ICT and Automation for a Greener Agriculture

22 December 2011

The ICT-AGRI 2nd call for transnational projects aims at improving the utilization of ICT and automation for a sustainable use of natural resources, reduction of agriculture's environmental footprints, adaptation to and mitigation of climate change, while securing food supply, quality and safety, farm economy, working conditions, and animal welfare.

Call Objectives and Topics
The overall objective is to create progress in the adoption of ICT and automation in farming practice with a proven effect on sustainable use of natural resources, reduction of agriculture's environmental footprints, adaptation to and mitigation of climate changes, and agricultural efficiency. Projects can include a combination of precompetitive research, development and demonstration activities:

• Research and Development may be technologies for integrating sensors, robotic machines, decision support systems and farm management systems; business models for sharing data and software in open farm management systems; accommodation of farming practices and production systems to farming based on ICT and robotic machines.
• Applied research may be adaptation of decision support systems and robotic machines to other biological, climatic, environmental and farming conditions than in the original version; retrieval of knowledge from agriculture based on empirical data from real world farming.
• Demonstrations may be test of ICT solutions including decision support systems and robotic machines under real farming circumstances in different countries; interactions between farmers and public services based on ICT and automation aiming at improved environmental regulation and monitoring as well as less administrative burdens for farmers.

Further Information
The electronic submission system is expected to open in March 2012 with a deadline for submitting preproposals by the end of April 2012. The full Guide for Applicants including national funding and national regulations is available at the time of call opening. The ICT-AGRI partners representing the funding agencies are available for more information. Information and contact addresses can be found at ict-agri.eu.