Training a new generation to become qualified professionals is a key strategy to strengthen the food distribution chain going “from our pastures to your table”. As well as encouraging young people to become shepherds (for instance, with the School for Young Shepherds created by CREA and the National Rural Network), it is equally important to train HoReCa professionals that know how to make the most of products from livestock systems focused on grazing. That is why LIFE Grace has chosen to activate training courses in vocational schools in the agriculture and hospitality sector, thus establishing itself as a virtuous example of integration between environmental protection, local economic development and innovative education.

The first school to collaborate with our project was the San Benedetto Institute of Higher Education in Latina, which launched a Teaching Unit dedicated to the meat sector. With the support of meat sector professionals, the Latina and Frosinone Board of Trade and other trade associations (FEDERCARNI e CONFCOMMERCIO), students took part in meat preparation and butchery labs.

The Teaching Unit included some theoretical lessons on the organoleptic properties of meat from grass-fed animals and practical labs taught by meat sector professionals. The students also organized a beef tartare tasting event at Coldiretti’s Campagna Amica Market and visited a livestock farm inside a Natura 2000 protected area, which has joined the Grace Network.

The Teaching Unit on grass-fed meat is proof of the school’s commitment to offering their students a curriculum that can provide them with the skills they need to successfully enter the job market. At the same time, they can contribute to the promotion of local food products and support the whole agri-food sector.

Given the success of the activities developed at the San Benedetto Institute and the students’ enthusiastic response, LIFE Grace contacted a second school, the Costaggini Institute of Higher Education in Rieti. On 1 December 2025, LIFE GRACE organized an event titled "Sustainable tourism and an ethical supply chain for the Italian "borghi": education, marketing and innovation in the kitchen”  for the 4th- and 5th-year students. 

Students listened to the first-hand experiences of Marco Dionisi, a farmer from the Reatini Mountains area who joined the LIFE Grace Business Network, and Francesco Paltoni, a manager at HQF Agricola S. p. A.

After that, a lab session took place, under the guidance of Mara Labella e Orlando Di Mario, who helped the students prepare several grass-fed meat dishes, including tartare accompanied by mousse of Itrano EVO olive oil and bacon, mini-hamburgers, rolls and skewers. 

Other photos from the day at Istituto San Benedetto:

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Photos from the event at Istituto Costaggini:

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