Digital Opportunities For Better Agricultural Policies

Recent digital innovations provide opportunities to deliver better policies for the agriculture sector by helping to overcome information gaps and asymmetries, lower policy-related transaction costs, and enable people with different preferences and incentives to work better together. Drawing on ten illustrative case studies and unique new data gathered via an OECD questionnaire on agri-environmental policy organisations' experiences with digital tools, this report explores opportunities to improve current agricultural and agri-environmental policies, and to deliver new, digitally enabled and information-rich policy approaches.

Recent digital innovations provide opportunities to deliver better policies for the agriculture sector by helping to overcome information gaps and asymmetries, lower policy-related transaction costs, and enable people with different preferences and incentives to work better together. Drawing on ten illustrative case studies and unique new data gathered via an OECD questionnaire on agri-environmental policy organisations' experiences with digital tools, this report explores opportunities to improve current agricultural and agri-environmental policies, and to deliver new, digitally enabled and information-rich policy approaches. It also considers challenges that organisations may face to make greater use of digital tools for policy, as well as new risks which increased use of digital tools may bring. The report provides practical advice on how policy makers can address challenges and mitigate risks to ensure digital opportunities for policy are realised in practice. Finally, the report briefly considers the broader regulatory and policy environment underpinning digitalisation of the agriculture sector, with the view to ensuring that use of digital tools for agricultural and agri-environmental policy remains coherent with the digitalisation of agriculture more generally.

The book discusses the best international practices in digital agriculture. The book aims to form systemic scientific and methodological support and develop comprehensive applied solutions to unlock the potential of sustainable development of digital agriculture for food security. The book’s contribution to the literature lies in its comprehensive treatment of public and corporate management of farms representing digital agriculture. The research novelty is associated with the systemic disclosure of economic, legal, and technological issues in the development of digital agriculture. Thus, the book provides a solid foundation for integrating food security interests into farming practices. The first part of the book reflects the economic, legal, and technological support of quality management and sustainable development in digital agribusiness based on the best international practices. The second part focuses on Russian and international agricultural policies for food security. The book is intended for members of the academic community who will find promising solutions to current problems of food security through the development of digital agriculture. The book will also be of interest to farmers and representatives of the state regulation of the agricultural economy. In this book, they will find practical recommendations for improving government and corporate management of food security through the development of digital agriculture.

The digital agriculture revolution holds a promise to build an agriculture and food system that is efficient, environmentally sustainable, and equitable, one that can help deliver the Sustainable Development Goals. Unlike past technological revolutions in agriculture, which began on farms, the current revolution is being sparked at multiple points along the agrifood value chain. The change is driven by the ability to collect, use, and analyze massive amounts of machine-readable data about practically every aspect of the value chain, and by the emergence of digital platforms disrupting existing business models. All this allows for drastically reduced transaction costs and pervasive information asymmetries that plague the agrifood system. The success of the digital transformation, however, is not guaranteed as the risks it brings are numerous, including those related to data governance and inadequate competition within and between digital platforms. What’s Cooking: Digital Transformation of the Agrifood System investigates how digital technologies can accelerate the transformation of the agrifood system by increasing efficiency on the farm; improving farmers’ access to output, input, and financial markets; strengthening quality control and traceability; and improving the design and delivery of agriculture policies. It also identifies a key role for the public sector in maximizing the benefits of this process while minimizing its risks, through enabling an innovation ecosystem featuring open datasets, digital platforms, digital entrepreneurship, digital payment systems, and digital skills and encouraging equitable technology adoption.

This volume is the last (IV) of four under the main themes of Digitizing Agriculture and Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). The four volumes cover rapidly developing processes including Sensors (I), Data (II), Decision (III), and Actions (IV). Volumes are related to ‘digital transformation” within agricultural production and provision systems, and in the context of Smart Farming Technology and Knowledge-based Agriculture. Content spans broadly from data mining and visualization to big data analytics and decision making, alongside with the sustainability aspects stemming from the digital transformation of farming. The four volumes comprise the outcome of the 12th EFITA Congress, also incorporating chapters that originated from select presentations of the Congress. The focus in this volume is on the directions of Agriculture 4.0 which incorporates the transition to a new era of action in the Agricultural sector, represented by the evolution of digital technologies in 4 aspects: Big Data, Open Data, Internet of Things (IoT), and Cloud Computing. Under the heading of “Action,” 14 Chapters investigate the implementation of cutting-edge technologies on real world applications. It will become apparent to the reader that the penetration of ICT in agriculture can result in several benefits related to the sustainability of the sector and to yield the maximum benefits, successful management is required. The entire discussion highlights the importance of proper education in the adoption of innovative technologies starting with the adaption of educational systems to the new era and moving to the familiarization of farmers to the new technologies. This book covers topics that relate to the digital transformation of farming. It provides examples and case studies of this transformation from around the world, examines the process of diffusion of digital technologies, and assesses the current and future sustainability aspects of digital agriculture. More specifically, it deals with issues such as: Challenges and opportunities from the transition to Agriculture 4.0 Safety and health in agricultural work automation The role of digital farming on regional-spatial planning The enrollment of Social Media in IoT-based agriculture The role of education in digital agriculture Real-life implementation cases of smart agriculture around the world

THE DIGITAL AGRICULTURAL REVOLUTION The book integrates computational intelligence, applied artificial intelligence, and modern agricultural practices and will appeal to scientists, agriculturists, and those in plant and crop science management. There is a need for synergy between the application of modern scientific innovation in the area of artificial intelligence and agriculture, considering the major challenges from climate change consequences viz. rising temperatures, erratic rainfall patterns, the emergence of new crop pests, drought, flood, etc. This volume reports on high-quality research (theory and practice including prototype & conceptualization of ideas, frameworks, real-world applications, policy, standards, psychological concerns, case studies, and critical surveys) on recent advances toward the realization of the digital agriculture revolution as a result of the convergence of different disruptive technologies. The book touches upon the following topics which have contributed to revolutionizing agricultural practices. Applications of Artificial Intelligence in Agriculture (AI models and architectures, system design, real-world applications of AI, machine learning and deep learning in the agriculture domain, integration & coordination of systems and issues & challenges). IoT and Big Data Analytics Applications in Agriculture (theory & architecture and the use of various types of sensors in optimizing agriculture resources and final product, benefits in real-time for crop acreage estimation, monitoring & control of agricultural produce). Robotics & Automation in Agriculture Systems (Automation challenges, need and recent developments and real case studies). Intelligent and Innovative Smart Agriculture Applications (use of hybrid intelligence in better crop health and management). Privacy, Security, and Trust in Digital Agriculture (government framework & policy papers). Open Problems, Challenges, and Future Trends. Audience Researchers in computer science, artificial intelligence, electronics engineering, agriculture automation, crop management, and science.