GSS EU Science Funding Gateway

Agroecological farming systems have great potential to enhance the sustainability performance of agriculture and agricultural value chains that contribute to the objectives of the EU farm to fork strategy and also brings a higher level of complexity to farming systems.

Digital technologies and agricultural equipment can play a key role in improving the performance of agroecological approaches at farm and territorial level, and boosting their uptake by farmers, inter alia by supporting their decisionmaking on farming practices. These technologies, which include artificial intelligence, geospatial technology, advanced image analysis procedures, the internet of things (IoT), robotics and sensors, are available and can be applied to most farming approaches. Activities should contribute to road-mapping for the improved productivity and sustainability performance of agroecological farming systems by assessing the availability of digital, data-based solutions tailored to agroecological farming and the potential to adapt “standard” digital technologies used in agriculture to the specific requirements of agroecological approaches for farm and landscape management. Proposals should document specific needs for digital technologies to support agroecological farming approaches, at farm, territorial and regional / national level.   In collaboration with a wide range of stakeholders, including farmers, the private and public sector as well as consumer representatives, proposals should develop a roadmap for R&I on digital technologies to support agroecology in the EU and Associated Countries.