General introduction on the objectives of the CRANE project Call:2016 - 2016-1-IT02-KA204-024381 KA2 - Cooperation for Innovation and the Exchange of Good Practices-Strategic Partnerships for adult education PILOT TRAINING COURSE ON MULTIFUNCTIONAL FARMERS' EDUCATIVE ROLE Marsaskala, Malta 14 – 18 May 2018 Activity C2 - Blended mobility of adult learners General introduction on the objectives of the CRANE project and the pilot training course By Antonietta Stinga 1

Today begins a course called Pilot training course on multifunctional farmers' educative role Before illustrating the program, I think it is useful to tell, in a few minutes, the general meaning of the CRANE project: The project aims to interpret knowledge and skill of the farmers, beyond those typically connected with the basic agricultural production. Our reflection path on the phenomena of an educating agriculture and on the sustainability topic will give us the possibility to create a specific definition of new competencies which may contribute to re- design space and objectives of adult education

Farmers need these skills if they want to start the journey towards multi-functional agriculture and the possibility of new incomes. We know that the dominant role of agriculture in the rural economy is declining. But there are signs that society is formulating new expectations about a new role of agriculture.

The first one is that agriculture contributes to: environmental and landscape services; water management; flood control; social care and cohesion….

In addition to producing food and fiber, Agriculture also produces a wide range of non – commodity goods and services Shapes the environment; Affects social and cultural systems Contributes to economic growth. Agriculture is multifunctional when it has one or several functions in addition to its primary role of producing food and fibers. Multifunctionality refers to the fact that an economic activity may have multiple outputs and may contribute to several societal objectives at once.

I agree with Rossana Mari (Regione Emilia-Romagna) when she writes that Multifunctional Agriculture is: A strategy to improve the autonomy of farms and the profitability of their resources. A way to accumulate incomes, originating from environmental, educational, social functions. A system that involves all the reality in which the farm is integrated with the value of sustainable development.

The Multifuntional Farm achieves its goal when the different activities complement each other and contribute to the determination of the income. So Multifunctional Farm has the role of driver of the rural development of the territory. In our project we want to understand how the profession of farmer is transforming and we want to understand also what the training needs of the new farmers are about Multifunctionality

Farmers need these skills if they want to start the journey towards multifunctional agriculture and the possibility of new incomes. With the CRANE project, since December 2016, we started to share our experiences about Multifunctionality in particular: Agritourism Educational farm Direct selling Social farming

This is a pilot training course built to verify the effectiveness of the contents and methodologies arisen during the two years of the project, by the activities developed by partners. We will work together on these issues and each of you will be able to express your evaluations on the usefulness of the contents and the effectiveness of the proposed methods. At the end of the CRANE project we will be able to build up-to-date educational materials on the themes of multifunctional agriculture and we will be able to disseminate updated educational units for the training of future multifunctional farmers.