McGuinness: "Precision farming will inevitably happen regardless our views on that." [Shutterstock]

Several EU lawmakers from the European Parliament’s agriculture committee expressed their concerns on Wednesday (30 August) about the introduction of new technologies in farming, claiming that it might put smallholders at risk.

MEPs discussed a report on precision agriculture conducted by the Scientific and Technological Options Assessment service (STOA), a scientific research service run by the European Parliament.

By using sensors, GPS and other technological advancements, precision or smart farming aims to help farmers make optimal use of agricultural inputs.

These methods allow farmers to focus on every detail of day-to-day farming while better protecting the environment from chemical pollution, saving on overhead costs and simultaneously increasing food security and safety [See background].

However, EU farming still faces severe hurdles to the widespread adoption of technology.

The report highlighted the ageing population in rural areas across Europe, as only around 20% of the farmers are currently under 44 years old.

It also pointed out the need to boost e-skills, claiming that they are a prerequisite for the adoption of smart farming in the EU, and highlighted the need for proper analysis of farm data in order to facilitate “smart” decision-making.

Smart farming also has a social role to play. Backers of this new trend claim it can free up time for busy farmers who will see their quality of life improve.

During the presentation, MEPs were also informed that precision farming will be appealing to young farmers, who will feel on a level with the rest of society; at the moment “agricultural income on average is below the income of the rest of society”.

Smart farming seeks role in post-2020 CAP

Precision farming could play a leading role in making EU agriculture more sustainable. But green NGOs claim that the concentration of food production in the hands of the agri-food industry will have catastrophic consequences.

Smallholders and technology

Many MEPs raised the issue of small-scale farmers and particularly, their ability to access and afford the new technology.

“I donΆt think that small farmers can keep up with these technological challenges,” Socialist MEP Maria Noichl (S&D group) pointed out.

Ulrike Müller from Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) also said a realistic approach should be adopted as “older generations may have difficulties with computers and e-skills”.

A similar view was recently expressed by Alan Jagoe, the former President of the European Council of Young Farmers (CEJA), who warned about a divide between generations.

“It [smart farming] will make that divide bigger between our generation and my parentsΆ generation,” he told euractiv.com.

Noichl recognised the value of precision farming and stressed it should be included in the post-2020 Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) but urged policymakers to also focus on the technological gap between generations, as younger people are more familiar with computing.

For Nicola Caputo (S&D group), smart farming can give youth employment a boost as it requires the kind of technical know-how that young people have.

But he admitted that the real risk was “a continued marginalisation of smallholders” and stressed the need to find solutions that will help small-scale farmers follow the trend and be able to compete with big agri-food companies.

EPP more supportive

Centre-right MEP Ramon Luis Valcárcel Siso (EPP group) was more supportive of the reportΆs results, citing as an example SpainΆs Murcia, which uses its scarce water as efficiently as possible.

“At the moment we are out of water and precision farming is vital to fighting the drought,” he said.

The Spanish politician also noted that European smart farming should be adapted to the specificities of each region and in this way, boost the competitiveness of the regions.

Irish MEP Mairead McGuinness (EPP) criticised her colleagues who referred to smallholders, saying that sometimes we have this “emotional definition” regarding small versus big farming.

“There is an impression that small farmers are not intensive farmers and the truth is that they are mixed […] some of them are very intensive because they need to have a sufficient income,” she noted.

She hailed the report stressing that it clearly refers to the future of farming, which will inevitably happen “regardless our views on that”. “ItΆs already taking place, individual farmers are adopting this technology,” she said.