Over the last few decades, many technologies have been developed or adopted for agriculture uses. However from the Precision Farming concept, we are currently moving into a more global one, "Digital Agriculture", in which the management of information will transform the agri-food systems into a more knowledge driven sector.

Digital technologies are one of the most important recent innovations for all actors in the agri-food chain. Beyond assisting in primary production they have immense potential to support many elements of the rural economy, from food supply chain management to new business development.

The overall aim of the workshop was to contribute to the preparation of the next 2018-2020 Work Programme for Horizon 2020 by defining appropriate research and innovation priorities to support demand-led digitization of the agri-food sector. 

The specific objectives of the workshop were to: 

• Highlight for participants, the scope of potential Horizon 2020 support for digitising the EU agri-food sector;

• Identify where digital technologies can play a role to providesolutions to existing practical problems and needs in the agri-food sector, as well as bringing new opportunities for stakeholders in the agri-food chain to develop new businesses and new services;

• Discuss the specific needs of the various end-users (e.g. farmers, consumers, food businesses) of digital technologies in the agri-food sector;

• Identify relevant research and innovation activities that will help meet the needs of these end-users (including tapping into the innovation potential of any brand new emergent technologies);

• Prioritise and define in more detail the research and innovation activities identified above for potential inclusion in the 2018-2020 Work Programme of Horizon 2020.

The report will be available by the end of November.