Smart Farming

Grand Challenge:

The farming and food system of today faces major challenges in terms of 1) global food security (50-70% increase by 2050), 2) sustainable resource management (food production increase and reduction of environmental footprint, increased production efficiency and sustainability), 3) energy consumption (reduction of fossil fuels and efficient renewable energy production), 4) food quality and safety (efficient production transparency, automated standards compliance), 5) climate change (improved operations management and adaptation to more risky conditions), 6) social demands (removal of hazardous and tedious work, improved man – machine interfacing).

Aarhus University is advancing Precision Farming to Smart Farming as a key enabling technology and management system for a sustainable agricultural production and food chain. This involves data-rich ICT services, data integration, data communication, standardisation, signal processing, automation technologies, high level automation planning and control, path planning/operations planning, open standards and interoperability. Key is the is the paradigm shift from scaling of technology items to intelligent optimisation and application of technology items in agriculture through the use of mobile/cloud computing, location-based monitoring and management, internet of things, Big Data, etc. with the ultimate goal of reaching Farming 4.0 as an equivalent to Industry 4.0 with its integration of cyber physical systems through smart data.

AFFILIATED RESEARCH GROUPS

Communications Systems

Operations Management

Pervasive Systems

Signal Processing

Software Engineering

RELEVANT RESEARCH PROJECTS

Internet of Food & Farm 2020, IoF2020, Innovation action, IoT-01-2016 - Large Scale Pilots H2020 aims to deploy IoT solutions in European agriculture through integration of advanced IoT technologies across the value chain, demonstration of multiple IoT applications at scale and in a usage context.
SmartAgriFood FP7 develops smart applications and supporting SMEs in the application of smart services and applications for the agri-food sector.
EU ERA-NET, ICT-AGRI Varos develops and implements variable rate technologies for orchard management to enable enhanced and optimised use of inputs in fruit production, and to minimise the use of pesticides for protecting the environment.
EU ERA-NET, ICT-AGRI CTF-Optimove develops and implement controlled traffic farming systems through optimised machine configuration and vehicle routing, cost-benefit analyses, and the application of dedicated web-services.
EU ERA-NET, ICT-AGRI GeoWebAgri develops and implement Geospatial ICT infrastructure for agricultural machines and Farm Management Information Systems in planning and operation of precision farming
The Danish Partnership project, FutureCropping, develops and applies a collaborative and system oriented ICT platform integrating data from next generation of agricultural and environmental technologies into intelligent, more efficient and sustainable technologies and solutions for Precision Farming.
The Innovation Fund project, Off-line and on-line logistics planning of harvesting processes, aims at developing and testing a logistics tool enabling end-users to simulate and optimise the harvest operation both off-line (in terms of scheduling, machine dimensioning) and on-line (in terms of logistic optimisation during execution and based on real-time data).

Revised 16.01.2025

AU Engineering