FAMILY AND ORGANIC FARMING. NEW APPRENTICESHIP TECHNOLOGIES THROUGH M-LEARNING

Summary

Recently, family farming has become a central element in the public debate over its fundamental role in rural areas. Family farming is an important way to ensure agricultural and forestry production, as well as fishing and grazing, managed and run by a family that mostly depends on unpaid family labour, both women and men. From the 570 million farms in the world, over 500 million are family farms. In Portugal, 96% of the farms are of the family-type, which permanent and predominantly use labour belonging to the family.
There are numerous examples in which, through organic farming, family farming can be lead to new heights of success and innovation, with direct impact on the increase in the farm income.
The benefits that may accrue from the adoption of organic farming on family holdings in Mediterranean countries such as Portugal, Italy and Spain are analysed, its impact and major constraints, as well as the contribution that new forms of teaching and learning can make to its spread and success, including through project-based technologies and m-learning, as it is the case of the project ECONewFARMERS - Building a future for new farmers in ecological farming through vocational training.