The Hydro Farm VET project was launched to address the urgent environmental pressures caused by intensive agriculture in Europe, which covers over 40% of EU land. These pressures include soil degradation, water pollution, and greenhouse gas emissions. To support a transition toward more sustainable practices, the project focused on developing professional skills in vertical hydroponic farming—a soil-free technique that uses fewer resources and limits environmental impact.

The project aimed to fill the gap in vocational training in this emerging field by creating an innovative educational program that combined digital tools with hands-on learning. It also aimed to boost the attractiveness of the agricultural sector and create new employment opportunities aligned with green and sustainable practices.

To achieve its goals, the project carried out a range of activities. This included creating the project’s visual identity, launching a website and social media channels, and producing multilingual informational materials. A comprehensive needs analysis was conducted to understand the training gaps in the hydroponics sector.

Based on this, a new training curriculum was developed, and a VOOC (Vocational Open Online Course) platform was launched to make learning resources accessible, flexible, and interactive. The project also produced six newsletters, six press releases, and five policy recommendation briefs at the national level, plus one at the EU level.

A final conference and five multiplier events brought together professionals, educators, and policymakers to share the results and promote vertical hydroponics.

As a result, Hydro Farm VET delivered several concrete outcomes. These included a best practices report on vertical hydroponics in Europe, a training needs analysis, and an innovative, modular training curriculum. The VOOC platform became a central hub for learning, offering multilingual content and interactive resources. National and European events helped disseminate the project’s findings and promote wider adoption of hydroponic farming.

Finally, the policy recommendations aimed to influence EU strategies on sustainable agriculture and improve the recognition of hydroponics in vocational training systems.