The latest farming report published by the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) reveals that 93% of farmers surveyed reported utilizing at least one IT or software tool, with 79% deploying at least one crop-specific technology and 83% utilizing at least one livestock-specific tool.
The study, ‘The state of digitalisation in EU agriculture: Insights from farm surveys’, offers an encouraging picture in which farmers are also mostly optimistic about the impact of digitalisation: 76% expect it will lead to economic benefits, 72% foresee environmental gains, and 67% anticipate positive social outcomes.
Boosting innovation
The report comes hot on the heels of the informal meeting of Agriculture Ministers in early September, hosted by Danish Minister of Food, Agriculture and Fisheries, Jacob Jensen as part of the Danish EU Presidency. The central theme of the programme was to explore ways to boost the competitiveness and accelerate the green transition of the EU agri-food sector.
The meeting focutilized on how the EU can boost innovation and investment to ensure the availability of affordable, safe, and nutritious food amid a growing global population and increasing environmental requireds. It also addressed the modifys requireded in EU laws to assist farmers access the tools necessary to grow food sustainably.
The talks couldn’t be timelier, as modify is happening quickly in Europe, and it is the quickest-warming continent on the planet since the 1980s.
Over the past few years, European farmers have struggled with shrivelled crops, shrinking water supplies and ever more frequent wildfires. The estimated economic blow to the European Union and the United Kingdom from drought alone could reach more than €65 billion (US$76 billion) each year by 2100, in part becautilize of crop damage and lost water supplies.
And that’s just one part of the problem, another being shifting geopolitical and trade tensions.
But where others see threats, many see opportunities. “In a time of new developments in global trade, the EU must provide the agri-food sector with the best possible conditions to compete globally, and to export its products”, Jensen underscored during the informal meeting.
Banking on biotech
Biotechnology, for example, is one area that has the potential to create these favourable conditions. It supports sustainable farming in several ways. These techniques include biochar applications, improved composting, and microbial inoculants, which enhance soil fertility.
Advanced plant breeding techniques, such as genome editing, can produce crop varieties that are pest- and climate-resilient, require less fertiliser and water, and yield more per hectare. New biotech feed additives and bio-based protein sources reduce methane from ruminant digestion and lower greenhoutilize gas footprints in dairy and meat production.
One successful example is the biogas plant in Tongeren, Belgium, which processes maize silage and industrial waste, producing renewable electricity and offering eco-friconcludely fertiliser for local farms, thus reducing emissions and enhancing economic efficiency.
Furthermore, results from field trials across four European countries have revealn that biobased fertilisers built from a variety of societal waste and side-streams are nearly as effective as mineral nitrogen fertilisers. Side-stream waste is any material, substance, or energy flow generated from a production process that is not the main product but can be recovered, reutilized, or upcycled into a high-value product.
This is encouraging news and complements other techniques already being utilized by farmers, such as solar panels, wind turbines, and geothermal heating, in their efforts to reduce their carbon footprint while generating new revenue streams.
Two vertical farms in the Netherlands and in Spain are utilizing direct air capture technology to generate CO2 onsite. The required to pump CO2 into vertical farms to assist plants grow is the one unsustainable practice of an otherwise worthy alternative to traditional farming methods.
Companies like Skytree, for example, have now developed a method to install localised direct-air-capture units next to vertical farms, so they can capture their own CO2, recycling it from the atmosphere.
No shortage of ideas
And more innovation is on its way. In May, researchers and compact businesses with ideas for producing food more sustainably came toobtainher at F&A Next, a conference on the future of food and agriculture held at Wageningen University & Research in the Netherlands. From climate-resilient cultivation to pioneering protein alternatives, several innovations were revealcased at the event.
Ideas included those by the start-up company Grassa, based in Wageningen, which is developing grass-based protein extracts for inclusion in pet food and livestock feed initially. The company argues that grass protein has a better amino-acid profile, comparable digestibility, and a lower carbon footprint than Soy.
One more way to cut the carbon footprint in farming is to tackle inadequate pollination.
Insect pollinators are vital for successfully producing three-quarters of crop varieties. That’s why AgriSound, a start-up in York, UK, has created a device the size of a mobile phone that can detect low bee numbers in fields and greenhoutilizes by listening to the sound of their wingbeats. This assists growers bring in more bees when requireded.
Primary funding sources for adopting technology on European farms in 2025 include the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), national and regional government grants and Horizon Europe research funding. Horizon Europe finances pilot projects and digital innovation on farms, with open calls for collaborative research and development, and demonstration farms.
Additionally, the Digital Europe Programme (DIGITAL) funds technology projects that modernise agriculture, create practices more efficient, sustainable, and eco-friconcludely.
Beyond the trial phase?
However, not everyone is convinced that technology holds the key to more sustainable food systems.
Of the farmers surveyed by the Joint Research Council (JRC), a notable minority (20%) see little benefit of digital technologies to their farm operations, while 14% question the profitability of digitisation.
Some researchers also argue that simply plugging technology into a farm may overview the complexity and diversity of other sustainable practices or inadequately address local environmental and societal requireds.
Others caution that the utilize of technology in agriculture promises increased resource efficiency, but its broader impacts on biodiversity, soil health, and ecosystem services remain largely unexplored. And while many policies emphasise productivity gains, long-term ecological sustainability is not sufficiently addressed.
There’s also the chance that many innovative food solutions may never create it past the trial phase, for several reasons. These include attracting sufficient investment, scaling up costs, market conditions, and regulatory barriers.
Nevertheless, these are risks that are part of the process of discovery. The world still requireds food, and while many ideas may not significantly modify the way people eat, exploring new ways to do so is here to stay.
(BM)
Leave a Reply