Virginia ZAMBRANO | Progetti

PRECISION AGRICULTURE AND RIGHT TO FOOD

Precision agriculture (PA) or precision farming, is a modern farming management concept using digital techniques to monitor and optimise agricultural production processes. Rather than applying the same amount of fertilisers over an entire agricultural field, or feeding a large animal population with equal amounts of feed, PA will measure variations in conditions within a field and adapt its fertilising or harvesting strategy accordingly. Likewise, it will assess the needs and conditions of individual animals in larger herds and optimise feeding on a per-animal basis.PA methods promise to increase the quantity and quality of agricultural output while using less input (water, energy, fertilisers, pesticides, etc.). The aim is to save costs, reduce environmental impact and produce more and better food. The methods of PA rely mainly upon a combination of new sensor technologies, satellite navigation and positioning technology, and the Internet of Things. PA has been making its way into farms across Europe and is increasingly assisting farmers in their work.This study intends to highlight the current state-ofthe-art, possible developments for the future, societal concerns and opportunities, and policyoptions to consider.In its first part,this study is aimed to draw attention to legislative instruments through which the European Parliament can contribute to shaping the framework conditions in which these new technologies will be able to evolve.The second part of this study will be devoted to analize the legal problems involved in this innovative way of thinking to agriculture, such as: question of data management, data ownership and access to open data that are of key importance. Special attention is needed for establishing an open data approach throughout the food chain, with adequate standards that would facilitate data exchange while preventing misuse of natural monopolies or lock-in effects. In its third part the study would offer an overview of key aspects of European agriculture and PA's state-of-the-art. A special focus will be cast on the legislations of some legal systems in order to show (in a comparative perspective) the policy used to implement PA and the possible scenarios for future developments of PA developed in the context of a foresight exercise.