Training farmers on Circular economy implementation: the TANGO-Circular Project

The volume of waste produced by agricultural activities is constantly rising, due to the continuous increase of crop and livestock production, aimed to cover the nutritional needs of the accreting population of the planet. This enormous mass of wastes has a significant environmental impact. A very promising way to reduce the environmental footprint of agriculture, passes through the valorization of agricultural co-products, by-products, residues and waste, as well as other materials - such as plastics – widely used for crop cultivation and animal production, after the end of their working life. In order to involve farmers to play an active role on this issue, contributing to transform what they currently consider as a “waste” into a new resource, under the perspective of a circular economy and for a more sustainable agriculture, the Project TANGO-Circular has been financed by the EU Erasmus+ Programme. Aim of this Project is to contribute to the development of regional ecosystems, directly providing valuable economical inputs by integrating, through a Quadruple- Helix approach, innovative solutions, with a work-based learning. Core of the Project is the design, implementation and validation of some “Rural Labs”, in which farmers and other relevant stakeholders will be trained through a “knowledge-driven” approach. There, new ways of training will be explored, for the sake of a larger audience of trained people, working in the Project Countries as well as in the rest of Europe.