Reflection of digital agriculture in Marciac on August 3

Gascofarming, a Gers growers’ association, together with the Chamber of Agriculture, and Occitanum, the third FAD2 Forum, organize the Digital and Sustainable Agriculture Forum. To recreate the event’s role as a venue for open debate, this year it takes place in Marciac during the Jazz Festival, on August 3rd in Estrada.

Today, centered on the topic “Artificial Intelligence and Common Sense of the Peasant”, the program of which is not yet final, is divided into two parts. Morning with two round tables, and afternoons dedicated to field demonstrations, for the first time. The first round table deals with “Agricultural digital data and its management at the service of farmers”; When the second deals with “carbon balance, a new agricultural issue at the center of modeling tools.”

Farmer 2.0.1 Update

During the forum, researchers, farmers, entrepreneurs, and sociologists gather to discuss technical and future topics. From now on, Farming 2.0 has become an inescapable reality. “New tractors, down to the smallest equipment, everything is pluggable, there is more and more automation, notes the president of Gascofarming, Pascal Hermann. For the farmer, this represents environmental and agricultural progress. But we also have to think about this development. ” Should we only refer to knowledge gained from generation to generation, or should we use algorithms from outside? Where is the interest of the farmer? What tools of trade can be invented and developed at Gers? Gers’ farming is undergoing a digital transformation. “The question is not to be for or against, but for the farmer to find himself there, and retain his role as the decision-maker.”

Dear data

At the heart of this decision-making is digital data and its management. New tools accumulate huge amounts of data. “In breeding, you get a lot of data: animal weight, milk production, milk analysis, etc. There are even tractors whose hoods analyze foliage in vines,” Slips Bernard Malaberade, head of the Chamber of Agriculture. And this data will increase tenfold with the arrival of 5G. “All current machines integrate this capture and this use of data.”

Data cross-referencing is meant to improve farm productivity, reduce inputs, improve water management, reduce greenhouse gases from machinery, etc. “This data should be of direct interest to users, as the tractor driving assistant facilitates work, but also collects useful information, such as traceability. But it still needs to be standardized …”

This digital transformation of agriculture, if attractive, is not self-evident. Even if the use is developing and becoming simpler, not all farmers are following the new technologies. Technologies that still have a significant cost, which introduce new working methods. Added to this is the concept of intellectual property – also new for the agricultural world. Pascal Hermann says: “When I collect data, I don’t want it to be once passed on to a company, it is resold to me!” See you on August 3rd to continue the discussions.