Project Overview
The PLAID project (Peer-to-peer Learning: Accessing Innovation through Demonstration) is an European Union funded project under Horizon 2020, starting in January 2017 and running until July 2019. The project has been designed to encourage farmers and farm employees to embrace innovations in agriculture, leading to a greater sustainability of European Agriculture, by accessing high quality demonstration activities on commercial farms.
It has long been established that farmers enthusiastically engage with knowledge transfer through demonstration activities, and that innovation and up-take of new farming technologies or practices result from interactive engagement with likeminded individuals or groups. Demonstration activities may also contribute to network building in agriculture communities, leading to longer term sustainability and economic development in rural areas. However little has been documented on agriculture demonstration activities in European countries and the lack of an inventory or on-line resources have been identified.
PLAID will collaborate with its sister project AgriDemoF2F, to create on-line resources including an inventory of demonstration activities in the EU 28, Switzerland, Serbia and Norway. The inventory will be stored in the FarmDemo hub, which will be linked to a georeferenced searchable map. PLAID will also identify and promote the best practices and innovative approaches in use on commercial demonstration farms. Additionally PLAID will develop ‘virtual’ (on-line) demonstration approaches with commercial farmers. These will highlight best practices that ensure the inclusion of a wide range of farm types, farmers and farm employees, ages and genders. PLAID will highlight innovative new approaches to demonstration; and derive indicators of best practice for different aims of demonstration activities.
PLAID will undertake these activities through its multi-actor consortium, using a multi-stakeholder approach to boost knowledge exchange and close the innovation gap.
