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Competencies and certifications of advisors in Austria(FAS – CC)

Wolfgang EtzlBudapest 05.10.2006

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Criteria of input for advisors I

Education level• University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences

• Federal Secondary Colleges (HBLA) for Agriculture, Forestry, Nutrition, Home Economics

• Agricultural education or a scientific study in a field which is closely linked with agriculture is required.

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Criteria of input for advisors II

Required experience and practice• The training can be started right after the university or after the

HBLA has been completed

• Earlier working times or practical experience are not required

• Agrarian Teacher and Consultant Training College

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Certifications I

Responsibility• The ministry of Agriculture is responsible for the implementation

of FAS

• The Division for Schools, Adult Training and Extension Service in the MoA is the contact point for all matters of agricultural extension and thus also for the introduction of the FAS.

• There are no other state organisations in charge of this task.

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Certifications IITarget groups = who will be certified• If the relevant requirements are fulfilled, different advisory

organisations can bid for carrying out extension tasks within the framework of FAS

• The organisations must have been active on the advisory market for at least 2 years.

• They must have corresponding branch offices in the regions where they want to offer the advisory service

• All fields of extension of relevance to cross compliance must be covered.

• Qualified advisors with the willing to undergo further CC-training• Austrians largest advisory organisation (Chamber of Agriculture)

has undertaken to cover all CC-relevant issues of extension and to offer farmers this advisory service.

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Procedure of certification I

Form of registration – procedure• A contract between the MoA an the advisory organisation

(Chamber of Agriculture)

• This contract regulates which requirements the advisory organisation has to satisfy and which qualifications the advisors have to fulfill.

• There is on special register in Austria

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Evaluation 2010

• All CC-advisors have to record the extension services they provide in the computing-supported reviews.

• The records have to be communicated to the MoA every six month.

• Overview of the performance of the extension services

• If necessary steering measures

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Education I

General – Education in CC and GAEC• The contents of CC and GAEC are already now central

components of the agricultural extension system

• Already now the advisors must be able to offer detailed information on these topics.

• A training offered especially for the FAS is therefore only to a small extent necessary and useful.

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Education II

Institutional courses• State institution:

– Agrarian Teacher and Consultant Training College, Vienna– Annual one-day further training event on federal level where

the new advisory knowledge concerning CC is presented• Semi-public institutions:

– Based on the training courses held at the Agrarian Teacher and Consultant Training College the Chamber of Agriculture offers own further training events on CC, if need is, carried out by the Chambers of Agriculture

• Manuals– PPT presentation dealing with the CC-issues– Brochures– Check lists,…

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Education III

Duration• One day on federal level• different in the individual Provinces, depending on the need

Examination• No examination

Advisors as a target group• Over 300 advisors

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Education IV

Contents• The issues of CC and GAEC are only partly communicated in a

separate training.• However, the contents of CC and GAEC are often parts of

courses for agricultural advisors on other agricultural topics like animal health, plant protection, construct,…

Advisory tools• CC files• Check list• Brochures• PPT presentations• Agricultural and environmental software• …

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Others

Labour safety• Not in particular connected with CC• Advice on labour safety is offered by the Farmers‘ Social Security

Institution (SVB)

Good practices• Extension in this field is offered also by the Chamber of

Agriculture, by the same advisors who provide advice in the field of CC