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Enabling smart farming in Europe

DISCLAIMER: All opinions in this column reflect the views of the author(s), not of EurActiv.com PLC.

23 Oct 2015 - 14:10 by Ulrich Adam (http://www.euractiv.com/authors/ulrich-adam)

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Smart machines and data-driven farm management. [John Deere]

(https://www.deere.com/en_INT/products/equipment/agricultural_management_solutions/documentation/documentation.page) Hi-tech farming touted as way to
green Europes food chain

The European Commission needs to step up its efforts to turn this smart farming (http://www.euractiv.com/sections/agriculture-
food/hi-tech-
opportunity into a success for farmers at all scales, writes Ulrich Adam
farming-touted-
way-green-
Ulrich Adam is the Secretary General of the European Agricultural Machinery Industry Association europes-food-
CEMA. chain-313516)
(http://www.euractiv.com/sections/agriculture-
food/hi-tech-farming-touted-way-green-europes-
food-chain-313516)
Farming is absolutely vital for every society. In the least developed countries, the large numbers US trade negotiator 'very
of people dependent on subsistence farming make this very obvious; in the rich EU member disappointed' at European GM
food ban
states only a tiny proportion of the population is directly engaged in farming, hence it is easy to
forget about its fundamental importance. (http://www.euractiv.com/sections/agriculture-
food/us-trade-
European agriculture has become amazingly productive because farmers have been ready to negotiator-
concerned-over-
make use of the best available technology as it is developed, whether in the form of higher-
european-gmo-
yielding, disease-resistant crop varieties, improved farm management techniques or more ban-314006)
efficient machinery. As the worlds population continues to grow towards an expected ten billion (http://www.euractiv.com/sections/agriculture-
over the next few decades, it is vital that such developments continue and that farmers are free to food/us-trade-negotiator-concerned-over-european-
make the most of them. Not only will EU farmers need to keep increasing the size of their gmo-ban-314006)
harvests in a resource-efficient and sustainable manner, but other countries will have to come
much closer to the best that Europe can do.

Much of the necessary improvement will come about through smarter farming techniques, which
help to optimise the agricultural production process and ultimately yields on every individual
(http://www.euractiv.com/sections/health-
square metre of productive land to avoid the need to plough up wildlife habitats. Precision consumers/officials-
farming techniques are now well established and continue to improve as collecting and analysing accuse-
vast amounts of data becomes ever more cost-effective. timmermans-
delaying-eu-
But its not just a question of industries such as the agricultural machinery manufacturers health-food-
providing the technology for farmers to use. National governments, the EU institutions, and the safety-rules-
313964)
European Commission in particular, have an important enabling role to play. In the specific case
of smart farming, policymakers have a dual role: on one hand, we need them to introduce
sensible, proportional regulation to allow safe and efficient use of new technology. On the other,
they need to actively facilitate the development and uptake of such innovative technology.

Regarding the first point: farming is already a highly-regulated sector, so the debate typically
focuses on the question of how the legislators can strike a reasonably good balance between
issuing new regulation and allowing farmers to get on with their job as efficiently as possible.
Unfortunately, the balance sometimes slips too far away from the user-perspective, i.e. the
farmer. As such, it is of fundamental importance that over-stringent regulations are not allowed
to stifle the potential of, for instance, the emerging generation of smart farm machinery.

Modern IT and data analysis tools are powerful and can really help meet the challenge of feeding
a growing population in more resource-efficient and sustainable ways. However, like anything
else, these technologies can be misused, and appropriate regulation is needed. So, gathering data
on a large scale can have privacy implications and these must be respected. Similarly, small
drones can be invaluable, but must be used responsibly and with care. But farmers are no
different from other citizens in this respect, and need no additional rules to abide by.

As technology changes, so must regulation. Already, some farmers are driving tractors which
steer their own highly accurate course in a field, minimising overlap, reducing the amount of soil
compaction and sowing seed or spreading fertilizer as efficiently as possible. Before too long, we
can expect fully autonomous farm machinery to be available. Farmers will be able to take them to
the field, program what needs to be done and leave the rest to the technology. Appropriate and
timely regulations to govern these developments will have to be put in place.

Regarding the other important enabling role active institutional support for smart farming a
range of priority measures come to mind: take broadband access, for example. Farmers are
increasingly reliant on accurate, reliable and timely data delivery, but rural areas often suffer from
rather poor broadband availability. High speed connectivity is important not just for farmers, but
for the entire rural economy. Policies to ensure that high-speed data transmission is as available
in the countryside as in our big cities are important for the whole of society.

Take another example. One of the beauties of smart machinery is that it can be useful at any
scale. So far, it is larger farmers who have benefitted most, as early adopters of what have been
smarter versions of farm machinery. For them, the investment has paid off handsomely in terms
of lower management and input costs and higher yields, but smaller farmers have often been
hesitant or unable to make such investments. As the technology develops fast and costs come
down, theres plenty that can be done by policymakers for example by further tweaks to the
Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) to encourage the uptake of smart technology by farmers at all
scales.

Equally importantly, young people need to be trained in software development and IT. The
farming sector itself needs bright young people to feed future populations. More and more, these
people also need to be tech-savvy. EU institutions and member states have an obligation to
nurture these vital skills via training initiatives and removing market barriers. Officials accuse Timmermans of delaying EU health,
food safety rules
(http://www.euractiv.com/sections/health-
To coordinate the above measures, we need a more coherent EU policy approach on smart
consumers/officials-accuse-timmermans-delaying-
farming and the digital transformation in agriculture. A dedicated Commission taskforce involving eu-health-food-safety-rules-313964)
the respective services should be put in place to formulate such an approach. Currently, this does
not seem to be the case yet. There are several Commission-led initiatives on precision farming
and smart machinery (such as the Working Group on Smart Farming under the Alliance for the European Commission clarifies
Internet of Things (AIOTI) under the remit of DG CONNECT and various activities under new GMO import rules
Horizon2020 and the European Innovation Partnership on 'Agricultural Productivity and
Sustainability' (EIP-AGRI) coordinated by DG Agriculture and Rural Development). But it is unclear (http://www.euractiv.com/sections/science-
in how far a regular, intra-institutional dialogue exists for them. Most importantly, since a good policymaking/commission-
clarifies-new-
deal of the innovation in smart farming will come from key support industries, the Commissions
gmo-import-
respective services for industrial policy, DG GROW, should also be involved in such a process.
rules-313819)
(http://www.euractiv.com/sections/science-
The benefits that can be expected from smart farming are immense. To reap them, we need well- policymaking/commission-clarifies-new-gmo-
crafted regulation, good training and infrastructure policies, and a coherent EU policy approach. import-rules-313819)
With such steps taken, European farming will be well equipped to meet tomorrows challenges.

Italy resists massive destruction of

by Ulrich Adam (http://www.euractiv.com/authors/ulrich-adam)
olive trees

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