World Vision Romania and BNP Paribas Leasing Solutions brought together farmers and students from agricultural high schools at the Agriculture 4.0 Symposium

Agriculture is one of the most important fields of activity at national level. At the same time, it is also an extremely under-appreciated field, often suffering from the negative social perception of the professions that make it up. World Vision Romania aims to raise the importance of agricultural education by improving the skills and motivation of teachers to provide students with innovative, up-to-date technical courses using modern resources Agriculture 4.0.

More than 45 high school students and teachers from 9 agricultural high schools in Romania participated in the Agriculture 4.0 Symposium on October 23-25, 2024, in Iasi, within the “Proud to be a Farmer” project, developed by World Vision Romania.

This is the third year of partnership between the World Vision Foundation and BNP Paribas Leasing Solutions, as the two entities continue to innovate agricultural education to make it more attractive to young people.

Agriculture 4.0 Symposium

More than 45 students and teachers from 9 agricultural high schools in 11 counties learned about Sustainable Agriculture and Agriculture 4.0 during the presentation of the educational package “Journey to 2050”. Symposium participants met with agricultural experts to learn about:

– The importance of water in agriculture and modern irrigation systems – presented by Teofil Dascallu, CEO Frizon Group;

– the new technologies used in intensive orchards and apiaries – presented by Cristinel Bodescu, zootechnical engineer;

– Agriculture 4.0 technologies – presented by Andrei Ilin, Head of Agriculture, BNP Paribas Leasing Solutions Romania.

Within the Agriculture 4.0 Symposium, a study visit was organized at the University of Life Sciences “Ion Ionescu de la Brad” in Iasi, where the Research Centre for Food Resources, the Mechanization Laboratory and the Research Institute for Agriculture and Environment (ICAM) were visited. The students had the opportunity to see state-of-the-art research equipment for physical and chemical analysis of soil, plants, water and air, including the only phytotron in the country.

Agricultural high schools participating in the Agriculture 4.0 Symposium:

1.         High School “Demostene Botez” Trușești, Botoșani County

2.         Liceul Agricol “Dr. C. Angelescu” Buzău,  Buzău County

3.         Colegiul Național de Agricultură și Economie Tecuci, Galați County

4.         Technical College “Haralamb Vasiliu” Podu Iloaiei,  Iași County

5.         College “Vasile Lovinescu” Fălticeni, Suceava County

6.         Technological High School Dorna Candrenilor, Suceava County

7.         Liceul Agricol “Dimitrie Cantemir” Huși, Vaslui County

8.         College “Valeriu D. Cotea” Focșani, Vrancea County

9.         Technological HighSchool “Gheorghe Ionescu-Sisești” Valea Călugărească,

Prahova County.

The Agriculture 4.0 Symposium is an extraordinary opportunity for students and teachers from agricultural high schools: they discover new technologies and the people who apply them on their farms, better understand the branches and specializations in agriculture and last but not least a place where friendships and future collaborations are made, said Crenguța Bărbosu, Senior Program Manager at World Vision Romania Foundation.

The third year of our collaboration on “Proud to Be a Farmer” project marks our strong involvement in guiding the new generation of experts. Agriculture finds itself under an uprising trajectory, through the latest top-notch equipment technologies. Consequently, we are interested in investing and developing the young generation. Our actions strive to bring added value for collective interests, generating the proper conditions for Romanian students, who will be one step closer to a successful career in agribusiness, mentioned Adrian OPRICA, CEO BNP Paribas Leasing Solutions Romania.