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Digital innovation does not only mean developing platforms or software, but rather responding in a different and new way to real and widespread problems. Even in agriculture. For the sector in particular, there are three main challenges being faced: climate change, technological fragmentation , and rising prices of agronomic inputs.
This is confirmed by data, in fact, according to the March 2022 Crea (Council for Agricultural Research and Analysis of Agricultural Economics) report [1] the continuous fluctuation of energy prices also has important repercussions on agricultural markets. In particular, for the six cost items considered (fertilizer, feed, diesel, seeds/plants, plant protection, passive rentals) the average impact that Italian farms have to bear exceeds 15,700 euros of increase, to reach 99,000 euros in the case of farms that raise granivores.
Despite the unstable and uncertain period, however, there has been no halt to the growth ofAgriculture 4.0 , which, according to analysis by the Smart Agrifood Observatory[2], exceeded the value of 1.6 billion euros in 2021. In addition to the growth in economic value, it also emerges that 60 percent of Italian farmers use a 4.0 solution to make field operations more efficient. All this testifies to the fact that the priority for the agricultural sector is to seek solutions that ensure environmental and economic sustainability.
Aware of the urgency of these issues xFarm Technologies has decided to position itself as a reality that can mitigate the crisis in the sector by saving farms time, resources and money. In fact, the tech company has developed a digital platform to help farms in a simple way, at every stage of production, thus optimizing field activities and reducing environmental impact and consequently also costs.
"xFarm was born in 2017, when I first perceived the need to use a digital service that would allow me to manage, in a simple and effective way, my farm. From this concrete need began to take shape the first idea that turned into a real project. xFarm was born from the needs of the field, later expanding with the merger of Farm Technologies, which allowed the development of vertical services on the agronomic part. The goal from the beginning was to want to improve through digital the lives of millions of farmers while fostering greater environmental sustainability.
In fact, technology applied to agriculture makes it possible to optimize resources and make farmers' activities more efficient"- says Matteo Vanotti, CEO of xFarm
xFarm Technologies, which closed a €17 million round last August, through its digital platform, supports and simplifies the work of 130 thousand farms spread over 1.8 million hectares in more than 100 countries around the world. "When we started with the idea of developing the platform, we did it taking into account three main requirements, requested by the farmers themselves, namely simplicity, intuitiveness and interoperability," - explains Matteo Vanotti.
With offices already in Switzerland, Italy and Spain, xFarm Technologies is aiming forinternationalization by exploring new markets. In addition to consolidating its presence in Europe, the tech company is ready to expand its reach to America in the future. Expansion that aims to extend both projects and partnerships with agribusinesses but not only. In addition to activating projects with major groups operating in the production of agricultural machinery, to support farmers xFarm Techiologies has launched, together with Zurich Italy, an important project to innovate policies in the agriculture sector.
So how does the application support and make both environmentally and economically more efficient the activities of those working in the field? "We have developed a platform that allows the different actors involved in agribusiness supply chains to administer all aspects of a farm according to their own specificities: from managing machinery to managing crops, irrigation, bureaucracy, treatments etc. In particular, as far as agricultural machinery is concerned, the platform also solves the problem of technological fragmentation, because it makes it possible to manage both machines that have not yet been digitized, thanks to appropriate integrations, and fleets with different brands directly fromapp " - Vanotti points out.
In this way, users can easily and intuitively keep track of their tillage, vegetative indices, stocks, silo capacities, and also plot characteristics to optimize field interventions and reduce environmental impact.
There are several companies that xFarm Technologies has supported in the main challenges that the agricultural sector is facing. For example, with Barilla, thanks to the purpose-built platform "Barilla Farming," the intent is to accompany (by 2023) the 2,600 European companies that supply soft wheat to Barilla per Carta del Mulino supply chain, in a supply chain optimization process to improve farmers' work and promote production sustainability.
For Parmalat, on the other hand, a path has been undertaken to digitize cattle herd management with the aim of improving animal welfare and ensuring increasingly safe and high-quality productions. This is one of the first projects in Europe that also allows farmers to efficiently and sustainably manage and track dairy cow herds, their feeding plans, and livestock manure.
For the Urbani Tartufi company, however, climate change, particularly the drought experienced last summer, has caused quite a few concerns. Truffle production, in fact, requires the presence of specific conditions in the soil in order to ensure optimal truffle development. Thanks to the xFarm platform and sensors, it is now possible to monitor plantations by measuring various environmental parameters, such as temperature and soil moisture. All of this information has thus made it possible to better understand and optimize each stage of truffle farming.
"More efficient resource management also determines a benefit for consumers, who will thus be able to consciously choose quality products derived from sustainable production. If more and more companies decide to take advantage of this technology, so as to reduce waste and rationalize materials, the result will be the creation of a virtuous circle with positive consequences for farms, the environment and end consumers," concludes Matteo Vanotti.
[1] Source: https://www.crea.gov.it/web/policies-and-bioeconomy/-/war-in-ukraine-the-effects-on-costs-and-economic-results-of-Italian-farms
[1] Smart Agrifood Observatory carried out by the School of Management of the Politecnico di Milano and the Research & Innovation for Smart Enterprise laboratory of the University of Brescia
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