A new Welsh Government plan is aiming to ensure the agriculture sector in Wales fully benefits from digital technology.
The Agri-Tech Action Plan for Wales sets out a vision to support the sector to be profitable, efficient and sustainable, and exploit the potential of agri-tech through four priorities.
These priorities aim to see an acceleration in agri-tech capabilities, a drive in on-farm adoption of productivity enhancing agri-tech initiatives, deliver environmental benefits and support educational and skills development to fully exploit agri-tech.
The plan will help those in the agriculture sector by, for example, making farm activities more efficient and precise. With the aid of technology, agricultural inputs including water and fertiliser can be linked to plant, animal, and soil conditions helping to reduce waste and costs to the farmer.
Collaboration will be key in ensuring the industry realises the benefits of agri-tech, and the plan has been developed closely working with stakeholders, including from industrial bodies, agricultural practitioners, and academic communities.
Farming Connect’s work will be important in supporting the plan and existing funding is already helping farms across Wales to adopt agri-tech.
Activities include the Farming Connect demonstration farm network, “Our Farms”, to showcase data and case studies to promote agri-tech whilst delivering events targeting its use and raise awareness and provide support to the sector in its journey of using technology.
Farming Connect also offers accredited training and e-learning courses to improve technology skill level and confidence, enabling more people to adopt agri-tech on farms whilst the Advisory Service offers subsidised one-to-one and group advice.
The Agri-Tech Action Plan for Wales can be found at Agri-tech action plan | GOV.WALES