Today many farmers are already benefiting from digital technologies, but barriers still exist stopping these digital technologies from being used to their full potential. The majority of farmers require support to understand and take up new technologies and to make decisions on the use of ICT which is adapted to their specific needs. This is reflected in the European Commission’s (EC) Communication on “The Future of Food and Farming” which acknowledges the huge potential that technological development and digitisation has to address current and future challenges the farming sector is facing. According to this communication, however, the uptake of new technologies “remains below expectations and unevenly spread throughout the EU, and there is a particular need to address small and medium-sized farms’ access to technology.” (COM(2017)713). Therefore, the overall aim of the workshop was to explore and strengthen the role of Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation Systems – AKIS (with a particular focus on advisers and rural networking), supporting the understanding and use of digital technologies at farm level.
The EIP-AGRI workshop focused on the double role of AKIS within digital transformation: AKIS enabling farmers to embrace digital transformation and AKIS benefiting from digital transformation to enhance its functioning. More than 20 experiences and initiatives were presented by the participants during the event, and were the basis for the following reflection and discussions. The cases presented offered a comprehensive view of the existing diversity of activities enhancing uptake of digitisation in European agriculture. They showed the involvement, cooperation and targeting of different AKIS actors. Overall, the workshop supported networking among AKIS actors in Europe bringing together and bridging experiences of people from across Europe dealing with similar challenges and opportunities. Farmers and advisers had a central role during the workshop and field level issues were integrated into peer discussions.