On 8 January, Minister of Agriculture Armands Krauze visited Malnava College of the Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies (LBTU), where he discussed preparations for hosting the international vocational skills competition AgroChallenge 2027 in Latvia, as well as the development of vocational agricultural education.
The Minister of Agriculture was briefed on the college's results for 2025, which demonstrate a purposeful, labour-market-oriented development of vocational education and led to the college receiving the award “Educational Institution of the Year for the Labour Market”. The visit also included conversations with the college's students about the learning process and future opportunities in the agricultural sector.
“Young people see their future in modern, technology-based agriculture, and that is essential to the sustainability of the entire sector. It is in all our interests to strengthen vocational agricultural education in the regions, because that is precisely where the sector's next generation and its practical knowledge take shape,” stressed Minister of Agriculture Armands Krauze.
The meeting covered the ways in which the Ministry of Agriculture could become involved in and support the organisation of the AgroChallenge 2027 competition in Latvia, one of the most significant vocational skills competitions in agricultural education in Europe. It is an international competition that will bring together participants from vocational education institutions in more than 25 European countries and will make a significant contribution to raising the profile of Latvian agricultural education in Europe. LBTU Malnava College has already proved its international competitiveness by taking 4th place at AgroChallenge 2025 in the Netherlands.
College representatives introduced the Minister to plans to begin taking part from 2026 in the Erasmus+ programme project “Centres of Agricultural AI Vocational Excellence” (CAAIVE). Under the project, working closely with farmers, industry companies and policymakers, one of Europe's regional centres of excellence will be established at Malnava College. The project's results will be integrated into both vocational education and practical farming.
An important place during the visit will likewise be given to a presentation of the micro-qualification programme “Precision Technologies in Agriculture”, which concluded at the college in 2025. The programme was developed as part of a micro-qualifications pilot project run by Vidzeme University of Applied Sciences and the Ministry of Education and Science, providing course content on precision agriculture, sensor technologies, data analysis, sustainability and innovation management. The training was attended by prospective and practising farmers alike, as well as industry professionals and the college's teaching staff, confirming the importance of micro-qualifications in lifelong learning and in strengthening the competitiveness of the agricultural sector.
The Minister noted that what he saw at Malnava College demonstrates the purposeful development of vocational education and its close links with the needs of the sector.
“Malnava College shows that vocational agricultural education in Latvia is developing purposefully, closely linking the learning process with the needs of the sector, with innovation and with international cooperation,” Armands Krauze acknowledged.
LBTU Malnava College is the only vocational education institution in Latvia where agriculture-related education can be obtained both at secondary vocational level and at short-cycle higher education (college) level.