Precision Agriculture and the Future of Farming in Europe. Technical Horizon Scan

Please note: Each EPRS Study is assigned a DOI (digital object identifier), which is a safe and long term way of ensuring a hyperlink to the full text of this report. However, when ESO creates this record, on occasion the DOI still has not been activated by the EU Bookshop. If you find the source url hyperlink does not work please use the alternative location hyperlink listed as a related url.The aim of the project 'Precision Agriculture and the Future of Farming in Europe' is to identify implications for legislative pathways for precision agriculture in Europe by mapping areas of concern around future developments.

The project has three phases:
1. Analyse underlying technologies and existing insights from the field, as well as the anticipated future developments
2. Identify possible development paths to 2050, construct scenarios, and map the related concerns around precision agriculture, adopting a stance of 'What if..?'
3. Identify the legal instruments that may need to be modified or reviewed, including — where appropriate — areas identified for anticipative parliamentary work, in accordance to the conclusions reached within the project.

This publication is the outcome of the first phase of the foresight study and consists of six background briefing papers:

1. Overview of agricultural production in the EU
2. Business models of farming in Europe
3. Trends in precision agriculture in the EU
4. The economics and governance of digitalisation and precision agriculture
5. Environmental impact of precision agriculture
6. Skilled workforces and precision agriculture

• Primary Source

European Parliament: Directorate-General for Internal Policies of the Union: Publications available via the EU Bookshop http://bookshop.europa.eu/en/directorate-general-for-internal-policies-of-the-union-cbf.cKABstF7wAAAEjwYYY4e5K/

European Parliament: European Parliamentary Research Service: Study, September 2016: Precision Agriculture and the Future of Farming in Europe. Technical Horizon Scan http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/STUD/2016/581892/EPRS_STU(2016)581892_EN.pdf

European Parliament: European Parliamentary Research Service: Study, September 2016: Precision Agriculture and the Future of Farming in Europe. Technical Horizon Scan. Annex http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/STUD/2016/581892/EPRS_STU(2016)581892(ANN)_EN.pdf

EurActiv, 31.08.17: Legislators push smallholders to the heart of smart farming talks http://www.euractiv.com/section/agriculture-food/news/meps-push-smallholders-to-the-heart-of-smart-farming-talks/

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