Vertical farming for youth in rural & urban communities

The Verti4You project addresses challenges faced by NEET youth and youth workers from rural and disadvantaged areas in Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, and Italy. Despite being the most educated generation, young people face barriers in the labor market, often settling for low-quality jobs with temporary contracts, especially in rural areas (OECD, 2016). The project promotes social inclusion and green skills through training in sustainable vertical farming systems, aligned with the European Green Deal. It empowers participants to produce healthy food with reduced resource consumption and promotes greener consumption habits. By tackling issues like climate change, food quality, and population growth, the project provides solutions via engineering, technology, and plant sciences. The initiative includes digital training packs on vertical farming systems and social entrepreneurship, accessible to citizens interested in urban or rural farming. A new need emerged: providing to new potential coordinators a guide documenting lessons learned from a consortium of universities, research institutions, NGOs, and an association promoting organic agriculture. This led to the creation of a handbook and a new training.

The Verti4You project aimed to promote youth social entrepreneurship among young people with fewer opportunities (including NEETs), through the use of vertical farming to produce eco-friendly and healthy food in rural, peri-urban, and urban areas. The main objectives were: 1.Enhancing technological competence, by improving the technical skills of youth workers and NEET/FO youth in modern horticulture through digital training packs and hands-on experiences during mobilities. These training resources focus vertical modules for growing vegetables, making agriculture more appealing to youth. 2.Social engagement and inclusion, by involving youth in learning and skill development, particularly in STEM subjects (technology, automation, horticulture). The project aimed to provide knowledge about building vertical modules to produce food through social enterprises, to develop communities, and be environmental sustainability. 3.Technological & digital skills development: Offering NEET/FO youth skills in automation and software technologies, supporting efforts to create socialenterprises or pursue employment opportunities. 4.Cross-sectoral cooperation: Collaborating with universities, R&D centers, and NGOs to enhance training opportunities

The Verti4You project promoted youth social entrepreneurship through vertical farming systems and dedicated training. Project Management covered legal, financial, and administrative tasks, supported by AdminProject, Zoom, and Google Drive. Risk monitoring was ensured by the Risk Committee and Project Management Board. Six Transnational Project Meetings (TPMs) took place over 36 months: M1 (online, Bucharest), M2 (Sterna, Greece), M3 (online, Sofia), M4 (Pignola, Italy), M5 (online, Hârja), and M6 (Pignola). Three handbooks were produced: R1 (Vertical Farming guide), R2 (Social Entrepreneurship), and R3 (Lessons from Consortia). Six Learning, Teaching, and Training Activities (LTTs) included C1 (trainer mentoring, Bucharest), four youth trainings—C2 (Hârja), C3 (Lik), C4 (Pignola), C5 (Sterna)—and C6 (seminar, Pignola). Four Multiplier Events in Romania, Italy, Greece, and Bulgaria promoted project results. Dissemination included the website www.vertifarms.eu and participation in exhibitions and conferences: Hortus FlorShow, Bucharest Horticulture Autumn, INVENTCOR, Plant Protection Conference, China-Romania S&T Seminar, and EHC 2024 (with technical tour and oral presentation).

The Verti4You project delivered concrete outputs to support social entrepreneurship, green skills, and collaboration among NEET youth, youth workers, and organizations. Outputs include training materials, handbooks, digital tools, and dissemination resources. Main results: R1: Digital Training Pack for Vertical Farming (437 pages, 5 languages) – guidance on microgreens, pest control, automation, software, and sustainability, including business planning. R2: Digital Training Pack for Social Entrepreneurship (105 pages) – business development from microgreens, motivation, evaluation, models, impact, and finance. R3: Lessons Learned Handbook – practical methods for HEI–RDI–NGO collaboration, consortium management, and communication. Over 30 training support materials (PPTs and video tutorials) for the six training events. Educational videos on lessons learned and microgreens production. All digital content was shared via www.vertifarms.eu. Dissemination through flyers, posters, roll-ups, the website, Facebook, and four Multiplier Events (Romania, Italy, Greece, Bulgaria).