The organization is revolutionizing itself and new technologies are becoming enablers of new synergies in Agrifood
The echoes of the tractor protest have not died out at all. The farmers' revolt has spread across half of Europe, and has inevitably become a political issue at both a European and national level. While we try to reach a compromise, going back on the absurd rules that former commissioner Timmermans (thank goodness for everyone that he returned to the Netherlands, where he doesn't seem to have received much consensus there either) had imposed in the name of a green ideological transition and radical to agriculture and the European productive world in general. But leaving aside the Eurofollies, which together with some national decisions, such as the German one to remove subsidies for farmers to fuels, what seems most important is understanding how to get the agricultural world out of a crisis that has lasted well before the green madness of Timmermans and his red-green majority.
We could really start again from Europe and from the Strasbourg plenary hall, where two days ago the provision on the use of NGTs in agriculture, hailed by many MEPs and the agricultural world as a first revolutionary act for the sector. With 307 yes votes against 263 no, as well as 41 abstentions. the European Parliament said yes to the use of these new genetic techniques, which are not to be confused with GMOs, to make culture more technological and sustainable. The legislative process will continue with the Council position and negotiations between the two co-legislators. But it was from the EU parliament that the most substantial criticisms and changes could have come, given that the orientation of the Twenty-Seven seems substantially favorable to GMOs 2.0 (with Italy among the main sponsors).
NGTs are a new series techniques which allow targeted modifications of genetic information within cells, applied first in the field of microbiology, then in that of human, domestic animal and plant health. With NGT it is possible to modify even a single specific nucleotide (or nitrogenous base) of the many millions or billions that make up the DNA double helix. A real revolution both in terms of improving the cultivated yield and making plants more resistant to germs and bacteria and in terms of environmental sustainability, allowing savings in water and the use of pesticides.
This is just one of the examples of how technology and innovation could be a solution to the many problems that the agricultural world has been suffering from for decades. Science and technological innovations are the most effective tools that agricultural entrepreneurs have at their disposal. Technologies such as the internet of things (IoT) and artificial intelligence (AI) can make a difference and contribute to the further evolution of this sector, driving it towards agrifood 4.0. The organization it is revolutionizing and new technologies are becoming enablers of new synergies in Agrifood. The opportunities for businesses are many: the possibility of collecting updated information and data, real-time control of goods, time synchronization between production and sale, as well as making supply chain management more efficient in a more sustainable ecosystem. and aware. From this point of view, the data is starting to be encouraging in our country too.
According to research data conducted by the Smart AgriFood Observatory, in a context in which the global Agriculture 4.0 market has continued to grow at a rate exceeding 10% (with a projection of reaching a value of around 30 billion euros by 2027), Italy has also done its part: in 2022, the value of the Agriculture 4.0 market in our Village it has in fact reached a value of 2.1 billion euros, highlighting a growth of 31% compared to the previous year. On the other hand, adoption by farmers has also grown: over 70% of the companies interviewed by the Observatory declared that they use at least one Agriculture 4.0 solution, marking a significant increase compared to 2021.
This highlights a clear positive trend towards the adoption of innovative solutions in the agricultural sector, with an even greater impact in the livestock sector, where the percentage of innovative companies rises to 84%. A situation, therefore, extremely positive for ours agriculture, but evidently with wide margins for improvement. The data on UAA (Used Agricultural Area) cultivated with the use of 4.0 solutions, which went from 6% in 2021 to 8% in 2022, although increasing, reveal an important margin for potential growth. Great help in this regard can come from the Pnrr funds which the Prime Minister announced she had increased from 5 to 8 billion euros.
In January, for example, a 400 million euro tender was launched for the purchase of electric and biomethane tractors (in response to the scrapping of older and more pollutants), of tools for agriculture precision devices such as sensors in the field, weather stations, drones and devices to optimize the use of pesticides and raise the level of sustainability of production processes. And it is also on this front that the Minister for European Affairs, Raffaele Fitto (to whom perhaps sooner or later someone will have to apologize for the unjust criticism leveled in the past months) has fought in recent months to have the revision of the Italian plan. A decision that was certainly necessary to make both to avoid wasting resources and to better direct European funds to the sectors that are most in need, such as agriculture.
Because for innovation and technology we need the necessary investments and support to achieve that transformation that is good for the sector but also for environmental sustainability. One of the most serious faults attributable to the commission and its ideological energy transition plan was precisely this. In addition to the questionable decisions on the merits, as criticized by many centre-right forces, with Meloni's group from the ECR in the lead, even in terms of form it is not appreciated that a revolution like the one envisaged needs the right timing and a large amount of money.
#salvation #agriculture #lies #innovation
