One of the main difficulties that the European agri-food cooperatives are facing is the lack of involvement and participation of young farmers (men and women) in the management of their own farms and in the day to day activities of the cooperative. The generational shift is not guaranteed because the younger farmers are not aware of the importance of the cooperative structure for the sustainability of their farms. Considering this need, the aim of the project is to get a generational and gender balance in the co-operative agricultural sector through the strengthening of the capacities of young generation of farmers (men and women) in order to ensure the generational shift in their family farms and co-operatives. The goal is to engage young farmers with the values and objectives of the cooperatives. It will empower young farmers to make changes in the cooperatives in terms of innovation and improvement of the cooperative areas of work. The project partnership is formed by 5 organizations coming from 5 different EU Member States. The Coordinator (ICOS) and Partner 3 (SERVICES COOP DE FRANCE) are the national Association and Union of agri-food co-operatives in their countries (Ireland and France), Partner 2 (AGACA) is the Association of agri-food cooperative of Galician region (Spain) and Partner 5 (LLKC)) is the Public Agency of the Ministery of Agriculture for the rural advisory and traning center for co-operatives. They will provide the project with a work-based experience in the cooperatives sector and a strong link with project stakeholders and project beneficiaries. Partner 3 (Changemaker) is a consultancy company and VET provider specialized in ICT and innovative training tool development and consultancy of innovation and change processes management. They will play a pedagogical supervisor role in the development of the training contents and tools. The methodology used to develop the project will be based on cooperative learning, paying special attention to the involvement of participants as active agents of their own learning process. The main foreseen result of the project will be: Innovative shared training contents about Basic Farm Management through joint development available in English, Spanish, French and Latvian. Innovative shared training contents about cooperative culture and values available in English, Spanish, French and Latvian. 1 open-source ICT platform to support learning with interactive management of contents and tools. 6 Cooperative games to work cooperative values supporting previous training contents. 1 Training course for trainers (virtual training), in order to train trainers in the use and implement of the training contents and cooperative games developed. 4 National Pilot Training Sessions with final beneficiaries held in Ireland, Spain, France, Latvia. These will aim to present and test common training contents and methodologies and for testing the cooperative games developed. 3 Seminars of presentation of intellectual products developed in Spain, France and Latvia, in order to disseminate and capitalise project objectives and results. 1 Final Conference held in Ireland through which the final results of the project will be disseminated and capitalise on. 2 Blended mobilities for young farmers and women farmers (learners of partners), in order to directly experience different points of view and different ways about how young farmers and women are getting involved in the agri-food co-operative sector in other countries. Virtual and physical mobilities are foreseen. At the end of the project the following impacts will be achieved: 1) Provide the agri-food cooperative sector, and the associations of cooperatives and VET providers in particular, with new and innovative training contents and tools for fostering knowledge in Basic farm management and Cooperative culture and values among their younger members (women and men). 2) Improve and update pedagogical, methodological and procedural skills and technical knowledge of participating organisations’ trainers, especially of organisations offering VET contents to cooperatives. 3) Update the technological and pedagogical knowledge of trainers in participating organizations about the offer of new innovative training tools and resources available, in order to provide them with the skills and the knowledge required to create, manage and develop Innovative training tools using ICT tools and open-source technology as well as cooperative learning tools. 4) Increase the quality and accessibility of the VET offer in the agri-food cooperative sector.

"AgriCoopValue is a training project that aims to create a favorable framework for the application at European level of an unified social accounting system for agri-food cooperatives, in order to monetize their social value and determine their multiplying capacity within rural environments of the European Union.The Single Market Act II establishes that “the Commission will develop a methodology to measure the socioe-conomic benefits created by social enterprises. The development of rigorous and systematic measurements of social enterprises’ impact on the community is essential to demonstrate that the money invested in social enterprises yields high savings and income”. The Program for Employment and Social Innovation also foresees, in its third axis (Microfinance and Social Entrepreneurship), that the execution reports that financial entities and fund managers have to present to the Commission must also contain information about the results in relation to social repercussions.In 2014, the Group of experts on social enterprises (GECES) identified a series of challenges that would have to be answered in order to advance in an effective methodology for social monetization within the social economy, among which the difficulty of conceiving was highlighted a strict set of indicators to measure the social impact on the wide range of business typologies.AgriCoopValue will face the need to provide the European agri-food sector with an effective method to measure all the impacts (economic, social and environmental) that its industry produces, adapted to the idiosyncrasy of its sector and to the peculiarities of 5 subsectors: dairy, meat, fruit and vegetables, wine and olive oil.AgriCoopValue will start from the research carried out by the research group ""Ethics in Finance & Social Value"" of the University of the Basque Country, which has developed a conceptual framework in relation to social accounting and a methodological calculation process, called SPOLY, which is finding wide acceptance in the international scientific community and among potential user organizations.Therefore, we propose as specific objectives of the project:O1: Train technicians and trainers of organizations that represent agri-food cooperatives, to use the SPOLY methodological calculation process, in order to monetize the social value of an organization.O2: Advance in the improvement of the methodology through specific applications in the different agri-food subsectors (dairy, meat, fruit and vegetables, wine, olive oil, etc.), at European level.O3: Form and train agri-food cooperatives in order to monetize the social value generated by their own companies.O4: Raise awareness of the importance of social accounting compared to traditional accounting, for the social economy sector.O5: Consolidate the international acceptance and recognition of the calculation methodological process developed and promote the transfer of results internationally.O6: Improve the image of European agri-food cooperatives, highlighting their attractiveness, thus contributing to improvement of their competitiveness in an increasingly globalized market.To achieve these objectives, the project is divided into 6 Working Packages (WPs):WP1: COORDINATION AND MANAGEMENT WP2: DISSEMINATION AND EXPLOITATION OF RESULTSWP3: TRANSFER OF SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE TO THE AGRI-FOOD COOPERATIVE SECTORWP4: DEVELOPMENT OF NEW APPLICATIONS OF THE CALCULATION METHODOLOGY BY AGRI-FOOD SUBSECTORS OF THE MACROECONOMYWP5: TRAINING FOR THE MONETIZATION OF THE SOCIAL VALUE GENERATED AT THE MICROECONOMIC LEVELWP6: CREATION OF STRATEGIC ALLIANCES FOR THE DISSEMINATION OF THE UNIFIED SOCIAL ACCOUNTING SYSTEMThe activities contemplated in each of these phases will follow a collaborative methodology for the development of deliverables and products. In this way the partners who are part of the partnership will contribute to greater or lesser degrees, based on their experience and profile. For the selection of said partnership, the necessary profiles were taken into account based on the objectives and access to the final recipients: Trainers and technical staff of associations/ federations/ unions of agri-food cooperatives, members of the governing councils and cooperative members; Hired management and administrative staff of the cooperatives; Agents of the cooperative and/ or agri-food sector.The partnership is made up of umbrella entities of agri-food cooperatives in their respective countries: AGACA (ES), ICOS (EI), CONFAGRI (PT) and LLKC (LV), an economic group specialized in social monetization methodologies- GEAccounting (ES), a rural development agency AGRRA (HR) and a technology company ATLANTIS (GR)."

ToTCOOP+i TECH project proposed to respond to the following challenges of the agri-food co-operatives in Europe: - need of promoting the Corporate Culture among the members of their Board of Directors and,- need of increasing their knowledge, abilities and skills about Business Administration and Management, in order to ensure a suitable decision-making process in their entities and adapt them to the strategic changes required by the market. - need to incorporate women to the Board of Directors in co-operative companies, and promote the generational replacement, through the assumption of responsibilities by younger members.In order to help the co-operatives facing these challenges, the project sets the following objectives: 1. Transforming the current offer of Continuing Vocational Training in the co-operative sector at EU level into an excellent training, based on the use of technology and in the new models of the digital era and, 2. Strengthening the capacities of Business Administration of the Board of Directors Members from agri-food cooperatives, through their direct involvement in the training process. The project partnership was formed by 7 organizations coming from 6 different EU Member States. Coordinator (ICOS) and Partners 2 (AGACA), 4 (Association for Social Cooperatives), 5 (Latvian Rural Advisory and Training Centre) and 7 (MedAtlantia) are associations of co-operatives and providers of consultancy and advisory services to cooperatives. They have provided to the project a work-based experience in the co-operatives sector and a strong link with project stakeholders and project beneficiaries. Also, they have contributed with their specific knowledge about the agri-food co-operative sector to the content for the technological tools that have been developed.Partner 3 (Changemaker) is a consultancy company and VET provider, specialized in change and organizational development and learning processes as well as digital service development, games and visualisation on a national and international level. CM have had the role of pedagogical supervisor of the project. Partner 6 (GRIFO multimedia) with partner 7 (Medatlantia) are newcomer to the previous partnership. P6 (GRIFO) It’s an Italian SME that operates in the field of e-learning, knowledge and content management, integrating technologies, contents and services in customized solutions built around the entities’ specific needs. Partner 7 (MedAtlantia) is a worker co-operative specialized in designing and developing green and circular economy projects for entities belonging to the social economy (worker co-ops, agri-food co-ops, social co-ops, Associations of co-ops, Public and Private Foundations) in the rural areas. Also, it provides VET services such as Coordination and Mgt. of Public Administration Training Plans, and training offer in Mgt. of Cooperative companies. Apart from the coordination and dissemination, the following activities were developed in the project: - Observatory of Learning Innovation and technological opportunities for training- Transformation of training content into innovative tools - Short-term joint staff training event - Implementation of national pilot training sessions The main results achieved are: 1 Infographic Handbook of innovative technological resources for training (10 digital learning tools included) 1 Handbook of Best Practices in Learning Innovation 10 Video materials for training purposes 1 Serious game, with 50 boxes of knowledge activities (5 for Didactic Unit) (digital version) 1 Didactic App for smartphone 10 Gamification tools for training assessment 1 Final Conference held in Ireland in order to disseminate and capitalize project final results 4 Pilot training sessions with Final Beneficiaries, for testing the use of the digital innovative learning tools developed, in Ireland, Spain, Poland and Latvia 1 Short-term joint staff training event (in Spain) and assessment reportRegarding the ToTCOOP+i TECH, impact we can highlight the following achievements:- Availability of common training contents on Business Administration, Mgt. & Corporate culture for members of Board of Director of agri-foods co-operatives, taught throw the use of technological tools based on digital solutions.- Exchange of experiences and identification of best-practices for innovative learning.- Increased awareness about the importance to involve younger generations (men and women) trough technological tools at European level to guarantee a generational shift in the sector.The project sustainability is ensured by the inclusion of the TOTCOOP+i TECH training results in the VET offers provided by the different project partners to members of Board of Directors of agri-food co-operatives, rural and social co-operatives and members of co-operatives. Partners firmly agreed to participate until June 2024 in an Impact study, setting several specific measures to assess the long-term impact of the project.

"<< Background >>In 2016, the Japanese government introduced society 5.0 or also known as super-intelligent society as a connected society where Big Data, the Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI) and robots will be fully integrated in order to provide a digital and physical infrastructure for everyday life. Society 5.0 will be human-centred and will take advantage of aIl this to tackle problems that affect the whole of society, such as the ageing of the population or pollution.The agri-food co-operatives sector must participate and join this trend and support the creation of a society, which is aware and committed to the problems it faces, avoiding becoming a sector that remains a trace of the technological past.#LEADFARM 5.0 will carry out a conceptual and experimental analysis of this trend which implies the empowerment of the human being supported by technology at the center of production processes. The agri-food co-operatives need to improve innovative and driving key capacities, skills and competencies for change in the fields of action for climate and AI without neglecting the most basic human values linked to co-operatives, essential in Society 5.0, considering the Industry trend towards the automation of production processes, in the context of AI development, of the immersion of the industry in intelligent spaces based on the IoT, of cognitive computing, of the use of cobots (Robots co-operatives), of promoting Precision Agriculture (PA) and without forgetting climate change mitigation.#LEADFARM 5.0 arises from the need to improve the knowledge, capacities and skills of European agri-food co-operatives regarding the use of digital innovations that can be easily adapted to new agricultural models that will largely replace the intensive industrial farming model and that will require changes in business decision-making processes (human resources, customer relations, sales, marketing, supply, etc.).The pandemic has brought to the forefront the importance of digitisation and connectivity to maintain the personal, social and professional life of all population, and economic life. It has also shown evidence of the various gaps (territorial, social, gender, business, etc.) that have widened with COVID-19 in the societies and between them; revealing once again the need to move towards Society 5.0 in which digitisation and connectivity will be available and help the society to fill these gaps and facilitate compliance with several of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).According to the Japanese Government, to achieve Society 5.0, several barriers have to be overcome: Public Administration and legal system, that has to be involved in strategies and encourage the implementation of advanced techniques; Technological framework, R&D policy and protection of the main technological advances and their impacts; Human resources, with adequate educational/ training reform and human resource management in advanced digital skills; Acceptance and social involvement (the major barrier), considering aspects such as the man-machine relationship and individual happiness. #LEADFARM 5.0 will seek to link the technological, economic and social change, through a broad and socially committed approach to innovation in the agri-food co-operatives, by developing a training study plan (Human Resources), new digital tools based on AI (Technological Framework) and with the signature of the Pact 5.0, a multisectoral commitment that aligns to the strategic lines set in the Action Plans designed with the propose of removing all the barriers and achieve the needed acceptance and social involvement towards the Society 5.0.<< Objectives >>#LEADFARM 5.0 aims: to analyse the emerging employment opportunities offered by digital innovations for a Society 5.0, to diagnose the skills and future competences necessary in the cooperative agri-food sector, to develop innovative learning methodologies and to support mechanisms for smart specialization aimed at co-operatives and young farmers, to promote scientific dissemination through new accessible forms of learning that ensure equal opportunities for groups at risk of exclusion, to encourage the participation of women in the new emerging jobs detected and to promote culture and the necessary cooperative values in the Company 5.0.#LEADFARM 5.0 will work as a network for the development and experimentation of a competence framework and training curricula, which will help to obtain the key future skills, knowledge and competencies in: ICT and robotic technologies; Environment; Management and entrepreneurship and Social and emotional intelligence that will give us an overall picture of the success factors of resilience linked to AI and Climate Change applicable to the agri-food sector in the EU and for intelligent advice on new sustainable opportunities emerging in rural areas.This training curriculum will be used as a tool that will serve to transfer knowledge and promote scientific dissemination to reach smaller cooperatives and agri-food farms, youth and women farmers, sharing knowledge with them through a new educational and universal and accessible mentoring mechanism.#LEADFARM 5.0 will focus on trainers, farmers and members of the agri-food co-operatives as its priority target group (especially women and youth). Furthermore, given the scope of multidimensional training proposed, this project is also aimed at stakeholders related to the co-operative sector and the Social Economy, as well as to the field of VET.#LEADFARM 5.0 will have a great impact by making the results of the project available to young farmers, members of the agri-food co-operatives and trainers, in particular: a training plan and innovative content for the acquisition of the necessary key knowledge, skills and competencies, detected during the project, to adapt the sector to the challenges of the future in rural Europe (i.e. the digital revolution and climate change); and by promoting the dissemination and transfer of technical and scientific knowledge related to AI, IoT, cobots and their applicability in the sector and by improving the smart support praxis accessible to agri-food co-operatives for their change process.It will also generate greater awareness of the importance of involving younger generations and women in this Social Revolution 5.0 through this future training at the European level to guarantee a generational shift in the sector and guarantee equal opportunities by reducing the double gap suffered by women.#LEADFARM 5.0 is a roadmap for agri-food co-operatives to import Society 5.0 as a concept and vision with profound impacts on the current way of facing the world after the COVID19 crisis; it pretends to connect the different agents involved in that transformation, through the signature of an agreement with powerful strategies within the framework of the sustainable development of the productive activities of European agri-food co-operatives that include new parameters of technological, economic and industrial development, with the human being and the “social being” at the centre of the growth strategy for 2030.<< Implementation >>We start from the Logical Framework Approach to carry out the diagnosis and formulation of #LEADFARM 5.0, an approach which provides us a useful matrix for the programming of activities and the project management cycle. The activities have been grouped into 6 Work Packages (WP), 2 transversal (WP1 “Coordination and management” and WP2 “Dissemination and exploitation of results”) and 3 specific packages (WP3- WP5). Each WP details the different activities included, as well as the results that are intended to be achieved, determining the role of each partner in its coordination and implementation. Thus, we will ensure the proper development of the project and the achievement of the planned results. The transversal and specific activities that will be carried out to achieve the project objectives are:WP1: Coordination and management Coordinator: ICOS; Duration: 01.11.2021 – 01.05.2024A1.1 Administrative and Financial Mgt.A1.2 Celebration of 5 six-month meeting of the project Steering CommitteeA1.3 Monitoring and evaluation WP2: Dissemination and exploitation of resultsCoordinator: MEDA; Duration: 01.11.2021 – 01.05.2024A2.1 Elaboration of the Communication and Exploitation plansA2.2 Development and managing of project webpage and logoA2.3 Dissemination of project in social mediaA2.4 Development and sending of project e-newsletterA2.5 Design and distribution of the project e-leaflet and video of final resultsA2.6 Contacting professional associations and public institutions at European level for the exploitation of resultsA2.7 Dissemination of project results in each partner’s promotional and communication activitiesA2.8 Public communication eventsA2.9 Final Conference to disseminate the project resultsA2.10 Promotion, dissemination and explotation of project results on the ERASMUS+ PlatformWP3: Developing a Competency Framework for the EU agri-food co-operatives 2030Coordinator: ICOS; Duration: 01.11.2021 – 20.04.2023A3.1 Identification of all relevant stakeholders following a multi-actor approach; and establishment of transnational thematic working groups (with the participation of relevant stakeholders and industry representatives, on the following topics: ICT and robotics technologies; Environment; Management and entrepreneurship; Social and emotional intelligence). Organisation of focus groups A3.2 Analysis of future skills needs in the agri-food cooperative sector A3.3 Methodology definition for the Competency Framework developmentA3.4 Development of a draft competency model frameworkA3.5 Gathering feedback from industry representatives and relevant stakeholders. Organisation of national/ regional Workshops (together with the Public Events- see WP2)A3.6 Refining the competency model framework, in line with the information gathered through the focus group sessionsA3.7 Validating and finalizing the competency model frameworkWP4: Designing a competence-based training curricula for the EU agri-food co-operatives and digital training resourcesCo-Coordinators: GRIFO & LLKC; Duration: 01.11.2022 – 01.05.2024A4.1 Developing ICT training tools A4.2 Training curricula preparation. Elab. of a training plan (analysing requirements, setting learning objectives, develop design, course organisation and evaluation criteria)A4.3 Elaboration of the training methodology and contents. Validation of the knowledge, skills and competences acquiredA4.4 Set up and running of Training of trainers’ course and assessment of resultsWP5: EU deal for an agri-food co-operative community more inclusive, more ecological and more digitalCoordinator: CME; Duration: 01.05.2023 – 01.05.2024A5.1 Scale-up the #LEADFARM 5.0 impacts on decision-makers; digital & technological framework; training of human resources; acceptance, social involvement & genderA5.2 Roadmap for the EU agri-food co-ops to move towards the society 5.0A5.3 Action plans for #LEADFARM 5.0 sustainability and transferability; Joint framework of collab.<< Results >>#LEADFARM 5.0 is based on providing continuity of the LEADFARM project (Erasmus+, 2017-2019); nevertheless, it reflects a clear and significant evolution that allows us to take another step towards the generational shift and gender balance, by providing new skills, capacities and competences to young farmers and agri-food co-operatives (board of directors, managers, members of cooperatives) to be prepared for future trends in agricultural models, jobs and management strategies arising from the digital disruption and climate change. Furthermore, #LEADFARM 5.0 allows us to widen the impact at EU level, by involving directly more territories in the project (i.e., Portugal, Poland & Italy). The project aims to move ahead towards human society 5.0, where the knowledge of information is carried out by machines at the service of people, through Big Data, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of things (IoT), robotics, cognitive computing , etc., in line with the ninth key objective of the new CAP which aims to ""improve the response of EU agriculture to social demands for food and health, including safe, nutritious and sustainable food, reducing waste of food as well as animal welfare ”and therefore pays special attention to people.Therefore, the project helps agri-food farms and co-operatives to: invest in empowering their workforce (including their management skills), achieving sustainability and productivity at the same time; adapt to technological disruption; and identify and take advantage of the opportunities of digital and green economies as they emerge, while fostering participation and cooperation in decision-making processes, of people at risk of exclusion (women, youth, etc.).Once completed, the project will provide strategic keys in the detection of potential innovation ecosystems for European agri-food co-operatives, their associations and farmers especially at risk of exclusion (women, youth).Thus, based on the tasks and intellectual products developed within the project, curricular profiles adapted to the state or regional contexts of VET may be prepared; this, will give greater scope to the VET professionals and support teams from the agri-food co-operatives when implementing the curricula defined and developed during the project.The project will also contribute to the visibility of the co-operative culture and values, to provide a better understanding of the co-operative enterprise. These aspects will be disseminated as values of the future 5.0, in which workers must be adequately trained in ethic, values and knowledge (reflected in work), promoting the generation of a discourse that displaces the weight of the productive and economic processes to the human, to the people, directed to the entire community of VET and especially to those actors with the competencies of training of trainers.#LEADFARM 5.0 will also provide a forum for transformative reflection between different stakeholders; this forum will:- facilitate the transition towards the society 5.0, by seeking the commitment of the public and private sectors and, the general acceptance and social involvement of EU communities, through the signing of a European Pact 5.0 and,- ensure the generational shift between rural youth and equal opportunities among groups at risk of exclusion (women, youth, ...), two of the cross-cutting measures when designing the training content, curricula and digital tools; and thus, to achieve a greater empowering effect in the field of AI and climate change, avoiding future discrimination situations."

There are new challenges and opportunities for agriculture today, driven by the climate change, the greening of the products and processes, the reuse of side-stream products, the raised complexity of the chain and the increased availability of information.However, to successfully address and react to these drivers, agriculture and forestry needs new business models and skills. The identification of existing and emerging skills needs in bio-economy, agricultural sustainability and for the use of digital technology, is of paramount importance in order to develop a strategic approach to keep the European agricultural sector competitive and sustainable in the long term.The multi-stakeholder approach in the FIELDS project, with 30 partners from 12 countries (HEI, VET providers, agricultural and forestry sector representatives and agrifood industry) will allow tackling the complexity of the issues EU agriculture faces today.The FIELDS approach, starting from the current and future trends and skills needed, will lead to a sustainable European strategy to address these skill gaps. Since agriculture issues and opportunities differs a lot from country to country, the EU strategy will be customised to have a country strategy for 7 countries. It will address country-specific actions, occupational profiles and training material to reflect the country needs while keeping EU quality standards (ESCO, EQAVET, ECVET) to address the mobility of learners through Europe concretely.An Agriculture SSA will be established during the project to build upon the regulatory frameworks and opportunities at EU and country level, while proposing concrete and practical initiatives to address skills challenges, in particular through offering modular training inside the project while guaranteeing mobility of workers within the agriculture, forestry and agrifood industry.