New roadmap for opportunities to increase digitilisation in agriculture industry
The roadmap outlines opportunities to increase digitalisation in the agri-food supply chain, and develop a marketplace for agriculture data.
A roadmap outlining opportunities to increase digitalisation in the agri-food supply chain and develop a marketplace for agriculture data has been launched.
The digitalisation roadmap is one of the key outputs of the two-year AgriDISCRETE project.
Funded by the Department of Agriculture, Food and Marine and led by the South East Technology University ICT research wing the Walton Institute, AgriDISCRETE examined digitalisation and data use in Irish agriculture.
Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine Martin Heydon said there has already been a widespread adoption of digital technologies by farmers such as smartphones, drones, and satellites.
"Online bidding in livestock marts is one of the latest successful examples," Mr Heydon said, attending the recent launch event.
"The AgriDISCRETE project has provided illuminating insights into potential benefits of agri-digitalisation which I believe will be of use to a broad range of actors throughout the agricultural sector including the primary producer.”
While the technical infrastructure is often in place, the project took a "broader view" to ensure social science and business modelling aspects were considered.
Partners included RIKON, a business research centre in the South East Technological University, and Teagasc’s rural development unit, which provided social sciences expertise.
Outlining the process for developing the roadmap, Kieran Sullivan, project manager, said the project team held six roundtable workshops with agriculture providers and farmers to identify challenges the sector is experiencing when considering digitalisation.
"These workshops were invaluable to the findings illustrated in the roadmap which describes five core challenges and related opportunities to increase the use of digital technologies in Irish agriculture, and develop a marketplace for agriculture data," Mr Sullivan said.
Walton Institute executive director Kevin Doolin said that the findings of the project "are of extreme importance" as Ireland sets out its strategic plan for implementing the EU’s new Common Agricultural Policy, "where data is required to increase efficiency at farm level, transparency for consumers, and collaboration between supply chain actors".
"As a team who work closely with agriculture stakeholders and policymakers throughout Europe, we are excited to see the future of this roadmap and the use of data in the Irish agricultural industry," Mr Doolin added.
In addition to the roadmap, several pieces of software were written to demonstrate a proof-of-concept in the project. The software created a marketplace that allows data providers and data consumers to build working relationships and engage in contract negotiation for access to various types of agriculture data.
The software is now being further developed and examined to identify possible intellectual property and exploitation avenues. In the last five years, the Walton Institute has secured funding in excess of €140m under EU programmes. It was established 25 years ago.
