Workshop on digital farming hosts European institutions and other important key stakeholders / Contributors debate the challenges and opportunities of digital technologies in agriculture
Case IH has publicly committed to aiding the development of digital agriculture by working with others in the industry to help farmers overcome barriers of adoption to new technologies.
At the recent workshop on digitising European farming equipment organised by EURACTIV, a leading independent international media network specialised in European policies, the Vice President for Case IH Europe, Africa and Middle East, Thierry Panadero, spoke about how digital farming represents the natural development of what the precision farming era has begun.
“While precision farming has enabled farmers to more easily gather data, digital farming is now allowing them to develop the application of that data and make their businesses, and the whole industry of farming and food production, more targeted and more efficient,” said Mr Panadero.
“As a leading farm equipment company, we strive to anticipate technological change. Case IH already offers technologies that play a part in this exciting new era, and is continuing to develop others. These digital technologies can help farmers to farm more sustainably, through systems such as AccuTurn, which automates headland turns and so minimises trafficked soil areas. They increase efficiency, through a more precise use of the data gathered by our Advanced Farming System terminals, to help plan applications and record yields. They can even help farming become more socially responsible, through the use of our RTK+ correction signal, with pass-to-pass accuracy of 2.5cm, to eliminate overlaps and over-application of fertiliser, seed and other inputs. And they can ensure security of data, automating recording so that farmers have exact cost and production details at their fingertips, and buyers can be even more confident in the produce they are purchasing.”
The workshop’s aim was to provide a clear definition of ‘Farming 4.0’ – the description for the digital age now underway, and which has followed the eras of mechanisation, the green revolution and precision farming – and to debate the challenges and the opportunities of such technologies. Discussions centred around potential solutions to overcome the barriers of adoption of such technologies, and how farm machinery manufacturers such as Case IH can help in the digitalisation of agriculture in Europe.
The meeting was attended by key figures with interests in the development of digital farming. They included Louis Mahy, research programme officer, Research and Innovation Unit at European Commission DG AGRI; Max Schulman, farmer; chair of Cereals Working Party from COPA-COGECA; Ivo Hostens, technical director, European Agricultural Machinery Industry (CEMA) and Mute Schimpf, Food, Agriculture and Biodiversity, Friends of the Earth Europe.
“By working together as an industry, we can help farmers overcome the obstacles to digitising their businesses, be part of the EU’s quest to support agricultural innovation, bring analogue machinery into the digital age and ensure that the skills of those involved in agriculture are put to the most productive use. Digital farming is not just about the machinery used for farming – it’s also about the people involved in it.”
