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The Agri Digital Growth project started its activities with a kick-off meeting held in Conegliano, in the heart of the Prosecco region, at the premises of its coordinator CREA, an Italian research centre, whose local branch is specialised in viticulture.

​​​​​​Agri Digital Growth is co-funded by the European Union under the Interreg Central Europe programme and intends to reinforce capacities, knowledge and policy making in the area of precision farming. It gathers 11 partners, from Italy, Austria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovenia, plus the EIT Digital, an organisation of European interest formally based in Brussels, but operating across the entire EU.

The project will last two and a half years. It aims at filling the skill gaps that have been identified in precision farming, from cybersecurity to IOT (Internet of Things) and advanced robotics for agriculture. While industry demands well-trained resources, research and innovation centres are also struggling with the need to secure sufficient capabilities to boost the competitiveness of the sector in the region.

The project will also impulse a better coordination of regional policies across the participating countries. This is particularly important in the light of the recently adopted CAP (Common Agricultural Policy) reform.

Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences Institute for Viticulture and Enology will participate in the project to update and define the competences of the precision farming specialist according to the international and national guidelines and studies, with a special focus on the requirements of the viti-viniculture sector. MATE IVE will organize practical and theoretical lectures, and workshops, moreover in collaboration with the Linz Center of Mechatronics GmbH (LCM) a living lab will be established to introduce good practices to grapevine growers and winemakers about innovative solutions. We expect that precision farming would provide powerful solutions against the challenges in the vitiviniculture sector.

Agri Digital Growth will take part in the upcoming EIMA International Trade Fair, which will be held in Bologna (Italy), from the 6th to the 10th of November. EIMA International is one of the world’s largest exhibitions of agricultural machinery, which has attracted about 327.000 in its last edition in 2022. “It will be the perfect occasion – says Patrick Marcuzzo, scientific coordinator at CREA – to launch our Call for Talents and start interaction with policy makers from the participating regions”.