Fostering Agriculture Rural Development and Land Management (FARM)

Knowledge, skills and innovation are the indispensable foundation of sustainable development. European agricultural and rural development policies have a long-standing record of
stimulating innovation, moreover, sharing knowledge within networks speeds the process of adoption of innovations. Given these preliminary considerations, the first challenge of
FARM project is to boost knowledge and technology transfer in the agricultural sector. The possibility to increase the level of information available to ARD (Agriculture and Rural
Development) about new technologies is directly linked to sectorial investments, economic and environmental efficiency and sustainability, food healthiness and safety, ability to
compete in the international market area. The support in agriculture and rural development (ARD) remains a vital component for economic, social and environmental sustainability (EU
Western Balkan Progress Report, 2009). The ARD faces the challenge in terms of sustainable management of natural resources, depopulation and contributing towards the economic
development. The scientific development complements this challenge by focusing on knowledge share and fostering the technology and innovations in ARD. According to economic
theory and practice, the formation and transfer of knowledge form a basis of economic development. Moreover, although direct demand for knowledge is today lower than in the past,
economic literature confirms the importance of wide networking, in terms of diversification and number of subjects, for the introduction of new technologies in the agro-food sector
(Muscio et al., 2017). There is still a huge gap in European agriculture concerning technological development and organization.
Consequently, in a vast majority of European countries and regions, especially those of southern Europe, a well-developed sphere of formation and transfer of knowledge is required
(CAPReform.EU, 2012). E2020 in ARD fosters innovation, cooperation, and development of a knowledge base in rural areas, enhancing farm viability and competitiveness of all types
of agriculture in all regions and promoting innovative farm technologies and sustainable management (https://ec.europa.eu/agriculture/ruraldevelopment- 2014-2020_en). The
establishment of professional training programs for ARD stakeholders through educational institutions is desperately needed. In that context FARM project is focused on innovative
approaches to knowledge exchange that will be taking advantage of new digital technologies, and will be based on synergies between information management and communication for
development. Its objective is to contribute to ARD by bringing relevant expertise and resources across the international community into a more coherent and systematic approach. In
order to contribute to the improvement in ARD, FARM project defines four intellectual outputs for introduction, popularization and application of the current ICT DSS tools in ARD, but
also designing and developing the prototypes of two new tools as well as training course materials in ARD based on the DSS recognized and with a focus on green skills.