The Agriculture Report published by FAO 2015/2030 estimates that many environmental issues related to agriculture will continue to be severe over the next 30 years. It is stated that agriculture has a great impact on the earth and 70% of clean water resources are used in agriculture.The EU has made regulations on this issue, and legislation on the protection of soil and water resources has been imposed. Among the strategic objectives of the EU rural development policy are increasing the competitive capacity in agriculture and ensuring sustainable management of natural resources.It is important to train stakeholders in order to support general policies and transmit the practice to the base. By bringing a new approach to education, awareness can be raised and appropriate behaviors can be adopted.E-COFARM aims to create a resource where agricultural information about sustainable use of soil and water resources can be found together. Providing educational resources online through a learning management system is important for broad and easy access to the training curriculum, supporting professional development and developing ICT skills of the target group.Our target group is producers, technical staff, researchers and students of agriculture.For this project, highly effective organizations from Turkey, Spain, Croatia, Portugal and Slovenia who have experience in their own fields and in project implementation have come together. Seven intellectual outputs have been developed in the project which are;O2 Designing of web-based platform and Learning Management SystemO3 E-Learning Training Module on the EU LegislationO4 E-Learning Training Module on Accurate Behavior for Environment and Sustainable AgricultureO5 E-Learning Training Module on IrrigatonO6 E-Learning Training Module on Plant ProtectionO7 E-Learning Training Module on FertilizationO8 Farmer's HandbookProject outputs have been prepared in six languages including Turkish, English, Slovenian, Croatian, Portuguese and Spanish and made available through web platform (https://ecofarmproject.com/lms/).The training modules created within the scope of the project can be used by anyone who wants to access information. In addition, all institutions providing agricultural education, especially the partner institutions, can benefit from the project outputs.Thanks to the implemented project, awareness was raised about the relationship between agricultural practices and the environment. With the training activities, it was ensured that the target group was trained on good agricultural practices. After the project, the positive effect will be maintained as the multiplier events continue.The project has set an example for new studies aiming to expand environmentally friendly practices. It has been a positive example for developing new projects on similar topics and training the target group on good agricultural practices. The project has contributed to the international experience of institutions and participants. The cooperation developed between the project partner institutions has created opportunities for the upcoming collaborative studies.

The EU has clearly identified the need for European agriculture to be reshaped towards greater sustainability. Multifunctional agriculture is the key concept underlying the reformed agricultural and rural development policy aiming at increasing sustainability of agriculture, while at the same time being competitive at the European and global market. Most farmers, especially young farmers and managers of family farms, however, lack the skills necessary to successfully engage in and implement the EU's measures aiming at multifunctional agriculture. This is less due to a lack of attitude or technical (agricultural) knowledge but rather a matter of missing economic, organisational and entrepreneurial skills. Thus the SEMA project addresses the nexus of multifunctional agriculture and the necessary entrepreneurial skills among young and family farmers.The SEMA project aims at providing high quality learning opportunities on multifunctional agriculture oriented entrepreneurial skills and capacities for European farmers, and increasing competencies of trainers and facilitators of organisations relevant for agricultural training at a regional and local level. Specifically targeting young farmers and family farm managers, the capacity building approach offers opportunities for farmers beyond formal vocational training and further education at low cost and low entry thresholds. The project will use innovative ways of implementation through the combination of online training material with best practices examples and face-to-face training of farmers, mentors and trainers.The project consortium is composed of 7 organisations from 5 different EU countries (DE, ES, LT, RO, PL) and shows cooperation between new and old European Member States. A comprehensive partnership has been established, consisting of a research and consulting organisation (IfLS), adult education organisations (DEFOIN, AEPMR, ARID), a regional farmer organisation (ASAJA), a private agricultural consulting firm (HuL) and an institute of ICT and education technologies (BETI).To achieve the objectives of the project three Intellectual Outputs will be developed, tested and multiplied: the ‘Training system on entrepreneurial skills for multifunctional agriculture’ (O1) acting as an umbrella for the ‘In depth case studies on entrepreneurial multifunctional farmers’ (O2), and the ‘Mentoring programme on entrepreneurial skills for multifunctional agriculture’ (O3). Main results produced within O1 are a training needs assessment, Open Educational Resource modules on multifunctional farming and guidelines for learners and facilitators. The SEMA training system approach is based on the innovative educational method ‘flipped classroom training’, during which learners first use the OERs independently and then discuss the learning outcomes with the facilitator. The online system will also feature a platform for interactions between learners, facilitators, mentors and mentees, and other stakeholders. All outputs produced will be freely accessible for the public within and beyond the project’s lifetime.The project will have beneficial impacts on young farmers and family farmers through increasing their entrepreneurial skills and applying these to successfully develop new business strategies and action plans for setting in value multifunctional agriculture. Furthermore agricultural organisations active in farm management related training will strengthen their capacities to offer high quality ICT-based tailored learning opportunities for individual learners. Finally, the awareness of stakeholders about the importance of entrepreneurial skills for multifunctional agriculture will be raised, and their knowledge on availability of the SEMA training system and mentoring programme will enable stakeholders to mainstream project results into the respective national and European policies. The envisaged longer term benefits of the project are an increased competitiveness of farms which are at the same time contribute to the provision of public goods such as functional water and nutrient cycles or landscape attractiveness. Thus SEMA will contribute to an increased overall sustainability of agricultural activities and viability of rural areas on a regional level. Last, it will also strengthen the position of younger and family farmers, thus maintaining the diversity of farm structures while supporting the new rural paradigm.

The IMPLEMENT project aims at disseminating good and innovative practices for European farmers on the use of pesticides and other plant protection chemicals, also in comparison with similar standards used in Turkey, with a specific attention to i) safety of operators, ii) environmental protection from diffusion of toxic and polluting products, and iii) food safety. Plant protection is an absolutely necessary measurement for securing the high and stable productivity in the present agriculture. However, because of applying pesticide, it has produced the pollution of environment, which endangers the life of human being, so that it has been paid more attention greatly. Also, plant protection machinery is very different with the other agricultural machinery, its quality and application techniques level affect safety of products. The project is coordinated by the Ondokuz Mayis University and partners are: Agricoltura è Vita Associazione and ENAMA from Italy, ASAJA Granada from Spain and Ankara University and University of Cukurova from Turkey. Other foreseen external collaborations will be: COPA-COGECA, representing the European farmers' associations and cooperatives, ENTAM, representing the EU agricultural machinery certification bodies and CEMA, representing the European Agricultural Machinery Manufacturers. Other European associations and networks will be involved during the ongoing activities (CEJA, OSHA-Europe, CEDEFOP), as well as representatives of European institutions.The main output of the project will be a catalogue for combined training, open on the spot, long distance and online interactive learning, based on a typologic selection, without reference to trade marks, of the sprayer machineries with their positive and negative issues with relation to the triad of personal, environmental and food safety. The machines will be adequately explained, by support of brief descriptions and a wide use of pictures and video-clips, within training modules sequenced according to increasing levels based on the European Qualifications Framework, starting from a basic admission test (Level 1) corresponding to the qualification of farmer and generic agricultural employee and/or first instalment young farmer to grow up step-by-step to the superior levels (Level 2, for the basic use and maintenance of the machine; Level 3 for planning spraying and related preparation, cleaning and maintenance ; Level 4, with a specialistic module for functional controls addressed to expert sprayer users and personnel responsible for this kind of controls; Level 5, with a specialistic module for sprayer machinery manufacturers including advises for improvement of some technical characteristics, fit for increasing safety standards and providing a user friendly manual for use, controls and correct maintenance).The main target users are: a) farmers and sprayers operators; b) agronomists, trainers and persons in charge of the prevention and protection service at work; c) technicians in charge for functional controls of sprayer machineries ; d) manufacturers of sprayer machineries with specific reference to providing user friendly use and maintenance manuals. The project is sheduled to be developed through 8 Work Packages:I) Staff building, task responsibility sharing and coordination (OMU);II) Training needs analysis and comparison between the participating countries, with specific reference to European rules and standards and to Turkey as a case study (AèV);III) Adaptation of existing training materials with innovative methodology based on slides and animations with brief description and commented movies (ENAMA);IV) Evaluation of the teaching materials, risk analysis and internal assessment (Ankara University);V) Transfer of the teaching materials in an interactive e-learning training platform (OMU) and translation of the teaching materials from English into the national languages (all partners); VI) Test of prototype training materials with target groups (ASAJA Granada);VII) Presentation of the training materials and piloting tests with farmers and manufacturers representatives (with involvement of CEMA, ENTAM and COPA-COGECA in Brussels), and participation of the involved European institutions (European Commission DG AGRI, Employment, Health and Safety; members of the European Parliament and of other institutions, such as Economic Social Committee and Committee of Regions), press and other media journalists specialized for agricultural and work safety. VIII) International Final Conference with presentation of the final results and products and availability online of the training materials (OMU in collaboration with Cukurova and Ankara Universities).

Rural areas have been facing significant challenges in recent years: - The economic crisis that the EU has faced in the last number of years has had negative impacts on employment rates in many of the Member States. More specifically, the unemployment rate in the EU went from 6.4% in 2007 to 11.2% in January 2015 (Eurostat, March 2015). In addition to this, the unemployment rate in predominantly rural regions of the EU has been even higher, at 11% compared to 8.5% in predominantly urban regions in 2011 (EC, 2012). - At the same time, participation in lifelong learning programmes is lower amongst rural populations. The share of the population participating to lifelong learning courses in rural areas of the EU-27 was 6.6% at the end of 2013, which was lower than in intermediate urbanised (8.4%) and densely-populated areas (11.1%) (EC, December 2013). - According to Corine Land Cover data, between 2000 and 2006, there was a reduction by more than 500,000 ha inthe surface area of arable land, permanent crops, pastures, and mosaics across Europe. This phenomenon can lead to the loss of centres of rural living. The potential for reusing existing agricultural buildings as centres of rural living is huge, but opportunities to learn about the experiences of entrepreneurs who have already gone through the process are scant.. The objectives of the REVAB project are: - To foster an entrepreneurial approach for the use of existing agricultural buildings in different regions of Europe. - To encourage rural entrepreneurs, rural land and real estate owners, and young farmers to think about possibilities for reuse and valorisation of existing agricultural real estate and farmsteads in a way that is conscious of economic, ecologic, and social impacts. - To avoid further consumption of agricultural land for new buildings when existing ones and their unique heritage could be preserved.. These aims were addressed with the development of a training system based on Open Educational Resources (OER). The REVAB project consortium was made of 5 partners from Mediterranean Europe (Spain and Italy), Central Europe (Germany and Belgium), and Eastern Europe (Bulgaria). ELO (BE): A European umbrella organisation representing European landowners. HuL (DE): An independent private consultancy focused on consulting agricultural and rural family enterprises. OnP (ES): A project management and project evaluation consulting enterprise.ASAJA (ES) and CIA (IT): Farmers’ associations. AGRITOUR (BU): An organisation working for the development of rural areas in Bulgaria. The above-mentioned objectives have been addressed through the development of a web-based training platform designed for self-learning. The training materials will help the main target groups (rural entrepreneurs, rural land and real estate owners, and young farmers) to gain the skillls and knowledge to reuse and and add value to agricultural buildings in a sustainable way. The training system is made up of the following elements:- A Summary Report about the state of the art of agricultural building reuse and valorisation aimed at providing the learner with background information about the situation in Europe and in the countries of the partner organisations working together on the project.- 16 Case Studies from the 5 countries involved in the project based on the selection of best practices related to reuse/valorisation.- Training Modules based on the skills and knowledge requirements that were identified in the Summary Report and the Case Studies which address the skills necessary for entrepreneurs to master reuse/valorisation successfully. The Training Modules also include evaluation questionnaires to self-assess the competences acquired.- A Serious Game which simulates the implementation of a reuse/valorisation process with individual learner’s input. In combination with the use of the accompanying Training Modules, the learner can apply the lessons learned and feedback from the Serious Game to his/her individual reuse/valorisation process, thereby increasing his/her chance of success.