What is new?
In 2019 the German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) launched the “Digital Experimental Fields” to support the digitization process in German agriculture. 14 different research projects at various locations in Germany have been initiated, dealing with all relevant topics of the agricultural industry. You can watch short introduction videos with Chinese and English subtitles here.
Welcome!
This website on Smart Agriculture has been developed in the context of an activity of the Sino-German Agricultural Centre (DCZ), a joint cooperation project of the German Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) and the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (MARA). Since an originally planned study visit for Chinese experts and officials to Germany and France was not feasible in 2020, the idea of a “virtual study visit” developed to present this important topic to a broad public – by means of video interviews dealing with particular issues of Smart Agriculture with political decision-makers, delegates of enterprises and practitioners. So you will find contributions from politicians at different levels of administration who inform about the framework and relevant regulations, entrepreneurs who introduce products and specific solutions as well as farmers who share their practical knowledge of digital tools and approaches. A wide spectrum of questions is addressed which illustrates the state of the art in Smart Agriculture and provides an outlook on possible future developments in this field.
Furthermore, the website shall be a platform for other presentations, reports, videos and audio-visual publications on Smart Agriculture which are expected to be uploaded and made available. It is our hope that the topics will be an inspiration for further contributions which can enhance the contents and usefulness of this site – and, of course, we are looking forward to your feedback.
Perspectives & Insights
Watch the compilation of the best bits from the interviews here:
For more than a decade the topic of digitalization has been very present in agriculture. This was achieved, among other things, through a large number of government-supported development projects that were carried out at universities, research institutes and in small and large companies in the agricultural sector.
Nevertheless, practical agriculture nowadays is far from using all the tools of digitalization, many practical farms are still undecided on whether and which digital technology should be introduced on the farm.
The question arises as to what status digitalization currently has in politics, in order to determine how the introduction of digitalization in the agricultural sector can be accelerated. What is politics doing to advance knowledge, infrastructure and further development and thus put agricultural digitalization into practice?
To get answers to these questions, representatives from politics and administration were interviewed.
Interconnectivity between the individual components is the crucial requirement for the successful introduction of various digital tools.
Many individual digital solutions produce a large amount of data and information. These must be stored in a sensibly structured way and made available to other modules for further processing. The advantages of digitalization can only be used efficiently when the data exchange is highly automated and smooth.
Institutions that already offer products that enable interconnectivity between individual applications were interviewed on this topic.
Furthermore, researchers and scientists report on which approaches are being developed.
In the last few years, a large number of digital tools have been developed and have already been successfully implemented into practice.
Selected examples from the field of crop production and animal husbandry are presented in the following.
14 so-called experimental fields have been set up in Germany, in which various digital agriculture solutions are tested and further developed. One of the experimental fields is introduced here.
What experiences have practicing farmers had with digital solutions and tools so far?
What effects were achieved?
What is still missing and should be developed or offered in the future?
How can digitalization contribute to increasing the level of sustainability in agriculture?
These questions were put to various practitioners, some of whom have been dealing with digital tools in agriculture for many years or routinely use them themselves every day.
