FARMER is an Erasmus+ Capacity Building in VET project supporting vocational education and training systems in the Western Balkans to respond more effectively to changing skills needs in the agri-food sector.
Agriculture and food production are being reshaped by digital tools, green transition requirements and new agri-tech business models. These changes create demand for new combinations of practical, digital and green skills. At the same time, VET schools need stronger mechanisms to update curricula, cooperate with employers and translate innovation into learning.
FARMER works with VET schools, teachers, tech-based start-ups, rural development actors and policymakers in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro. The project supports them to jointly design, test and promote modular curriculum innovations that are closer to real workplace needs and easier to adapt as the sector changes.
Through training, mobility, curriculum co-creation, digital resources and policy dialogue, FARMER strengthens the role of VET providers in shaping relevant learning outcomes and building regular exchange with the labour market. It also develops tools and replication guidance for wider use across the Western Balkans and beyond.
Why FARMER?
Agri-food systems cannot become greener and more digital without people who have the right skills. Yet curriculum change often moves more slowly than technological change, and cooperation between schools and employers is still too often informal, occasional or dependent on individual initiative. FARMER starts from a practical question: how can VET schools become better equipped to prepare learners for the real changes happening in agriculture and food production? The project responds by bringing together schools, teachers, learners, start-ups, SMEs, rural development organisations and policymakers. Instead of treating curriculum reform as a purely administrative process, FARMER tests a co-creation model in which education providers and labour-market actors work together to identify skills needs, adapt curricula and validate learning outcomes.
What FARMER works on
FARMER combines capacity building with practical curriculum innovation. Through training, mobility and online learning, VET teachers and project partners strengthen their capacity to respond to technological change, the green transition and evolving skills needs in the agri-food sector.
This knowledge is put into practice through the co-creation of three modified VET curricula and one new curriculum, supported by a methodology for modular curriculum innovation. Schools work together with employers, agri-tech actors and other labour-market stakeholders to identify emerging skills needs, translate them into learning outcomes and validate proposed curriculum changes.
At the same time, FARMER seeks to make cooperation between VET providers and the labour market more regular and sustainable, rather than dependent on occasional initiatives or individual contacts. The experience generated through the project will be captured in open resources, replication guidance and policy dialogue, supporting wider use of the FARMER approach across the Western Balkans.
Who FARMER is for
FARMER is designed for VET schools, teachers and learners preparing for work in the agri-food sector. It is also relevant for agri-tech start-ups, SMEs and employers that need better links with education providers, as well as for policymakers and institutions working on VET reform, skills, agriculture, rural development and regional cooperation. For wider Western Balkans and EU-level stakeholders, FARMER offers a tested model for making agri-food VET more responsive to green and digital skills needs.
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Partners
FARMER brings together research and policy organisations, rural development actors and VET providers from Italy and the Western Balkans. The partnership combines experience in VET reform, skills development, curriculum innovation, agri-food transformation and regional knowledge exchange.
Fondazione Giacomo Brodolini — Italy
Project Coordinator
Fondazione Giacomo Brodolini coordinates FARMER and leads project management, while contributing to capacity building, mobility, curriculum innovation and EU-level dissemination.
CREDI – Center for Development Evaluation and Social Science Research — Bosnia and Herzegovina
CREDI leads FARMER’s capacity-building and curriculum innovation work, including VET staff training, curriculum co-creation, modification of existing curricula and development of a new agri-food VET curriculum.
Re:People – Centre for Society and Technology — Serbia
Re:People leads the project’s impact and dissemination activities, including the FARMER digital platform, policy dialogue and replication, and leads the development of the curriculum innovation methodology.
Network for Rural Development of Montenegro — Montenegro
The Network for Rural Development of Montenegro supports capacity building, curriculum innovation and stakeholder engagement, and contributes particularly to the adaptation, replication and validation of the FARMER approach in Montenegro.
JU Mješovita srednja škola “Enver Pozderović” Goražde — Bosnia and Herzegovina
The school participates directly in FARMER training, mobility and curriculum co-creation and contributes to testing and applying curriculum innovations in the VET environment.
Project presentation
For a more detailed overview of FARMER, including project activities, work packages, partner roles and implementation timeline, you can download the project presentation.
Download FARMER Project Presentation.
Contact
Project Coordinator
Fondazione Giacomo Brodolini
info@fondazionebrodolini.eu
FARMER digital platform / dissemination contact
Re:People – Centre for Society and Technology
office@publicpolicy.rs
