As digital technology and robotics support the agro-ecological transition, this third issue of Pluriel focuses on digital technology. Testimonies gathered from the Openfield trials platform and from players in the National Research and Innovation Plan to combat beet yellows (PNRI) position it as one of the most reliable solutions for crop protection. Testing the performance of digital tools is even one of the missions of the Vitilab facility at the Vinipôle Sud Bourgogne.

Current events confirm the growing importance of connected technologies. Launched on 22 September, the Great Robotics and Digital Challenge has received €21m from the France 2030 programme. Digital technology is also part of the range of solutions in the Ecophyto 2030 plan, outlined to stakeholders on 30 October. 

As well as predicting the risk of bio-aggressors, digital technology makes it easier to take account of regulatory inflation, to trace cultivation practices and to make decisions more secure. All of these factors help to reduce the mental burden on farmers. Crop protection companies belonging to CropLife Europe are devoting a budget of €10 billion to research into digital solutions. More than thirty decision-support tools or digital agronomic platforms are offered by our members’ teams. Collectively, these companies are already working on a project to digitise and standardise the regulatory data on crop protection product labels as part of the Digital Label Compliance project. This information, which can be read by agricultural equipment and accessed via an application or website, will improve the safety of product applications.