Digitalization as an opportunity for Austria’s agriculture
Digitalization has already found its way into all areas of the farm: in the barn, in the field, in the workshop, in administration, and in direct marketing. It offers a major opportunity, especially for Austria’s small-structured agriculture.
Digitalization can make agriculture more efficient, as it contributes to sustainable production. Artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to sustainably improve livestock farming as well as crop production and forestry. Agriculture Minister Norbert Totschnig and State Secretary for Digitalization Florian Tursky presented the AgrifoodTEF project on July 12, 2023 - a network of test centers in Europe that supports companies and start-ups from the agricultural and food production sector in developing AI and robotics solutions. AgrifoodTEF offers a major opportunity to test AI applications within a highly professional international consortium that are optimally tailored to Austrian conditions.
“A significant part of administration, accounting, and funding applications is already carried out digitally on most farms. Now we must create an environment that allows digitalization and the associated major changes in daily work in barns and fields to be successfully implemented. We need to actively embrace and drive forward digitalization in agriculture in order to unlock opportunities for Austria’s small-structured farming sector,” explained Agriculture Minister Norbert Totschnig.
State Secretary for Digitalization Florian Tursky emphasized that this project makes innovative technologies tangible.
The DIGITAL Europe Programme aims to optimize the development and deployment of AI through a European strategy for artificial intelligence. Therefore, the European Commission is funding so-called “Test and Experimentation Facilities” (TEF) in four sectors: manufacturing, healthcare, smart cities and communities, and agri-food. In the call for proposals in the agricultural sector, the project consortium “agrifoodTEF,” with Austrian participation, was successful. The project started on January 1, 2023, and has a duration of five years.
A wide range of services is offered to companies to help them test and validate their AI and robotics product developments under real conditions. The project partners form a network that meets the requirements of the agricultural and food production sector across Europe.
The total budget amounts to Euro 60 million across Europe, with 50 percent of the funding provided by the European Commission and 50 percent by national funding bodies—in Austria by the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG). In Austria, Euro 5 million is being funded.
A total of eight countries are participating in AgrifoodTEF. Austrian project partners in the consortium include Josephinum Research (which operates the LEAS), the University of Applied Sciences Wiener Neustadt, and Raumberg-Gumpenstein Research and Development.
Further information: www.agrifoodtef.eu