The Europe 2020 strategy which was initiated in 2010 aims at promoting a sustainable growth and therefore at protecting the environment and natural resources such as soil, water and biodiversity. The Common Agricultural Policy which starts this year induces technical and organizational changes for farms in order to lead farmers to agro ecological practices. The agro ecological transition will rest on the capacity of the European educational systems to adjust to the innovations arising from research and development as well as from farmers practices and to diffuse them to bring about the necessary changes in curricula, teaching methods and pedagogical practices. Agro-ecology cannot be taught any longer on the basis of traditional teaching methods, it rests on systemic, multidisciplinary approaches as well as on observation, experimentation, demonstration and field case studies. The ambition of this project is to bring its contribution, in the field of training and education, to the Europe 2020 Strategy as well as to the CAP orientations and to respond to the new professional training needs implied by the agro-ecological transition. It also aims at introducing a greater coherence among the various European countries in their efforts to enhance agro-ecological competences for students and farmers. The partner organizations that we have gathered around this project all come from the world of academia in Lithuania, Slovenia, Italy and AustriA. They all carry out research and/or experimentation activities in the field of agro-ecology and have a great experience of field work with farmers as well as class room or lab work. The original feature of the consortium rests also on its diversity : 2 national teaching institutions, 2 universities and one observatory. The objectives of the project are : -to upgrade the agricultural training systems and the quality of the training itself -to transfer and enhance the implementation of innovative practices - to reinforce the capacity of the various partners to work in an international cooperation environment The direct targets of the project are : teachers and trainers (and those who train them) and farmers’ professional organizations, Indirectly : students and trainees, farmers, extension officers and all actors and professionals of the agricultural sector (such as landscape or environment technicians) and of rural and periurban territories, of regional and local institutions and the public. The project is broken down into 4 different phases : Phase 1 : Inventory and comparative analysis of the various approaches to agro ecology Phase 2 : Inventory and synthesis of the agro ecological innovations highlighted by the field case studies Phase 3 : Development and finalization of pedagogical tools Phase 4 : Communication (diffusion and dissemination) and evaluation of the project During these four phases, 5 intellectual productions, 5 transnational meetings, 1 training of trainers and 5 disseminating events will take place. Two types of intellectual productions - 2 reports and/or syntheses : . Inventory and comparative and critical analysis of the various national approaches to agro ecology . Study of innovations and changes implied by the implementation of agro ecology based on 15 field case-studies (3 per partner and/or country) - 3 teaching tools : one based on written materials, one based on audiovisual techniques and one for e-learning developments. Communication events will take place during the 3 years but more specifically at the end of the project when disseminating events will be organized. The project will have a systemic and sustainable impact that will be followed during the project but also the following years. In the short run, concrete examples from the different countries will inform the target groups about the innovative practices. In the long run, we seek: - an appropriation by the educationnal community of the new teaching practices , once they have been tested successfully - changes in curricula and teachnig methods - an appropriation by farmers and various professionals of new agricultural practices which foster the agro-ecological transition - a new "cultural" approach to environmental issues and agrosystems management.