One of the main things we learned over the last years is that, now more than ever, people are ready and energised to embrace the future of farming. Registering to the SmartAgriHubs Innovation Portal is the best way to stay informed and get involved with the community. Our regular updates ensure that you never miss a beat and allow cutting-edge initiatives to get the visibility they deserve. For this purpose, we asked our colleagues and friends from the Internet of Food and Farm 2020 project, which came to and end in March 2021, to include all their lessons-learned in our portal. IoF2020 fosters the large-scale uptake of Internet of Things technologies in the European farming and food sector. Like SmartAgriHubs, it thereby addresses challenges related to improving the agri-food sector’s environmental sustainability, maintaining high quality standards, responding to international competition and enhancing transparency. Focusing on 33 use cases spread throughout Europe, the IoF2020 project provides innovations in 5 agri-food areas covering both conventional and organic farming. These are arable, dairy, fruits, vegetables and meat.  

Even though the global pandemic necessitated creative solutions and required precautions, the IoF2020 team tried their best to stay in close connection with the use cases. Hence, the communication department came up with the idea to pay the researchers a visit to witness first-hand the achievements and results of the hard work and talk about the diverse challenges they had to overcome to get there. Below you will find a selection of three use cases and their respective testing sites which play a significant role in revolutionising smart farming in the European Union and beyond. We invite you to visit the network section of the portal to find out more about the project and the innovations of all its use cases. Tip: By using the filter function organisation type, you can easily see where their testing sites are located in Europe, dive deeper into their activities or even reach out to them for further questions. 

In the year 2020, the IoF2020 team got the chance to visit the place of eternal spring, which is in The Netherlands. If you know the Dutch weather, you are probably furrowing your brow right now. So, let us explain! A sunny and warm day in spring are roughly the conditions the team simulates in their indoor farming facility at the High Tech Campus in Eindhoven as part of their contribution to food security - especially for the urban population - in the future. Due to the absence of natural sunlight, the quality of any indoor crop depends on the perfect symbiosis of all factors such as climate control, lighting, sensors, software controls and logistics. After an initial degustation, it has been confirmed that Sjoerd Kessels, the Coordinator, and the team of plant and data specialists within the use case City Farming for Leafy Vegetables are already very close to the perfect growth recipe for a variety of crops.

Table grapes are an important crop for farmers in the South Italian Regions of Puglia and Basilicata where the Fresh Table Grapes Chain use case carries out its main activities. However, the implications of its innovation reach far beyond those regions as they set out to revolutionise organic production and packaging of fruits and vegetables in Europe and beyond. One success factor is certainly the way each crucial segment is embedded in a holistic system that overarches the entire value chain of organic table grapes. This also manifests on a personal level. When Vincenzo Verrastro, the Coordinator, describes the work and research they are performing he always refers to the team as a community, a family.

On one of their last trips, the IoF2020 team arrived in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region with Bordeaux as its capital. Mario Diaz Nava, the Coordinator of the Big Wine Optimisation use case, took them with him on a trip to the Heart of European viticulture. With over 2000 estates with an average of 35ha each, it is rightfully considered the epicenter of wine. One of them, the estate Denis Debourdieu, is part of this use case and dedicates their 135ha to the optimisation of the entire viticulture value chain. It is run by Jean Jacques, along with his brother Fabrice, who are following in their grandfather’s and father’s enthusiastic footsteps to improve viticulture in this region. While his grandfather initiated a step from quantity to quality as he identified the molecules responsible for the taste of wine, Jean Jacques now leverages IoT technology to control every aspect of the production process, putting the Dubourdieu family Domaines once again at the forefront of innovating wine production.

Does all this sound like you missed out on impressive applications of precision agriculture? Undoubtedly! But, fortunately, our colleagues from IoF2020 did all that with a camera as their companion and we are thus able to share all 33 use case movies exclusively with you. We uploaded them to the Innovation Portal Lessons section for your viewing pleasure.

All 33 Uses Cases videos are also available on Volta TV!