First Partners Meeting under Smart Farming 4.0 All Project

The first transnational partner meeting under Smart Farming 4.0 All Project, which sets itself a goal to make a significant contribution to improving the agricultural sector in the EU countries by promoting the innovation, exchanging experience and know-how between the world of education and training and the world of farming labor took place in Sofia, Bulgaria, on December 9-10, 2019.

The project is implemented under Key Activity 2: Strategic Partnerships of the Erasmus + European Program for Education, Training, Youth and Sport. Its duration is 24 months (December 2019 to November 2021), with a grant amount 155 095,00 €.

The Smart Farming 4.0 All project brings together six partners from Bulgaria, Turkey, Greece and Cyprus with different backgrounds, expertise and culture, which share a common vision to assist people in acquiring and developing basic skills and key attributes regarding their importance in the labor market and their contribution to a united society and promote the improvement of quality, the integration of innovation and internationalization in the field of agriculture.

The leading partner of the project “Smart Farming in the Fourth Industrial Revolution” is Via Pontica Foundation and the other partners are:

OECON GROUP BULGARIA, Bulgaria

DEKAPLUS BUISINESS SERVICES, Cyprus

FUNDATIA SATEAN, Romania

HAKAN KANSO, Turkey

EPIMELITIRIO CHALKIDIKI, Greece

Partners have come together to establish the “Smart Farming 4.0 All” consortium, in order to extensive field research addressed to a wide variety of relevant stakeholders and professionals, to create a Smart Farming Handbook and disseminate it freely to everybody interested, and to develop specific training curricula that will be utilized to train experts from the participating organizations as “carriers” of innovation, in order to be able to spread and mainstream this novel method back to their regions.

The project will have a wide-ranging impact on different sectors and countries facing similar challenges. It will focus on smart farming methods such as aquaponics – growing fish and plants together in a built, recirculating ecosystem that uses natural bacterial cycles to transform fish waste into plant nutrients. Environmentally friendly, natural method for growing foods that use the best of aquaculture and hydroponics without the need for discarding water, filtering or adding chemical fertilizers.

During the two-day event, many fruitful discussions were held, as was talk about the launch and implementation of the project in accordance with the pre-set work plan and schedule.

On the first day, an introductory presentation of the Smart Farming 4.0 All project was made and the focus of the discussions was on the following key points: the development and adoption of the Project Management Handbook, Quality Assurance Plan and Project Dissemination Plan, a logo, website and design of the project page.

The second day of the meeting was devoted to horizontal project activities, including: quality assurance, evaluation, publicity and promotion, technical and financial implementation and accountability. The event ended with the presentation of a Work Plan for the two project years, the planning of the next partnership meeting and an assessment of the current one.