The Data Driven Dairy Decisions for Farmers (4D4F) thematic network will focus on the role which dairy animal and environmental sensors can play in collecting real time information to help make more informed decisions in dairy farming. The network will develop a Community of Practice comprised of farmers, farm advisors, technology suppliers, knowledge exchange professionals and researchers who will work together to debate, collect and communicate best practice drawn from innovative farmers, industry and the research community to facilitate the co-creation of best practice. The results will be communicated to farmers using best practice guides on the use of sensors and data analysis tools supported by videos, infographics and an online virtual warehouse of dairy sensor technologies. The network will include the development of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) which can be tailored to individual farms to help farmers and farm advisors adopt dairy sensor and data analysis technology. The SOPs will be developed by working groups of the Community of Practice including farmers, farm advisors, technology suppliers, knowledge exchange professionals and researchers, who will work together to develop farmer friendly SOPs. The on line Community of Practice and published communication tools will be complimented by on farm events and workshops to help farmers and farm advisors implement innovative sensor and data analysis technologies. The workshops and events will promote discussion between farmers and their peers on how best to use sensors and data analysis in their own businesses. This will lead to local peer to peer support to facilitate the adoption of data driven dairy decision making. The network will work closely with EIP Agri and at member state level it will work with existing EIP Operational Groups working on dairy data and sensors and, where suitable Operational Groups do not exist, it will work with local partners to develop new Operational Groups.

SF4S is a collaborative action with partners from HEIs, VET providers, innovation networks and business entities from the Agri-food, Health and the Mobility sectors. It supports our transition to a more sustainable European economy by helping to address the lack of green, digital and future (i.e. sustainability foresight) skills among students and professionals and by connecting knowledge flows between HEI, VET and industry actors that are necessary for Europe to develop cooperative solutions on a large-scale and support the recommendations for action in the major reports: Green Deal, NextGenerationEU, European Skills Agenda and OECD Future of Education and Skills 2030. We do this by advancing and scaling an innovative approach that we call Strategic Foresight for Sustainability (SF4S) based on best practices and methods from corporate foresight, sustainability management, green business models, digital skills and green product/service development across value chains and industries. SF4S is based on an entrepreneurial cooperative approach in our community of practice of 250 industry professionals and 100 HEIs, which develop engagement and insight from the three industries through 130 interviews, four large-scale co-development projects and the development, testing and deployment of learning and training materials for HEIs, VETs and business sector through the community. The ambition is pan-European, and 400 students will initially be reached through the SF4S project and its open access materials. The living community of practice will scale beyond the project itself, and into other industries. The long-term impact, which in itself is a starting point for European-wide transition, will be three industries adopting new sets of futures and future sustainability foresight skills, and both VET and HEI students entering the workforce with Foresight for Sustainability skills that enable them to create actions that support the long-term green transition that Europe needs.