Future farmers as allies in the fight against the climate crisis
Globally, around 22.2 million people are involved in agriculture. This sector, which is fundamental to everyone's livelihood, today faces rapid change and new challenges. Climate change makes it necessary to find solutions to manage its consequences and to produce in a more sustainable way. For this reason, the new generation of farmers needs to develop the competences for working in a completely new and challenging scenario. In fact, agricultural production cannot ignore the protection of natural resources. Farmers must be at the forefront of the fight against climate change and must be able to meet society's demands for healthy, balanced diets. At the same time, remaining in step with scientific and technological progress is necessary.
Farmbox wants to offer tomorrow's farmers the tools they need to adapt to these new scenarios.
Training is essential to learn the skills needed to adapt to new social, economic, and environmental contexts. With this project, we are offering future farmers a toolkit that will enable them to produce in a more sustainable and efficient way. We have a big goal: to help mitigating the negative effects of climate change.
Here's what we offer:
1. a MOOC (Massive Online Open Course) on the topic of Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA). The course, also aimed at agronomy students, aims to provide key theoretical knowledge, and share useful practices to improve land management, respecting local biodiversity.
2. an online simulator that will allow small farmers to virtually simulate the benefits of implementing CSA measures on a given area.
These tools will allow farmers and agronomists to test new approaches and innovative agricultural practices. Students and farmers then could increase their knowledge on climate change adaptation strategies, including the introduction of climate resilient crops and sustainable soil and water management.