Wageningen, The Netherlands
January 30, 2020
For many, smart farming is a prerequisite for the current and future challenges in agriculture. They see many opportunities, while others see many Challenges. This was discussed with a wide forum of organisations during a high level event in the European Parliament. The meetings was organised by Internet of Food and Farm 2020 and SmartAgriHubs, two major European programmes working on digitalisation, both coordinated by Wageningen University & Research.
Digitalisation
In the firsts session the discussion focused on the issue of digitisation. It provides huge potential, also in contributing to the Global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Use cases in the projects are reporting on KPIs linked to these SDGs for demonstrating realistic benefits. Others stress challenges like lacking digital skills or infrastructure. Several people stressed te importance of consumer trust, the essence of education and to re-connect consumers to food and farmers. Another important issue is the use of a Food System Approach, to assure the agriculture and also the farmers are part of a bigger system, that should be taken into account.
Data management is an important aspect of smart farming. Data governance was mentioned a topic that needs to be addressed properly. Digitalisation is an essential part of the Common Agricultural Policy and in particular included in the Farm to Fork strategy and in the Green Deal. Various representatives of industry mentioned Artificial intelligence (AI) as the next big wave in digitalization in agriculture.
Citizens
How can smart farming benefit European citizens? Smart farming is an important element of the nine objectives of the Common Agriculture Policy. Together with other programmes like Digital Europe Programme, Connecting Europe Facility and Horizon Europe, all can contribute to the Green Deal. Jannes Maes of CEJA (Young farmers association) stressed the opportunities provided by smart farming such as instant and remote management opportunities. He made it clear that it is important to include farmers into research projects and make the innovations accessible, as the farmers are essential for the implementation of the innovations. Accessibility has to deal with affordability but also with trust. The project coordinator George Beers, the last speaker during the meeting, stressed the connection with other sectors, outside the agriculture.
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