Project Living Lab and consortium meeting in Estonia
SustainIT partners met in Tartu on Oct. 12th and 13th for a Project Living Lab and consortium meeting at the Estonian University of Life Sciences. Partners reviewed the progress on each WP, planned the Country Living Labs (CLLs) for the reminder of the project and elaborated the details on the publications and dissemination activities. 16 CLLs have been conducted so far with several CLLs coming up in the end of this year and beginning of 2024. Detailed publications and presentations on LLs and its methodology, databases, data exchange, digital solutions for management, ICT and business models, business model innovation, consumer survey results, data spaces for agriculture are in the works.
The consortium meeting provided an opportunity for partners to visit the new dairy plant of Epiim in Paide with a tour hosted by Randel Veerits the plant director at Paide. Epiim is the largest cross-border European dairy cooperative in the Baltic States with 200 dairy producers in Estonia and Latvia and the company is one of the largest cheese, butter and milk powder producer in Estonia. Epiim is in the process of finishing the construction of its new dairy plant in Paide and ramping up the production with the plan to reach its full capacity in next year. The new plant is the most modern dairy plant in the Baltic region as well as the most significant investment into state-of-the-art dairy processing facilities and processing capacity in the last decades.
SustainIT partners visited Estonian Animal Recording Centre that manages and records the database for the performance of dairy cattle, beef animals, pigs and goats, provides the genetic evaluation of livestock and testing of the quality of milk. The SustainIT team was met by Piret Kalmus (DVM) and Kaido Ilves, the head of the Estonian Animal Recording Centre, who provided the insights on the use of the database, implementation of herd health program in Estonia, the support scheme for higher management requirements for animal health with the demonstration of the database. Estonian Animal Recording Center has been invaluable partner participating in SustainIT CLLs and providing input the various SustainIT activities in Estonia.
Many thanks for Randel Veerits and Epiim cooperative, Kaido Ilves and the Estonian Animal Recording Center, Piret Kalmus from Estonian University of Life Sciences for their time and hospitality.
