The future of AI in the EU: possibilities and challenges - FutureFarming

We are not aware of any concrete examples of AI already being used in farming practice, but the introduction of artificial intelligence provides the power to process huge amounts of data, pooling, and exchanging information with multiple data sources. It also provides decision support systems for complex choices that farmers and their cooperatives need to make. This gives farmers and their cooperatives a powerful tool to yield significant gains in terms of efficiency and productivity. It will be key to handle essential repetitive and diverse agricultural tasks such as weeding, harvesting crops, or milking cows. The same goes for the processing facilities for packaging logistics handled by our cooperatives. Artificial Intelligence also has a positive impact on working conditions, as it helps optimise the labour process and helps in accompanying farmers which can be significant for our sector. The same thing goes for farm and enterprises safety. We see that artificial intelligence can also support us in overcoming these huge problems. Additionally, AI can support us in tackling environmental and climatic challenges, especially in reducing the impact on the environment, reducing our carbon-footprint, and improving the functioning of the value chain. Agri-food cooperatives increasingly face the challenge of sustainable production. We are investing to improve the scope of innovations, preserve the integrity of the ecosystem, and improve the use of natural resources.