Four years ago the project for the Agricultural Digitizer, with the integration of integrating 6,074 farmers and ranchers, cooperatives and agri-food industries. This way, the goal of being the largest digitization ecosystem to transform agriculture in Spain in the medium and long term. The announcement of the Agrifood PERTE by the Government with the Next Generation funds from the EU has accelerated its implementation, but its vocation is prior and its vision is the digitalization of the field beyond current European aid.
The Agrarian Digitizer foresees attend PERTE with investment projects that can add up to 500 million euros and with which up to 5,431 jobs could be created, mainly focused on women and young people in the rural world of 203 municipalities. 35% in towns with less than 5,000 inhabitants and another 40% in towns with up to 50,000 inhabitants.
Beyond the Next Generation, La Digitizadora Agraria is based on projects that improve the competitiveness, sustainability, traceability and food safety in all phases of the value chain, with a special focus on vertical integration from the farmer and rancher to the agribusiness. The contribution to the demographic challenge goes through the pillars of attracting talent in rural areas, dignifying life in the countryside, transforming the image of agriculture, training farmers and ranchers and also training professionals in the sector in digitalization with university degrees specialized in agricultural digitization.
To tackle the project, the Agrarian Digitizer has a pool of large technology companies, important players in the agri-food sector and a wide capillarity of cooperatives and agricultural and livestock farms located in Valencian Community, Andalusia, Castilla-La Mancha, Murcia, Castilla y León, Catalonia and Madrid.
Technologies involved
Artificial intelligence, sensors through the internet of things, robotization, drones, blockchain, predictive maintenance, consumption reduction and energy savings, or data analytics will be some of the tools and technologies that will be applied. for the transformation of the sector.
The pool of companies that provide technology and knowledge has been configured with the aim of offering a comprehensive offer for digitization needs. Among them it has the impulse of AgroBank, a financial institution in the agri-food sector and in the rural world in Spain, in addition to technology firms such as Telefónica de España through its Telefónica Empresas area; the american esri (Enviromental Systems Research Institute), world leader in Geographic Information Systems (GIS); farm machinery firm Kubota; Chinese agricultural drone leader DJI through its subsidiary agent ASDrons; the company Asdron UK specialized in precision agriculture, surveying and drone filming; the SIPCAM company specialized in crop protection and biostimulants. They have also joined Agerpix, with custom digital solutions; the world’s leading international certification group Kiwa; the digital solutions company for high-value crops Fede; Gimeno Group with its business units specializing in water, waste, energy and digitization; the water and waste management firm Facsa; the Vainsa company with intelligent management solutions for agricultural holdings and water infrastructures; VisualNACertthe technology platform for digital solutions for agriculture or the engineering group Grupotec specialized in renewable energies as well as energy recovery and efficiency. All of them will have the support and collaboration of the Polytechnic University of Valencia as a technological and training center, which will provide the part of R&D&i in the agri-food field with special relevance in the field of drones applied to precision agriculture.
Participating agribusiness groups include Spain’s leading cooperative of cooperatives, Anecooplarge wineries such as Matarromera, the González Byass group, Familia Torres or Bodegas Muga, in addition to important leading groups in the segment of vegetables, EVOO, fruit trees and Mediterranean crops such as canena castle, Murciana de Vegetales and Balam Agriculture, the biotechnological company Sanifruit as well as companies specialized in sustainability such as Natac and the Agrifood Innovation Cluster of the Valencian Community.
The Agrarian Digitizer has also reached an agreement with the group Balam Agriculture, which adds its network of Rural Innovation Hubs, among which are the ‘El Valenciano’ farm, in Carmona (Seville) and Barrax (Albacete), forming a digitalization and open innovation ecosystem unique in the sector in Spain.
Finally, the Generalitat Valenciana through its Ministry of Agriculture will support the project with an investment of six million euros for the development of four agrohubs located in the Valencian Community in the towns of Morella, Requena, Polinyà del Xúquer and Elche, which will specialize in livestock and forestry, continental and Mediterranean agriculture and water management, respectively. In this way, the Generalitat intends to support the future continuity of the project and the initiative that started from five co-founding partners, the Valencian agricultural organizations AVA-ASAJA, La Unió de Llauradors i Ramaders, Cooperatives agroalimentaries, ASAJA-Alicante and the accelerator Innsomnia
