Information and communication technologies (ICT) are everywhere. They are revolutionizing the way we work, the way we think and our very way of life. Therefore it is not surprising that ICT are also at the heart of the President of the European Commission’s agenda through the digital economy objective.
The way how ICT are affecting the agro food sector is often underestimated. But the need of agricultural information and communication provided by GPS, drones, automatic robots and social media is already important and keeps on growing in parallel to the pace of change in the ICT industry. With a growing global population and limited resources, agriculture will have to produce more food while limiting its emissions and preserving the environment. In the agricultural sector, ICT constitute one of the areas of innovation with the highest potential to tackle such important challenges and some promising technologies, such as those linked to the analysis and share of farm data, are just starting to be used.
How will these new technologies impact European farm practice in the near future? What are the major trends and opportunities to be expected from ICT, including common issues in the agro food sector such as product marketing, meteorological previsions, forecasts on commodity markets or item delivery to the consumer? Which contributions on the sustainable intensification of agriculture could offer ICT? How could these new technologies be best empowered by the farmers and how could the State best support an integrative and smooth adaptation?
Biographies
