Adequate food and its security is a global challenge, impacted by rapidly compounding effects of climate change, supply chains, human labour shortage and political and military aggression to name a few. We need transparent and improved productivity of agriculture and forestry and easy access to state-of-the-art technological innovation and automation. Also, more sustainable fertilizers and irrigation use is additionally key to saving the climate. Hence, European resilience calls for efficient technological solutions ranging from hardware to holistic data management.

Focus on food security, improved productivity of agriculture and forestry

The AGRARSENSE project, launched in January 2023, responds to these needs by developing technologies for seven different use cases that represent seven different angles on today’s European agriculture and forestry: Greenhouses, vertical farming, precision viticulture, agriculture robotics, forestry machinery and optimal soil management and fertilization as well as agriculture related water management. The electronics components and systems related technology R&D includes e.g., plant, soil, and water sensors and related integration, as well as software, connectivity, and data management solutions. Safety, security, and reliability R&D as well as autonomous movement and robotics platforms pave the way to full commercial utilization of the project outcomes.

52 partners from 15 EU countries

AGRARSENSE brings together a total of 52 partners from 15 EU countries “We are proud to drive European innovation by the AGRARSENSE project,” says Peter Assarsson from Komatsu Forest AB, the overall Coordinator of the project. “The project aims for remarkable technological and economic impacts, not only by developing cutting edge solutions for the end users, but also for the project partners and society at large. By 2030, the new technologies developed in AGRARSENSE are expected to generate 250 M€ new turnover for the participating companies. In addition, the project aims to develop 49 new products, 80 new partnerships, hundreds of new jobs, and many investments,” he adds.

“AGRARSENSE forms a R&D and innovation ecosystem that benefits not only all the partners involved, but European Agriculture and forestry sector at large,” says Axel Wille from Fraunhofer EMFT, one of the project initiators and the technical coordinator of the project. “The new innovative combinations and cross pollination of technologies allows faster innovation and knowledge generation. While the large enterprises assure wider economic and technological impacts, SMEs play a key role in the consortium making 46% of the partners,” concludes Erika Györvary from CSEM, the other project initiator.