Digitalization and Agriculture

Digitalisation has long permeated many areas of agriculture. A significant part of administration, accounting, and subsidy application processes on most farms is already carried out digitally. New technologies can make agriculture more efficient, enable better decision-making, contribute to sustainable production, and offer many other diverse opportunities.

Objectives

Digitalisation is creating a wide range of new opportunities in arable farming and grassland management: machines can be connected to the internet and numerous data points can be automatically collected and analysed. This enables areas to be managed more precisely, efficiently, and in a more environmentally friendly way. The Ministry aims to promote these positive developments and contribute to ensuring that they are accessible to all farms.

What we are working on

To achieve these goals, the Ministry has launched various initiatives, projects, and funding programmes:

• Applicability of new technologies, trends, and developments in agriculture
  Through the Innovation Farm located at the sites Wieselburg, Raumberg-Gumpenstein, and Mold, new technologies are tested and prepared for practical application. Through close integration with education, training, and agricultural advisory services, the knowledge gained is quickly transferred to farms.
• Free RTK signal for agriculture
  Due to an administrative agreement with the Federal Office of Metrology and Surveying, the APOS RTK signal has been provided free of charge to agriculture since 1 February 2021. This forms an important basis for the application and further development of precision farming in Austria.
• Education and training for teachers and advisory staff
  A comprehensive continuing education programme at the University of Agriculture and Environmental Education provides the necessary training and further qualification. With its own Institute for E-Learning and E-Didactics, the university provides important impulses.
• Funding of research projects related to digitalisation
  The Ministry promotes practice-oriented research and supports research in the field of digitalisation. In addition to existing activities, the Federal Ministry of Agriculture currently provides two million euros for applied research projects with a focus on digitalisation that seek practical solutions.
• Modern education at higher agricultural and forestry schools
  In 2019, the Ministry invested more than 1.3 million euros in digitalisation projects in the school sector. In addition to establishing a specialisation in “Information Technology in Agriculture,” the technical equipment of schools was also improved, thereby creating the foundation for modern learning.