Digitalisation and AI: Forum Event Looks at the Future for Agriculture
Author: Liz WILSON
Digitalisation in agriculture is advancing rapidly, raising questions about its benefits and challenges. A special Forum for the Future of Agriculture event, co-hosted by MEP Maria GRAPINI, took place on Thursday June 26 at the European Parliament in Brussels. It aimed to share expertise on digital agriculture’s promise, practicalities, and policy implications. This event served as a follow-up to a discussion held in January 2024.
Mark TITTERINGTON, Co-founder and Director of the Forum for the Future of Agriculture and Moderator, acknowledged Microsoft as the Forum’s first tech partner and co-organizer of the event.
Perspectives from Maria GRAPINI
Maria GRAPINI, Member of the European Parliament from Romania, who also serves as Vice President of the Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee (IMCO) and a member of the Agriculture Committee underlined digitalisation in agriculture as vitally important, particularly for addressing rural depopulation and fostering related industries. She was pleased at the ongoing debates within the European Parliament to integrate innovation and digitalisation into the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).
Insights from the World Bank
Kateryna SCHROEDER, Senior Agriculture Economist, Global Engagement unit of the Agriculture and Food Global Department, The World Bank, joined online – on the day the Bank soft-launched its report Harnessing Artificial Intelligence for Agricultural Transformation – and gave a comprehensive view of the current state of AI across the agricultural value chain.
AI is drastically amplifying the promise of digital agriculture by identifying patterns in massive, diverse datasets and simulating complex scenarios related to weather, soil, pests, and diseases, she said. There is significant growth in AI for agriculture, projected to rise from $1.5 billion in 2023 to over $10 billion by 2032.
The World Bank report highlights 60 promising and scalable AI applications, which will also be available on an accompanying dashboard. Ms SCHROEDER shared numerous examples. (…)
Panel 1 – Agtech at the crossroads: Promise vs. practicality
Mark TITTERINGTON welcomed Daniela LÜTH, Policy Officer, DG Research & Innovation, B2 – Bioeconomy & Food Systems, European Commission; Alin LUCULEASA, Farmer member, Romanian AGRINNOVATOR ThinkTank; Jørgen AUDENAERT, Manager, Small Grains Production System Innovation & Dairy and Livestock, John Deere; and Stefan SCHNEIDER, Space Downstream Entrepreneurship Officer, EUSPA (EU Agency for the Space Programme).
He invited them to state what excites them most about AI and digitalisation in transforming the agri-food system. Mark then asked follow-up questions of individual panellists on specific points.
How do we move research from pilot applications to scale in a collaborative way?
Daniela LÜTH: Horizon Europe’s work program (Cluster 6) for 2025 has a strong focus on innovation actions, with one-third of projects requiring a high Technology Readiness Level (TRL 5-8). The European Innovation Council (EIC) is providing €10 billion for activities from lower TRLs (TRL 1-4,) to market-ready solutions. Additionally, a new EU Startup and Scaleup Strategy aims to address the gap between excellent research and market scaling, focusing on capacity building and capital investment.
How are digital tools and technologies changing day-to-day operations ?
Alin LUCULEASA: Data from digital tools allows tailored decisions for each field, which had led to a 50% reduction in fertilizer use across the entire farm without yield loss. Real-time satellite imagery provides detailed stress maps, highlighting water deficit, disease, and nutrient shortages, enabling precise, spot-specific treatments instead of widespread chemical application. However, the biggest challenge is his team’s reluctance to embrace new systems, due to fears of losing control, requiring him to carry out constant monitoring and intervention.
What do customers say about how technology transforms daily operations, and are there regional differences?
Jørgen AUDENAERT: The key for customers is to understand and see the value of new solutions on their farms, and for easy-to-implement due to tight time windows. This often involves training, which John Deere invests in, along with developing specialists within their distribution channels. They also measure technology utilization and outcomes to identify where further support or user experience improvements are needed.
What are the current limitations of satellite technology in agriculture and how are they being overcome?
Stefan SCHNEIDER: Adoption is progressing well, there is engagement in the industry. Limitations include frequency of observation (every 4-5 days): bad weather limiting visibility; processing time for large volumes of data.
Despite these, the industry is creative, as in EUSPA’s new High Accuracy Service, narrowing navigation signals to a decimetre level for greater precision. One significant challenge is interoperability between different systems from various companies, which farmers frequently report as an issue and EUSPA cannot directly solve.
A consensus on the future: revolution ahead
After questions from the audience, Mark asked the panellists: By 2035, will AI and digitalisation have revolutionized agriculture, or will we see normal technological innovation? The consensus was revolution or disruption if that term if preferred. As Daniela LÜTH said: “it’s going to come fast”.
Panel 2 – Navigating governance: Policy challenges in agri-digitalisation
Tassos HANIOTIS, Special Advisor for Sustainable Productivity, Forum for the Future of Agriculture; Senior Guest Research Scholar, IIASA; Pierluigi LONDERO, Head of Data Governance, DG AGRI, European Commission; Ornella COSOMATI, Director Europe Energy and Sustainability Policy, Microsoft.
Mark TITTERINGTON opened as in panel 1, by asking panellists what excites them? The discussion that followed was around what is needed to fully unlock these aspects.
Pierluigi LONDERO of DG AGRI highlighted three key areas: productivity, simplification and complex agricultural practices.
Ornella COSOMATI, from Microsoft, emphasized AI’s role in decarbonizing industries, including farming, by maximizing efficiency. She shared examples, including enabling measurement, improving efficiency, and supporting carbon farming. Ms COSOMATI introduced Azure Data Manager for Agriculture (ADMA), a Microsoft tool designed to empower farmers with data-driven insights, and Microsoft’s AI chatbot (Co-pilot) to answer simple questions and inform decisions. She also highlighted Terrain AI, a modelling platform developed with an Irish research centre, which allows governments to test policies before implementation.
Tassos HANIOTIS said that “AI is here to stay and grow, there is no way of stopping it,” but like any technology, it brings both opportunities and challenges, as well as benefits and costs that aren’t always directly linked. In agriculture, AI has applications where the benefits outweigh by far whatever costs we see – “although we don’t necessarily believe it.”
He made three key points: Data quantity is growing exponentially, but quality control is decreasing. Use of data means AI has significant potential for improving land management, leading to measurable outcomes for sustainability. AI can help bridge the gap between economic and environmental aspects in policy. And abuse of data “scares people” – there is a critical need for a flexible public policy framework that avoids past mistakes, ensures interoperability, and provides incentives.
Mark then opened a round of questions to the participants.
To close the event, Mark repeated his earlier question to the panellists : By 2035 will AI and digitalisation be revolution or incremental technological innovation? The answers indicated a strong consensus for revolution, albeit with a recognition of challenges like the digital divide.You can read the full version of the summary or rewatch the event on the Forum’s website: www.forumforag.com
