FarmTrain

Who, what and when

FarmTrain is run by four European partners from the civil society: Asociace místních potravinových iniciativ, Agroecopolis, Die Agronauten and eco ruralis. The project is about a hands-on and long term (at least three months) training program for adult learners and farmers who provide mentoring and educational opportunities directly on the farm.

Background and goals

FarmTrain aims to create a European learning hub of agroecological farming practices. The main aim of this project is to create an innovative hands-on and long term (at least three months) training program for adult learners and farmers who provide mentoring and educational opportunities directly on the farm. The project is therefore a great investment in people's knowledge both in rural and urban areas. On the other hand it supports the transfer of knowledge from farmers to adult learners who may not have any previous experience with agroecological farming systems. The project facilitates communication between the farmer-mentors and potential trainees as it is targeted at the educational, organisational, and communication skills of all participants. Consequently it should increase farmers’ self-confidence and willingness to start farm projects and continue training future farmers.

The potential apprenticeship is neither a voluntary work, working holidays, nor ad-hoc farm help. The project aims to create apprenticeships that are focused on the exchange of information and experiences among mentoring farmers and the apprentices.
The main objective of this project is to create an innovative hands-on training program for adult learners and farmers (FARMTrain) in order to accept shared responsibility to keep our rural-urban areas connected and alive in a sustainable way. The project aims on adult learners who are interested to learn about farming in a broader sense in real-time environments. FARMTrain will be open to anyone regardless of their different backgrounds and education, with a special attention to refugees in some regions who can benefit from this project by becoming involved in local communities and finding a way to employ themselves in a new environment.
The structure of the innovative hands-on training program for adult learners and farmers (FARMTrain) is based on a European universal handbook which will be created within the project. The national modifications of FARMTrain handbook will allow adjusting the program to the exact needs of the target groups both in partner countries and also in countries not involved in this partnership. It provides the knowledge and skills on how to establish a new way of cooperation with different types of stakeholders, how to transfer the skills from farmers to learners on training farms, on hands-on learning and on training seminars to create more opportunities to learn shared responsibilities. Altogether, the project will support the educational innovation in farming sector and beyond, as it will teach farmers to become well-educated mentors with competences in the exchange of good practices. It is aimed at producing, sharing and enriching resources (both general and technical) about farming skills and environmental protection within the agro-ecosystem towards various groups of stakeholders