Several Erasmus+ projects are trying to bridge universities and farmers in a productive dialogue, allowing them to exchange knowledge and competences: this to give the tools for rural actors to face future challenges.

The SPARKLE project (“Sustainable Precision Agriculture: Research and Knowledge for Learning how to be an agri-Entrepreneur”) similarly to eTOMATO has been funded by Erasmus+ and started in 2018. The project tackles the future of the agriculture sector from various points of view with a business-oriented approach, thus closely connected to eTOMATO activities and scope.

The main objective of SPARKLE project is the creation of a bridge between Universities, farmers and students in order to be able to supply high-level education on Precision Agriculture topics and, at the same time, to transfer to Universities a greater awareness of the stakeholders’ needs.

As for eTOMATO, SPARKLE wants to fill in the divide existing between Universities and farms, thus contributing in brining innovation into a sector which is usually seen resistant to change. The challenge of both the projects is designing innovative educational paths for educating University students to take these challenges and becoming the actors of change in agriculture.

The project will define future technological and market trends in three relevant farm sectors, collect the business models of successful farms, which are already adopting PA technologies, to be presented as business case for students; build a methodological and a theoretical framework for educating future-oriented agripreuners; and will elaborate a new blended training course (traditional classes and e-learning), for the purpose of creating the farmers and agricultural business managers of the future.

The SPARKLE consortium is solid and heterogenous, being composed by:

  • 4 Universities (University of Florence (IT), Universidad Politecnica de Madrid (ES), Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (GR), Universidade de Evora (PT));
  • 4 companies providing advanced services (CSIC – research center on mechanization and robotics (SP); AgroSAP – Precision Agriculture consultancy (SP); ErreQuadro – technology foresight (IT); Valuedo – project management & entrepreneurial education (IT))
  • 3 farms adopting Precision Agriculture technologies (Quinta de Cholda (PT) – Arable crops sector; Rezos Brands (GR) – Superfood; Mazzei 1435 (IT) – Viticulture).

For more information, visit the official site at the following link: http://sparkle-project.eu/

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eTOMATO is not the only project focusing on the farm sector. Let’s discover the project “SPARKLE: Sustainable Precision Agriculture: Research and Knowledge for Learning how to be an agri-Entrepreneur” which aims at training the agripreneurs of the future! More info at: http://sparkle-project.eu/

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Education for the farm sector: SPARKLE project aims at training the agripreneurs of the future! More info at: http://sparkle-project.eu/

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