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Glossary

Digital Agriculture

The digitization of agriculture describes the application of new information technologies for agricultural value creation. Keywords such as «Agriculture 4.0», «Precision Landscape» or «Precision Farming», «Smart Farming» or «High-Tech Agriculture» are often used as synonyms. Three overlapping areas are characteristics
of this development:

  • The use of IT-powered devices (drones, automated field or milking robots, GPS-controlled machines, etc.)

  • The use of software for farm management
  • The collection, storage, networking and analysis of data

The background to the digitization of agriculture is the optimization of agricultural processes (increase of yields and resource efficiency as well as a minimization of consumption and waste). Data enable better decisions and the transfer of cultivation data to the downstream value chain. Information, for example, on the nature of the soil and the availability of water and nutrients in the soil, enables optimized plant cultivation. Challenges for the future include acceptance of new technologies, user-friendly platforms, broadband expansion in rural areas, the digitization of the entire value chain and the legal situation with regard to data security, protection and property.

Sources

Terms from the glossary