LFI Österreich

What it is

LFI Österreich is the national organization of the Ländliches Fortbildungsinstitut, Austria's rural education institute, which runs adult education for farmers and farm families in all nine Austrian states. The listing covers its online courses (Onlinekurse), the self-paced e-learning that lets a farmer finish a course at the kitchen table instead of driving to a seminar. The national organization sits at Schauflergasse 6 in Wien, and the site has regional branches for Burgenland, Kärnten, Niederösterreich, Oberösterreich, Salzburg, Steiermark, Tirol, Vorarlberg and Wien. The site is in German.

The institute's own line for its digital offer is "Eine Weiterbildung findet dort statt, wo man gerade ist!" (training takes place wherever you happen to be). Its footer notes that LFI is certified to ISO 9001:2015.

How the online courses work

The online courses page describes e-learning that participants can take "zeit- und ortsunabhängig im individuellen Tempo von zu Hause aus" (independent of time and place, at your own pace, from home) and repeat as often as they like. You work through the course on your own computer or tablet, in whatever amount and rhythm suits you. The courses are built "mit Bild, Ton, Anleitungen, Übungen, Wissenschecks und Checklisten" (with pictures, sound, instructions, exercises, knowledge checks and checklists) and can be opened at any time. LFI frames this as modern learning that takes account of the demands of running a farm and of personal life.

Signing up is a short process. You register for the course you want with your name, address, date of birth, farm number (Betriebsnummer) and email address. Within 3 working days you receive personal login details for the eLFI learning platform, and you can then use the course as often as you like for a set period. When you finish, you print your own certificate of attendance (Teilnahmebestätigung). The online courses page lists no course fees.

The technical requirements are modest and spelled out:

• basic computer skills, including handling a mouse and keyboard;
• a computer, laptop or tablet with a current browser (Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox or Apple Safari), with an explicit warning that a smartphone is not recommended;
• broadband internet, with a link to the netztest.at bandwidth test;
• speakers or headphones.

To see how it works first, you can try free demo courses (Kostenlose Demokurse zum Ausprobieren). The page also links to two explainer videos, a guide for online course participants and an FAQ.

Required training from home

The most practical use of the online courses is mandatory training. The page says in its headline that obligations such as TGD and plant protection expertise (Pflanzenschutzsachkunde) "können bequem von zu Hause aus absolviert werden" (can be completed comfortably from home). The related course collections show what that covers:

• refresher training for the plant protection certificate (Pflanzenschutz-Sachkundeausweis);
• TGD training, including an online course on the TGD farm survey for poultry (TGD-Betriebserhebung Geflügel);
• training for ÖPUL 2023;
• training for direct marketers selling their own produce;
• training for providers of Schule am Bauernhof (school on the farm) and for Seminarbäuerinnen;
• courses in business management (Unternehmensführung);
• a course package on pig farming covering the basics, the law and animal welfare.

The site also points to a series of new online courses on everyday office software for Windows 10 and Office 365-2019, so the e-learning reaches past farming topics into computer skills.

The wider LFI program

The online courses are one part of a digital learning section that also includes LIVE online events, webinars, and two formats LFI calls Farminare and Cookinare. The course search at the top of the site shows 2,054 courses available across the institute's whole program.

The home page's list of upcoming courses gives a feel for the range: water-efficient arable farming in Niederösterreich, strudel variations at a cooking school in Steiermark, an online seminar on calf rearing in Salzburg, a preparatory course for the agricultural skilled worker exam in Tirol, a forest walk for women in Oberösterreich, the Kräuterpädagogik (herbal education) certificate course in Vorarlberg, and a sewing class with a master tailor in Burgenland.

Longer certificate courses (Zertifikatslehrgänge) are listed as their own section. Two programs show how LFI works with farmers beyond single courses. Seminarbäuerinnen and Seminarbauern are, in the site's words, experienced and trained farmers who pass on knowledge about regional food; the first nationwide meeting of Seminarbäuerinnen and Schule am Bauernhof providers drew around 130 participants. Schule am Bauernhof offers to swap the classroom for open nature, the field, the meadow and the forest. The ZAMm course on agricultural policy gave around 80 farmers a look at policy making and the institutions behind it, and 40 joined its study trip on European agricultural policy.

LFI also publishes brochures to download or read online, recently "Imkerei in Österreich" (beekeeping) and "Legehennenhaltung" (laying hens). The site lists nationwide education projects, a resource check that farms and forestry businesses can run on their own operation, and Happy am Hof, a set of prevention and support offers for farm families. A monthly newsletter keeps subscribers up to date. For planning, learners can save courses to a personal watch list (Merkliste), order the printed education program, look up funding (Förderungen) and find training and advice near them on an education and advisory map. After an event, a feedback form collects their view of it. The institute also runs working group advisory for farms (Arbeitskreisberatung) and an organic vegetable platform, both linked from the same site as the learning platform e.lfi.at.

Who it suits

LFI's online courses suit Austrian farmers who have to keep a plant protection certificate current or meet TGD training obligations and would rather do the required hours at home, on their own schedule, than travel to a seminar. They also suit direct marketers, Schule am Bauernhof providers and Seminarbäuerinnen who need regular refresher training for their role. Farmers who want to sharpen their office computer skills will find software courses in the same place.

The courses are written for the Austrian farming system, in German, and built around Austrian rules such as ÖPUL and the TGD. Someone outside Austrian agriculture will find little beyond the computer courses that applies to them. For a farm family already in LFI's world, though, the online courses take the travel out of training they would have to do anyway, and the free demo courses let a hesitant first-timer see how the platform works before signing up.