural areas, (2) demonstrate multiple benefits of term technology; low-cost production of biofertilizer, environmental management of solid wastes, and agricultural residues, enhanced soil productivity, tastier quality food (3) develop chemical-free vermicomposting production techniques for farmers professionally and for families whose solid kitchen waste can be used as home compost. (4) Raise Agroecology awareness among citizens (families and kids).PROJECT AIMS DESCRIPTION Our lands in the agriculture that mankind has done for centuries, were naturally processed by worms and fertilized spontaneously. Chemical fertilizers and pesticides that have been used unconsciously in recent years have killed worms in the soil and also damaged the natural nature of the soil. Worm Fertilizer, an organic fertilizer, should be preferred to regain the materials it needs in the soil and to make it permanent.In recent years, the ecological characteristics and beneficial effects of earthworms have been clearly demonstrated, focused on by scientific research. Therefore, Vermicomposting plays a major role in improving the growth and yield of different field crops, vegetables, and flower and fruit crops.Many European countries have banned the use of chemical fertilizers in this regard, while America and Israel have been using Worm manure for more than 50 years on average. Many crops grown with worm fertilizer provide a 40% more yield increase than other fertilizers. Therefore, Europe needs to progress towards the adoption of Worm Fertilizer practices.PowerWORMS Project aims to study, research, and verify the production techniques and specifications of vermicomposting in order to transfer the knowledge to interested parties; farmers and consumers so that the utmost importance of using vermicomposting could be disseminated. The project also aims to establish a network link and a discussion platform among researchers, academicians, public organization representatives, marketing experts, consumers, and local producers to share different perspectives, expert opinions and in order to discover new opportunities and ways to improve the existing production processes and facilitate the product innovation.<< Implementation >>ACTIVITIESThe PowerWORM project objective will be met by a very well balanced consortium comprising by HEIs, Agricultural Research Institutes, Agricultural Training Centers, Environmental Protection NGOs, International Organic Farming Network, and Innovative ICT companies committed to following a very specific and detailed path line with tasks, activities and coupled outputs, organized and interlinked in a work packages structure.The main activities of the project involving the Project Management, the Educational Requirements Analysis on Vermicomposting Subject, the Development of a complete Educational ToolBox, and the implementation of a set of Interactive Open Educational Training Program based on the PowerWORMS ToolBox and the Communication and Dissemination of the archived results to a wider European contextPROJECT AIMS(1) Close the skills gap in agriculture education by providing web-based training on bio-composting and vermicomposting of the farm, urban and agro-industrial waste in Agriculture, the PowerWORMS Educational ToolBox. The courses will enable learners to apply alternative cultivation methods, thereby equipping them with the competencies to respond to the challenges the agricultural sector is experiencing.(2) Inform VET authorities and policymakers about bio-composting and vermicomposting of the farm, urban and agro-industrial waste thereby giving impetus to include teaching contents on the subject into national framework curricula.(3) Integrate the Educational ToolBox courses into curricula of agricultural VET providers/schools, training centers, and HEIs (4) Develop and promote a practical open Digital Application Intelligent Software tool for supporting the organization and control of bioclimatic operational parameters related to the vermicomposting process in the farm.(5) Conduct an awareness-raising campaign (Multiplier events) on national and European level giving policymakers, VET providers, farmers, and the general public a coherent picture of the state of the art of bio-composting and vermicomposting of the farm, urban and agro-industrial waste and help improve the perception about alternative farming, its benefits and the possibilities to upscale measures.TARGET GROUPSThe PowerWORMS is willing to empower a new generation of farmers and VET educators with innovative skills in organic farming. The project is ultimately targeted to apprentices (from VET Schools and HEI) and other interested individuals with an agricultural background (end users).Furthermore, the project targets two additional groups:a)Persons, who actively participate in the development of training curricula and examination queries for agricultural vocation on a national level. These include public authorities for vocational education, members of national VET (sub) committees, members of specialist groups, representatives of training networks, and policymakers. By including VET representatives and policymakers, the project gives impetus to include contents taught in the project course into the national framework curricula for agricultural education. In doing this, the consortium ensures the achievement of the highest possible impact and sustainability of its outputs.b)VET providers in agriculture, training companies, and higher education institutions offering agricultural education. By engaging training providers, the consortium ensures the integration of the course content into curricula of independent education bodies and therewith achieves optimal exploitation results.<< Results >>PROJECT RESULTS and INTELLECTUAL OUTCOMESThe first projected Intellectual Output is the Educational Requirements Analysis on Vermicomposting based on the current situation and best-observed bio-composting and vermicomposting practices of farm, urban and agro-industrial waste of today's agriculture trying to define the educational sector needs and the level of public awareness demand in the Participating Countries.The major aim of the Educational Requirement Analysis is to gain a comprehensive understanding of the present situation in the participating countries. The analysis will be performed through two successive steps starting with the Educational Needs Assessment and further on with Learning Needs Gap Analysis. The comparison of these will result in the Educational Toolbox Detailed Design Specifications.The second projected Intellectual Output will be the core result of the project, the Power WORMS Educational ToolBox comprising of the following result.The PowerWORMS Application Software will be a practical, freeware, intelligent, innovative software for organization and control of bioclimatic operational developed on Android environment for maximum dissemination. Operational parameters of the software will be the type of active worm population, the geographical location of the facility so that there is a connection with the forecast of bioclimatic conditions (humidity temperature) of the user area. The intelligent algorithm of the program will schedule the maintenance work needed for the optimum bio composting ecosystem control based on the user input will give practical advice according to each individual case. The development of Bio-composting and Vermicomposting Classroom - Manual & Guidelines for students and VET school educators produced based on the input of the Educational Requirements Analysis and Specifications embraces the following-Course catalog and handbook (for Trainers and Trainees), -Educational material, video lessons, learning activities, a virtual library, -Assessment exams and certificate in all partner languages and EnglishThe third projected Intellectual Output will be the PowerWORMS Online Training Course developed on a dedicated and freely accessible platform. The Vocational Open Online Course using OER, containing the training and assessment material developed, it will also contain a Virtual Community space to support community interactions among learners, farmers, professors, and teaching assistants. The consortium will use the online learning for organic farming (LLOOF) platform which is an interactive WWOOF Educational Platform already widely used in Europe by thousands of farmers and students.The fourth projected Intellectual Output will be the PowerWORMS Promotion and Awareness Raising Campaign Strategy that aims to provide policymakers, VET providers, farmers, and the general public a coherent picture of the state of the art of bio-composting and vermicomposting of the farm, urban, and agro-industrial waste and help improve the perception about alternative farming, its benefits and the possibilities to upscale measures, as well as gives impetus to include contents taught into the national framework curricula for agricultural education.The project also includes a set of Learning Teaching Training Activities aiming to deliver a work-based learning experience to interesting participants such as farmers, professionals, vocational and educational centers, and higher education institutions offering agricultural education evolving at least 50 externals per activity and country. Multipliers Events will be implemented in all countries and it is anticipated to magnify the dissemination of the project to various interested organic farming stakeholders.

1. To create a shared awareness of emerging job profiles and existing gaps of skills and competences in the current work force.2. to create and improve a framework “Pathways for Agricultural Competence and skills based Training” (PACT) based on EQF and ECVET, which will allow the sharing of definitions among different actors involved, i.e. agricultural VET providers, SMEs, Research Institutions, NGOs and VET policy makers, and serve as a tool to modularise future training and make it more adaptable to the needs of the agricultural labour market.3. Training Modules: 3.1. Organic Farming Training Module 3.2. Organic Food Processing Training Module 3.3. Accessing to the Market Training Module4. to better recognize existing training opportunities which already address existing skills gaps in the agricultural sector, and make them more visible on a European level as well as to show-case and encourage VET providers who have already modularised their agricultural training to integrate elements into new training units.5. To give the Farmers a new skill on Organic Farming & Food Processing Technologies by a new Curricula in VET. 5.1. Organic Farming Curricula 5.2. Organic Food Processing Technologies Curricula6. To improve the life standards of Farmers by providing a channel to sell the Organic products by E-Commerce Platform7. Marketing Opportunities Report8. Need Assessment on Organic Farming 9. E-Platform for Training Modules10. Video Clips for Training Modules11. 2021 New EU Organic Agriculture Regulation Report & Book for VET teachers12. Multiplier Events in 4 Countries: 12.1. Ankara for 50 participants 12.2. Malatya for 40 participants 12.3. Bursa for 40 participants 12.4. Athens for 40 participants 12.5. Arad for 40 participants 12.6. Bari for 40 participants13. Organic Farming and Organic Food Processing Techniques Book, 1000 pcs for VET Learners14. Posters 1500 pcs. and Flyers 2500 pcs.15. Study Visit to Italy for the Staff of Turkish project partners16. Training implementation in: 16.1. Adiyaman Public Training Center 16.2. Nilufer Public Training Center 16.3. Athens in Greece 16.4. Arad in RomaniaThere are 5 Transnational Meetings in the project.1.Kick-Off Meeting in Kirikkale University, October 20192.Second Transnational Meeting in Bari-Italy, May 20203.Third Transnational Meeting in Athens-Greece, November 20204.Fourth Transnational Meeting in Arad-Romania, March 20215.Closing Meeting in Kirikkale-Turkey, August 2021