Current AKIS initiatives in Finland Budapest meeting 5

Current AKIS initiatives in Finland Budapest meeting 5. 5. 2011 Roy Tubb Head of International Affairs MTT Agrifood Research Finland

Main institutional actors in KBBE 1. Under Ministry of Economy and Employment: VTT (Technical Research Centre of Finland) - Biotechnology, pharmaceutical and food industries; forest industries; process industries and environment - Finnish Centre for nanocellulosic technology 2. Under Ministry of Agriculture & Forestry - MTT Agrifood Research Finland - METLA Finnish Forest Research Institute - RKTL Finnish Game & Fisheries Research Institute - FGI Finnish Geodetic Research Institute - Finnish Food Safety Authority EVIRA - MAVI The Agency for Rural Affairs 3. Under Ministry of Environment - Finnish Environment Institute 4. Universities: e. g. Helsinki, Aalto, Turku, Tampere, East Finland, Oulu, Jyväskylä, Lappeenranta

Strategic Centres for Science Technology and Innovation (multi-shareholder limited companies) • Forestcluster Limited http: //www. forestcluster. fi/d/fc-home • CLEEN Limited (Energy and Environment) http: //www. cleen. fi/home/ • Sal. We Limited (Health and Well-Being) http: //www. salwe. org/en

MTT’s organization

MTT in numbers • • • MTT operates under the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. Our organization employs 800 professionals, 300 of whom work in research. We operate in 14 locations around Finland. MTT’s total expenditure in 2008 amounted to 49 M€, a third of which came outside budget financing. In 2008, MTT researchers published a record number of 183 peer refereed scientific articles. In addition, 11 doctoral dissertations were published.

Efficiency and impact through research programmes • Research programmes 2007/2008 - 2010/2012 • • Rural Future Tomorrow's Farm From Fossils to Renewable Well-being Through Food Responsible Food Economy Changing Climate and Agriculture Water-friendly Agriculture Sustainable Use of Genetic Resources

Pro. Agria Group in brief • Line of business: rural business development consultation through agricultural advisory services, new business advisory services, animal breeding, artificial insemination and IT services • Turnover: 88 million € • Customers: over 85 % of Finnish farms and 3500 small-scale businesses in the countryside • Personnel: 1 210 • Member-owned organisations

Pro. Agria Group members • Pro. Agria Centres (Both Finnish and Swedish-speaking centres) • Faba animal breeding • Pro. Agria Agricultural Data Processing Centre ML Ltd. • Valio Farm Services • Pro. Agria Association of Rural Advisory Centres – SLF (Swedish-speaking association) • Association of Pro. Agria Centre

Compass of the Pro. Agria Group Values O = We make Our major impact on the society U = We create a Unique working spirit R = We appreciate Results S = Our work results in Successful customers VISION = We are an advisory pioneer that provides opportunities for success for our customers Mission: Let’s start networking - for the good of the countryside Change forces 1) Food quality 2) Environmental issues 3) IT technology and opportunities 4) Competitiveness of farms 5) Farm enlargement Development focus 1) Skills’ development 2) Resource procurement 3) Cost-efficiency 4) Added value to customers = joint services of the network Success factors 1) Good use of the skills and know-how of our members 2) Efficient service development 4) Added operational importance through co-operation

Pro. Agria Advisory Services 1. Head-office located in Vantaa and 16 regional advisory centres nationwide 2. Staff 685 (out of which 660 in the field) 3. Financing : state 19%, clients 62%, projects 18%, others 1% - annual turnover 48 million € (2008) 4. Member ”owned”, membership base 119 000 5. In Finland around 33 000 clients annually; 80% of Finnish farms utilize Pro. Agria services 6. Active cooperation with other actors in the field of agriculture, especially within the food chain. 7. Services ISO 9001 certified for quality Founded in 1797

Pro. Agria services Future planning Investment Production Analyses Management IT-programs • Business monitoring • Investment plan • Yield • Business plan • Cultivation • Feeding DW/ benchmarking services • ”Generation transfer” • Competitiveness analyses • Feeding • Economic evaluation • Breeding - economic • Breeding • Profit analyses • Investment teams • Book- keeping • Tax and subsidy • ”Through year” monitoring - efficiency - knowledge - environment • Book keeping • Training and auditing • Cattle registration

Advisory Services in practice • Advisory services primarily based on face to face advice at the farm, number of e-services increasing rapidly • An on-line advisor registry where the client can search for an advisor and make an appointment • The advisor charges the client for services • The overall advisor skill development is supported through an integrated knowledge management system and Advisor. Academy –in-service training • Additionally nationwide expert teams, which form a separate organization within the Pro. Agria group • Additionally active cooperation with other actors in the field

Evaluation – Pro. Agria services • • • Customer feedback evaluation "online", it means that immediately after service a farmer can give his comments Customer survey carried out annually (for example last year 1860 farmers answered) for the services made in whole country; 93 % of them agreed that they would recommend Pro. Agria services also to other farmer Pro. Agria serves 30 000 customers every year Service contract with MMM; every year topics to be focused on during the year are reviewed, revised and agreed Targets are set and evaluated in terms of the number of the services and the business data obtained from the farmers, e. g. how the farmer has succeeded in his farming (Pro. Agria also participates in collecting the FADN data)

THE FUTURE CHALLENGES OF ADVISORY SERVICES IN FINLAND UNTIL 2020 A scenario planning approach - Director, Ph. D Pasi Rikkonen, MTT -Director Markku Järvenpää, MTT - Director Jaakko Kivinen, Association of Pro. Agria Centres - Director Pentti Meriläinen, Association of Pro. Agria Centres Funded by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry

General goals of the project • This foresight project concentrates on the changes in agricultural operational environment in Finland until 2020 -2030 from a advisory services point of view • Uses as an input information results of a research project “Foresight of the agricultural policy and its operational environment (MAPTEN)” carried out between 2008 -2010 • The MAPTEN study applies various techniques used in futures studies such as • scenario building, • quantitative economic impact modeling from global to regional scale, and • utilisation of expert views through Delphi panels

Tasks of the project 1. Producing the basic scenario setup for the workshops based on the MAPTEN research project results 1. Utilising scenario planning approach to foresee the alternative future outcomes • Through two workshop days using participatory techniques 2. Carry out a survey to identify the changes of future costumers of advisory services

MTT Web-based Advisory Services 1) Artturi® web service - provides support forage production, preservation, harvesting, analysing and utilization in feeding for Finnish farms. The service is produced in partnership with Valio Ltd. 2) Rehutaulukot ”Feedtables” – Chemical composition, energy and protein values, amino acid, mineral and vitamin concentrations of feeds used in Finland. Nutrient requirements for dairy cows, growing cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, poultry, fur animals, horses. 3) Economydoctor – Monitoring the profitability of Finnish agricultural enterprises and reindeer farming; comparing with other European countries (FADN data) 4) Kasper. IT – supporting farmers in crop protection decisions and activities during the growing season

Key projects and pilot actions • The “Karja. Kompassi” (Cow. Compass) management tool has been developed by MTT and Pro. Agria for cattle farms to support process planning, ration formulation and overall economic optimisation of activities. The programme was launched for use on practical farms during the autumn of 2010 by the rural advisory service Pro. Agria. • Tilatest “three-legged” pilot action brings together research, advisory services and agricultural colleges to strengthen knowledge transfer and exchange, and to promote implementation of new tools and practices at the regional level. 39 teaching farms, nurseries and stables are involved alongside MTT and Pro. Agria, and act as working models for sustainable development. Initial focus themes: Ø Prediction and prevention of cereal diseases Ø Dairy farm production planning tools ØTechniques for cultivating protein crops