In a brief ceremony on 4 May 2018, representatives of FiBL and of the Korean Agency of Education, Promotion and Information Service in Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (EPIS), signed a Memorandum of Understanding to cooperate in the area of ICT and smart farming.
The institutes plan to develop joint training programmes and overseas workshops for rural youth, professional farmers, farm managers, agricultural advisers and other stakeholders. They also plan to collaborate on promoting agricultural ICT and Smart Farming technologies.
The partners led targeted discussions on potential future areas for collaborative work. Dr Park Chulsoo, who will soon retire and hand over his duties to his director colleagues, expressed his keen interest in collaborating with FiBL and emphasized the commitment of his organisation to mutual exchanges.
Knowledge sharing in the field of organic farming, smart farming and ICT are some of the areas where both institutions see opportunities for collaboration in the near future. Exchange programmes for research staff and students with the aim of mutual capacity development were a specific interest of EPIS.
Based on these areas of collaboration, the two organizations as well as Switzerland and South Korea as a whole will aim to establish a sustainable partnership in the agricultural sector.
About EPIS
While FiBL is a global leader in organic agriculture, EPIS is dedicated to improving farmer’s knowledge and to secure the growing of a future generation in agriculture. EPIS is active not only in organic agriculture but in all areas of farming, with a strong focus on education, knowledge transfer and communication between rural and urban communities. There is a strong focus in South Korea for environmentally sustainable agricultural techniques and a main task of EPIS is in the field of how to encourage young generation to engage in farming.
Further information
FiBL contact
- Urs Niggli, Director FiBL Switzerland
- Franziska Hämmerli, Communication, FiBL Switzerland
- Beate Huber, Deputy Director FiBL Switzerland
- Hans-Jakob Schärer, Project manager FiBL Switzerland
Partners
- Korean Agency of Education, Promotion and Information Service in Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries EPIS
- Research Institute of Organic Agriculture FiBL
Links
- epis.kr: Website of EPIS
References
- Schärer and Ryu (2018): BioAktuell 4/2018
- Schürmann (2017): BioAktuell 08/2017