• Title: LAND-MOBILITY - Innovative and digital training
  materials to foster land mobility initiatives
• Funding Programme: EU ERASMUS +
• Duration of the Project: 24 months
• EC Co-financing: 278,713 EUR
• Start Date: 1st September 2019

Aim and objectives

The project is a partnership between Macra na Feirme (Lead partner, Ireland), University of Bedfordshire (UK), Galway-Mayo Institute Of Technology (Ireland), the Polish Farm Advisory and Training Centre, PROPEL Europe and European Landowners Organization (both Belgium).

The LAND-MOBILITY project will develop training materials for the establishment of land mobility services in all partner countries, and to promote similar initiatives in all EU Member States and internationally beyond the project lifetime. It aims:

• to promote initiatives and innovative concepts surrounding land mobility by developing training materials and guidelines for landowners, farmers, authorities and advisors in the area of land mobility services, land management partnerships and farm take-over brokerage
• to promote agricultural land staying in the sector and a continuation of the EU family-like farming model
• to ensure land in Europe is kept as much as possible in sustainable ownership and is not subject to land abandonment, and so that land becomes a tool for
  empowerment and entrepreneurship for Europeans rather than an obstacle to it

The project will set out guidelines for how to establish a land mobility service and develop an animated educational video raising awareness of different concepts of land mobility and the enormity of the problem of access to land that faces European young farmers. This will be accompanied by a number of open access training materials such as animated slides and a mobile training application for land mobility brokers and advisors, as well as training materials for providing information on important topics to the farmers themselves (both successor and predecessor), which will be made available on the project website.

Target audience

The LAND-MOBILITY project aims to bring a generation of young agricultural entrepreneurs one step closer to starting their own farming business by providing them with a solution to one of the main barriers which currently stand in their way: access to land.

The project will encourage the take-up of land mobility initiatives by training relevant target audiences and informing them about best-practices elsewhere in the EU which should be rolled out in other areas and regions. By matching young farmers with older farmers the project will multiply the number of young farmers able to start their own entrepreneurial farming business, including promoting general take-up of digitization and modern technology in the farming population across Europe.

Outputs

The project’s main outputs will be:

• Training methodology and new curricula
• Digital training materials
• Open Educational Resources

Expected results and impact

The project is expected to have far-reaching impact and results on the European farming population:

• improved education and training for landowners,
  local authorities, farming organisations, farmers and other relevant regional actors in the field of farm
  partnerships and land mobility
• fostered new ideas and concepts in this field
• raised awareness of land mobility and developed new thinking around the idea in relation to farming
• increased awareness of potential solutions to challenges
  relating to access to land for young would-be agricultural entrepreneurs, not only through informing, explaining and attempting to roll-out best practices but also through the creation of a promotional video about land mobility solutions
• increased knowledge of these issues among farmers across the EU

Project links and news

• Project website: land-mobility.eu
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/LandMobility
• twitter: twitter.com/LandMobility
• First transnational meeting in Dublin
• Second transnational meeting in a virtual space
• Third transnational meeting in a virtual space
• LTTA event and a final conference

Contact Information

Professor Yanqing Duan
E: yanqing.duan@beds.ac.uk
T: +44 (0)1582 743134