"<< Background >>For the 2021-2027 Multiannual Financial Framework, the European Commission is calling for the modernisation of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). The new CAP has a key role to play in supporting the European agricultural sector, managing the transition to sustainable food production systems and strengthening European farmers' efforts to contribute to the EU's climate objectives and environmental protection goals set in the European Green Deal, and related strategies such as the Farm to Fork, Biodiversity Strategy and the Organic Action Plan.In their daily lives, farmers encounter the CAP primarily through subsidies and grants, which often have a decisive influence on their management directions. In many cases, however, they are not sufficiently aware of the rules and conditions for implementing certain measures. As the efficiency and competitiveness of agricultural production can be enhanced in line with higher environmental and agro-ecological standards, for farmers to be able to apply these solutions in a professional, effective, successful and sustainable way, it is essential that they understand how they work, the production (and not only support) benefits they can expect from their application, and that they are genuinely convinced to introduce and maintain these methods in production practice. Only then can meaningful progress be achieved, whether it is more efficient use of pesticides, higher yields or less environmental impact. The key to a change in farmers' attitudes is the right transfer of practical knowledge, which requires advisory support, demonstration farms events and forums that bring together actors to transfer knowledge.Therefore, our main aim is to captivate farmers across the EU by building their knowledge, skills and attitudes on climate change and sustainable development in the context of available funding opportunities and linked good eco-practices, to increase better understanding, responsibility and implementation efficiency. Ensuring a wide range of knowledge transfer programmes - technical and administrative support services, practice-oriented training, demonstration farm events - is one of the most critical conditions for the successful implementation and operation of the new CAP, in order to meet the changing management requirements and efficiently absorb the available funds.Assessing the farm from an environmental perspective is an essential first step in the transition process. As environmental and sustainability considerations have become more prominent in agricultural policy over the past few decades. However, existing procedures and tools assess the farm at a very high level of abstraction and in many sustainability dimensions, making it difficult for stakeholders to implement the assessment and use the results in practice. In addition, the current tools do not, in most cases, pay sufficient attention to the farmer's skills and attitudes, which can have a decisive influence on the adoption of different environmentally friendly farming methods. Furthermore, there are numerous information resources available which list the available support (subsidy, grant) opportunities and regulations for agricultural producers and rural entrepreneurs, while the availability of information resources on organic farming, climate smart techniques, precision agriculture methods, and other sustainable practices, the reliable and professionally validated data is scarcer, but exists (such as the Organic Farm Knowledge Platform by FiBL). What is especially missing is a common entry point which can display and support decision making from both angles: the available funding mechanisms connected with the required farming methods. In the implementation of green farming techniques, applied research connected with extensionists play a significant role, but they often do not receive an integrated methodological support to guide farmers through the relevant policy changes. Our project aims to fill these gaps.<< Objectives >>From 2022 it is needed to promote the exchange of best practices at EU and national level, enabling farmers and extensionists to be accurately prepared for the changes in agricultural policy and the considerations behind these changes. The CAPTIVATE project provides an innovative, complex and targeted method for agricultural producers and extension service providers to improve their knowledge in the crucially important area of sustainable farming, which is at the centre of the new CAP and it also attracts considerable social attention from the side of the customers. The project aims to develop a farmer-centred assessment and training system to better connect the new CAP requirements with proven and innovative good eco-management practices, in favour of improved implementation of the various measures, increased uptake of support, improved efficiency in production and protection of the natural environment.To promote the widest possible understanding of environmentally friendly farming practices, and to support the successful implementation of the European Green Deal. To make the best use of existing knowledge bases and educational materials, and to promote the uptake of current research results, innovative methods and good practices that are of high relevance to climate protection and sustainability.Developing and testing a methodology to provide comprehensive support to advisors and farmers in implementing environmentally friendly farming solutions effectively and in line with agricultural policy.All the partners involved in the CAPTIVATE project have been working for many years to promote sustainable agriculture, environment friendly methods, organic production and to educate extension service providers and farmers in different aspects of green farming, which means that the main objective of the project is helping them reaching the goals they strive to achieve every day<< Implementation >>The CAPTIVATE project provides an innovative, complex and targeted method for agricultural producers and extension service providers to improve their knowledge in sustainability domain through the following activities: We will systematically process the relevant legislation and extract the information which is practically meaningful for their realization at the farm level. This will be accompanied with the overview, selection and mapping of best eco-practices, which are the most suitable to meet the certain CAP regulations. The result will be represented in a user-friendly online knowledge base, and serve as the foundation of learning content for green skills.The project aims for the development of an Eco-Farm Assessment Tool, evaluating the needs, skills and attitudes of farmers, as well as the characteristics and ecological potential of their farms allow to create a context-dependent, individualized planning path which builds on the prior knowledge and context of the farmers. The tool will support the transfer of knowledge, enabling partners and participants to gain deeper insight into each farmer’s profile, technical and soft skill, attitude, motivation and other aspects, and also to monitor progress.In order to present a one-stop-shop access to all materials and services created and curated by the CAPTIVATE project, and to support the exploitation of those results, a Digital Platform will be developed. The platform will have a practical purpose as today, especially after the last one and half year living under the pandemic, digital communication and virtual information management methods became a regular and familiar environment for the members of the extension network, and also more widely used by the primary production sector (farmers, foresters, rural entrepreneurs). On the other hand, by channelling all project results through our digital platform, we will have the opportunity to further increase its adoption and contribute strongly to the horizontal priority of the project as well (addressing digital transformation through development of digital readiness, resilience and capacity).The CAPTIVATE project organises methodological training and develops modular, sample teaching materials on high importance areas in green farming, that supports the exploitation of the knowledge base and the assessment tool on the digital platform as a package. A two-staged pilot learning programme will be organised around the implementation of the results. The main innovative element of this project result is to amalgamate the new results and developments to a complete package, with the development and testing of a sound methodology and sample materials. The participants of the training will be members of the extension network (advisors, specialists) primarily, who will transfer the knowledge received to their farmer partners.All the developed services and experiences of the project will be summarized and published in two concise handbooks, covering relevant methodological guidelines, first one for ""early adopters"", so that the results can be readily exploited right at the introductory phase of the new CAP, and the second one by concluding all project experiences. We are connecting with our two issues to the two main phases of knowledge transfer. The Guides will provide detailed information on the modules and content of the CAPTIVATE digital knowledge management platform, as well as contextual information and a step-by-step guide on how to use them together. The activities will be concluded by an online conference at the EU level for final dissemination and policy discussion. Our policy recommendation will focus on the extent to which the new measures, programmes and subsidies that take environmental aspects into account are working, and how they can be made more effective, understandable and applicable.<< Results >>The main results of the project based on the activities of the partners are a) the CAP Eco-Practice Knowledge Base, which extracts the rules and requirements meaningful for farmers, and linking them with the detailed description of relevant good practice methods, b) an Eco-Farm Assessment Tool will provide a detailed assessment of the characteristics, capabilities and potential of the farm in relation to the new CAP regulations and requirements, and will also pay particular attention to the farmer as the decision-maker skills and attitude towards the available measures, c) the CAPTIVATE Digital Platform, to present a one-stop-shop access to all the other innovative results of the project, and support the exploitation of those results using a multilingual interface in English and in the project languages, d) methodological and professional training, accompanied with modular learning materials on high importance areas in green farming for members of the extension network (advisors, specialists), e) methodology guides will provide detailed information on the modules and content of the CAPTIVATE digital platform, as well as contextual information and a step-by-step guide on how to use them together.The expected outcomes of the project on the participants can be identified in several layers. We can categorize the impacts by the different levels and areas where they occur, which usually also determines the target group concerned. Learners will improve their knowledge of the new CAP and related green farming measures and extend their methodological arsenal, thus will be able to provide a higher quality service. In relation to the implementation of the new knowledge and services, learners will spread the methodology in their professional network and this will result in better understanding of the new CAP policy and its relation to sustainability among farmers in the learners’ network and smoother transition to the new CAP. The partner organisations in the project gain a better understanding of sustainability oriented agricultural policy implementation and mechanism of action/success factors through international comparison and knowledge exchange. The project will enhance the utilisation and efficiency of existing knowledge services managed by the partners. Project partners will also upgrade their organisational knowledge about farmers' mindsets, motivations and their preferred and least favoured/understood practices, which leads to better service provision through customer segmentation. The staff of the partner organisations will have a better comprehension of applied and context-based learning activities.The main desired impacts linked to the overall goals, results and outcomes of the project are mainly to be identified in the sustainable farming - agricultural policy domain. The extension service providers will upgrade their methodological knowledge of extension service providers and gain access to a curated list of good eco-farm practices as the complex service tool and the method becomes acclaimed and widely used. Farming communities accurately understand the links between sustainability, agricultural policy and farming practices and make more responsible and conscious decisions about the selection of the appropriate schemes, also taking voluntary actions for ecological measures apart from purely financial aspects. This will improve the take up of subsidies and policy measures under the new CAP, leading to better implementation of projects, management of undertakings, which will have a positive effect on the environment by more farmers carrying out measures properly, validated by the assessment tool. The results of the project will provide feedback from the field, alignment of requirements, commitments with the reality of farming practices, fostering the bridges between agricultural policy, expert knowledge and good practice in all directions, and giving insights on the practical applicability regulations for policy makers."