The ICT-AGRI Workshop took place 29th June 2016 during the CIGR-AgEng Conference 2016 in Aarhus, Denmark. The workshop was attended by 25 conference participants.
Iver Thysen introduced to the workshop. The main topics in the presentation (see attachment) were a description of ICT-AGRI, the ongoing mapping by ICT-AGRI of projects related to ICT and robotics in agriculture, the need for collaboration among projects, business models for ICT and robotics in agriculture and the ICT-AGRI Call for projects in 2017.
A main point in the presentation was that SMEs developing Smart Applications for agriculture may lack sufficient resources to market their products directly to farmers. It may be more effective engage in business-to-business solutions for integration of Smart Applications in existing Farm Management Systems. This is also the overarching objective of the ICT-AGRI Call 2017.
The workshop discussions were partly by adding statements to two blackboards in the meeting room and partly by discussions among all participants. A main theme were the modest adoption by farmers of Precision Farming technologies. A general opinion was that the benefits for farmers of investments in Precision Farming technologies are not evident or too small. There is therefore a need for transforming environmental benefits for the society into direct benefits for farmers.
The headlines of the discussion were added to the blackboards as can be seen from the pictures below.
