Promoting Vertical farming in Western Balkan through strengthening the linkages between business sector and VET provider

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The European Commission has even recognized CEA as a prospecting sector constitutive of Europe’s future farming landscape. According to The Farmers of the Future study report, the EU's controlled environment agriculture (CEA) market held its ground in 2020, reaching over US $31 Million. Europe had a 51.4% share of the market in 2020 and “is likely to continue to account for a notable market share by the end of 2026.” Today, it is expected to witness a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.2%, and a year-over-year (YoY) growth of 18.4%. The market growth can be attributed to the changing climatic conditions across Europe. Changes in temperature and weather adversely affect crop yield. These factors are promoting the demand for indoor farming in Europe. The sector is littered with failed start-ups that have struggled with (i) lack of digitalization in agriculture, (ii) underestimated labour costs, (iii) lack of adequate vertical farming (VF) knowledge and accessible education, (iv) inefficient workflow and inadequate ergonomic design consideration, (v) low connection between the labour market, public institutions and VET provider in agriculture, (vii) poor early decisions around pricing, crop selection and location. The scope of the project is to promote vertical farming as a sustainable/smart/precise agricultural method for WB countries through strengthening the interlinkage between the VET sector and private sector. To achieve the general objective, the consortium will develop a set of deliverables as follows: Research paper identifying the CEA market awareness and readiness; Training Format developed on DSS models and solutions to optimize VF system establishments; 1 CBF focused on the assessment and optimization of VF systems for efficient investment and operation; Web platform and MOOC to increase the visibility of the project and strengthen the interlinkage with the labour market in the process.