23 April 2020 | Il digitale è servito!
The Smart Agrifood Observatory has decided to organize an online conference to present the results of the SmartAgrifood Observatory research. For the first time, the community of operators in the agri-food world has the opportunity to discuss and follow an event that is the reference point for digital innovation in the sector.
During the live streaming “Il Digitale è servito!” many experts from the agri-food chain intervened to discuss the future of the sector which is now at a crossroads: remain anchored to the past and tradition or embrace the future and rely on digitalization. There are still many steps to be taken, an important step will be taken by the new generations who have grown up in a digital world, capable of introducing a real digital culture.
The smart agri-food method allows farmers to introduce a 4.0 supply chain in their work, accessing better data that allow to obtain better results while always guaranteeing animal welfare.
Agriculture and breeding 4.0 allow a higher quantity production (with a reduction in variability of it) in less time and open the door to a higher level of quality. Using less water, stressing animals less or not at all, sowing precisely and without waste is now possible and innovation is made possible by a new and improved way of management, making it possible to spend less and therefore to also decrease prices of the final product.
New technologies able to better manage production and product control processes already allow and will allow even more in the near future to reduce the impact on the environment (reducing the use time of polluting machinery) and to have a tighter quality control on the final product.
With the market grow, there is a need for an agri-food industry 4.0 driven by traditional stakeholders. Sustainability is no longer one of many possibilities but rather the only way to the future. The new “smart country” that looms on the horizon provides for the digitization of most of the companies operating in the agri-food sector and above all an important connectivity even in very large rural areas thanks to the IoT. In order to make all this usable by all stakeholders, the latter must be ready to network to transform the farmer and the “typing” farmer (forced to enter the data relating to his products independently) into “digital” farmer, equipped with technological systems capable of detecting the necessary data for him.
Traceability is one of the crucial areas for the future of the sector. The devices already available today allow us to fulfill and answer demands and laws in force. But companies must pay more and more attention to a consumer who is increasingly attentive to what he brings on the table and who wants to be reassured about what he buys. Traceability helps companies to have a complete picture of their product along the entire supply chain. In particular, blockchain technology is the master, followed by QR Codes and Mobile Apps. Therefore, technologies based on Data Analytics, Cloud and IoT will have to grow.
In particular, the IoT is focusing on sensors, also the subject of developments in the Moloko project. Protecting the quality, authenticity and wholesomeness of the product are already at the centre of the development of IoT-based devices but in the years to come this aspect will become even more important and decisive to comply with European standards.
As part of the final conference of the Smart AgriFood Observatory, our partner Paolo Bulgarelli by Parmalat was interviewed. Read the full interview HERE>>