Farmtopia Farm-driven Approach to ADSs’ Codevelopment and Testing: Farmtopia’s 1st Practice Abstract
This is the first Practice Abstract developed in the scope of the Farmtopia project, authored by Project Coordinator Dionysios Solomos from NEUROPUBLIC, presenting how a developed approach can turn challenges into innovation opportunities for small and medium-sized farms.
In the past decade, digital technologies have transformed agriculture, enhancing efficiency, reducing costs, and boosting productivity. Agricultural Digital Solutions (ADSs) leverage advanced data-driven technologies to make farming more precise and controlled. Despite significant investments, the adoption rate among small and medium-sized farms remains quite low, falling below sectoral expectations. Small farms face challenges such as high upfront costs, uncertain benefits, solutions incompatible with their needs, a lack of digital skills, and low trust in commercial vendors. Experience shows that a simple “technology push” is insufficient to drive widespread adoption. True progress requires solutions that address real-world problems and are combined with appropriate changes in mindsets and business models.
Solution: A Farmer-Centric, Collaborative Model
Farmtopia stimulates a paradigm shift in ADSs development by introducing a farm-centric, bottom-up approach that prioritizes real-world problem-solving, inclusivity, and collaboration between the main actors: farmers and tech providers. Unlike traditional, profit-oriented models designed for large-scale agriculture, Farmtopia focuses on co-creating affordable, scalable solutions tailored to small and medium-sized farms’ needs. This approach goes beyond simply developing effective digital tools. It introduces innovative business models, such as pay-as-you-go, that reduce costs whilst ensuring long-term financial viability. Farmtopia also develops open-source services specifically designed to leverage public infrastructure and data, enabling AgTech providers to develop advanced digital solutions at a low cost.
Practical Implementation
The Farmtopia’s farm-driven approach, operationalised through 9 Sustainable Innovation Pilots across 7 agricultural sectors and 12 EU locations, follows a structured, iterative, co-creation process that unfolds into 4 distinct phases
- Phase 1 Co-development: Focuses on a collaborative process to analyse user needs and functional requirements. The solution is co-designed and configured to align with the unique characteristics of the farms, as well as the specific demands of the sector and crop addressed.
- Phase 2 Deployment: Includes the installation and operation of the ADS in the field over a full cultivation cycle. Farmers actively use the ADS in their day-to-day activities, and data is gathered on key agricultural variables to evaluate performance.
- Phase 3 Refinement: Building on the insights collected during deployment, the ADS and its business model are refined to ensure maximum compatibility with the farmer’s needs. An additional round of pilot operation is conducted to validate the effectiveness of the improved solution and confirm its readiness for broader application.
- Phase 4 Scaling: Focuses on showcasing the ADS’s benefits to the wider agricultural community. Activities such as open days, demonstrations, and marketing campaigns are organized to build awareness and encourage broader adoption.
Benefits
- Farmer-Oriented Solutions – Designed for ease of use, simplicity, and practical problem-solving.
- Increased Scalability & Configurability – ADSs can be adapted to different farming contexts.
- Better Integration & Interoperability – ADSs work seamlessly with existing solutions.
- Lower Investment Costs & Greater Affordability – More accessible to small and medium-sized farms.
- Digital Skill Development – Farmers gain confidence in using digital tools.
- Cost Reduction for Developers & Market Expansion – Lower development costs and a larger market for AgTech providers.
You can find another nine Practice Abstracts in our next blog posts under the Newsroom section!