Farm management information systems – digital platforms for farm operations – were used by about 11% of EU farms, with France having the highest adoption rate (about 60%). By contrast, the adoption of robotics (machines capable of autonomous operation without direct human intervention) was relatively low, covering about 7% of all farms.
In 2023, around 18% of farms with utilised agricultural area (UAA) applied some kind of precision farming technology or practice such as robotics for plant protection products, band spraying of plant protection products, variable rate techniques (automated precise application of farm inputs to a given location with the means of data generated from sensors, satellites or GPS), precision monitoring of crops and soil analysis. These farms managed about 44 % of the EU’s total UAA.
At country level, there were considerable differences in the UAA managed by farms using precision farming technologies. Luxembourg, Finland and Estonia had the highest shares (above 75%), while the lowest were in Cyprus (about 1%), Greece and Romania (between 10% and 15%).
