The HBLFA Raumberg-Gumpenstein, in collaboration with Agroscope/Switzerland, created the scientific basis for a broad introduction of life cycle assessment of agricultural businesses in Austria. The farm management tool FarmLife not only shows the profitability of the business but also its environmental impact and offers support in the successful further development of the business.
The ever-growing interest in FarmLife required a concept of how comprehensive basic and applied knowledge could be disseminated. In addition to farmers, the target group is also advisors and teachers. Together with the Vienna University of Agricultural and Environmental Education, extensive educational material was developed, which is available online to every teacher at agricultural schools in Austria in the form of a comprehensive Moodle course. The FarmLife tool enables parallel use of the appropriate teaching/learning material.
A short introductory film on www.farmlife.at introduces the topic and discusses the goals of FarmLife. After receiving the detailed and easy-to-understand operational results, farm managers can work out development steps for their business directly in the FarmLife tool. Students gain access to the results of anonymized project operations and can answer questions interactively. Links to more in-depth literature expand the offering.
In order to achieve the appropriate multiplier effect, application workshops for teachers and consultants were held throughout Austria. On the one hand, the background of FarmLife as well as its application as a farm manager were explained. On the other hand, the Moodle course was introduced to the teachers and the parallel work with the tool and documents was demonstrated.
A broad implementation of the ecological assessment of agricultural operations with FarmLife promotes the ongoing development of the operations in economic and ecological terms.
