On 22 September 2026, ACT4CAP27 brought stakeholders together for an online thematic webinar exploring how digitalisation and new technologies could affect the competitiveness and future development of EU agriculture. Moderated by colleagues from the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC), the event combined evidence from the scientific literature, a JRC survey of EU farmers and stakeholder perspectives to support the further development of the project’s Digitalisation and Competitiveness Fast-Track Scenario.
We presented the scenario’s rationale and modelling approach, focusing on the need to better understand how promising digital technologies could affect productivity, input use, labour and costs, and how their adoption could develop across different agricultural contexts. The discussion focused on technologies including decision support systems and farm management software, automatic milking systems, weeding robots, autonomous tractors, drones for spraying, variable rate application technologies, and AI, IoT and big data analytics.
The webinar also presented findings from a survey-based JRC study on the state of digitalisation in EU agriculture ↗️https://dx.doi.org/10.2760/4688498, based on responses from 1,440 farmers across EU countries, farm specialisations and farm sizes. The results highlighted substantial differences in the adoption of digital technologies. General IT tools and online applications are widely used, while more specialised technologies for crop and livestock production are less widely adopted. Farm size, internet connectivity and access to digitalisation training were among the factors associated with higher levels of technology adoption. Cost, skills and knowledge, and access to financial or public support were identified among the main barriers.
The evidence review presented during the webinar also showed why technology impacts need to be assessed carefully in the modelling work. Reported effects on yields, labour and input use vary considerably between technologies and applications, while cost evidence remains limited for several technology groups. The available evidence therefore points to the importance of considering differences in crops, farming systems, farm size, technology type and local conditions when assessing potential impacts and adoption.
Stakeholders then contributed their experience and expectations through an open discussion and targeted polls, addressing issues such as the additional costs of adoption, expected effects on yields and labour requirements, farm-size effects, fuel and operational costs, and barriers to adoption. The discussion also explored which technologies could have the greatest potential to reduce labour, fertiliser or pesticide use, increase yields, or generate benefits through combinations of technologies.
The feedback gathered will be used to refine the assumptions underpinning the Digitalisation and Competitiveness Fast-Track Scenario and inform the ACT4CAP27 modelling work. The webinar materials and report will be shared with participants, while the project will continue to integrate the evidence and stakeholder input into the scenario assessment.
The event also provided an opportunity for knowledge exchange with the BrightSpace project, whose colleagues contributed to the digitalisation theme through WP8. ACT4CAP27 and BrightSpace are preparing a joint Zenodo publication to bring together relevant outputs and insights on digitalisation and its implications for European agriculture.
