Half of the European Union's land is farmed. This fact alone highlights the importance of farming for the EU's economy, employment, energy use and environment. However, this vital and crucial sector for the European agriculture economy is a sector under pressure from emerging economies such as China and Brazil that are experiencing export growth.

Modern IT and data analysis tools are powerful and can really help meet the challenge of feeding a growing population in more resource-efficient and sustainable ways so smart farming presents a viable solution to these problems. By increasing both the quantity and the quality of agricultural products, smart farming is able to improve the intelligence of farms, the income of the farmers and at the same time save natural resources and protect the environment.

The aim of the AU Centre for Smart Farming is to increase farm productivity significantly within areas such as crop production per hectare through the use of intelligent machines, big data analysis and Internet-of-Things type of connectivity.

Systematic optimisation of the entire annual crop production cycle on farm level is done through Cyber-Physical Systems and concepts such as System of Systems.