The results of the project will continue to be actively disseminated by the coordinating beneficiary and the associated beneficiaries also after the financed lifespan of OPAL-Life project. After-LIFE Plan will be tailored step-by-step as an ongoing process according to the outcomes of the project and it will be finalized during the final stages of the project.
The project website will be maintained and updated in real time with e.g. information on research processes and progress, major outcomes and breakthroughs, project related happenings and media events. Layman’s report, brochures, posters and other publications, as well as photos and videos of the demonstration sites and events will be utilized in the dissemination activities which the coordinating beneficiary and associated partners will be committed to continue at appropriate events. The project will be presented at different conferences and fairs, which will take place both in Finland and in other EU countries.
The coordinating beneficiary and associated beneficiaries will be committed to continue dialogue with the extension services and farmers union to distribute the knowledge gained to wider audience. Furthermore, dialogue with the scientific community will continue also after the lifespan of OPAL-Life project. Information of the demonstration sites will also be included in the final version of the project brochure and in the website according to the preferences of the participating pilot farmers. Also research, development and dissemination related collaboration is foreseen to continue as is often the typical case in the Finnish scientist-farmer collaboration.
The results and experience from the project will be utilized by the coordinating beneficiary in various new national, regional and EU projects that will be tailored for the pertinent calls.
Methods employed:
- Knowledge obtained will be incorporated into the advisory material distributed by extension service (ProAgria, NSL)
- Knowledge obtained will be incorporated into the curriculum of Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry in University of Helsinki
- Land use optimization tool, publications and information produced in the project will be implemented for the planning processes of the next phase Agri-Environment Program and as appropriate for other policy development processes
- Land use optimization tool and the demonstration maps indicating field allocation to intensified and extensified production as well as for afforestation will be implemented and if needed further modified for regional scale land use planning
- Dialogue with scientific community will be carried out to enforce research program preparation processes and to generate new projects basing on and applying, when appropriate, novel understanding and methods provided with OPAL-Life project
- In the case that national large-scale implementation of the proposed land use changes will take place, it is likely that follow-up surveys will be carried out at national and regional scale to record and quantify the reductions in yield gaps as well as in environmental footprint of agriculture