Practical experiences of introducing digitization and robotics in agricultural production in the Republic of Serbia

By entering the course of European integration, the countries of the Western Balkans region have a chance to use their comparative advantages to improve the placement of their own agricultural and agrofood products on the demanding world market. One of the most important priorities for the development of agriculture is the increase in the competitiveness of primary production, especially organic and integrated production under digitally controlled conditions. Measures to improve competitiveness relate to increasing productivity and quality of production through the introduction of smart agriculture and digitalization in the management of agro-production. On the other hand, the resilience of agricultural production to increasingly pronounced climate change is a growing problem that requires timely investment in risk prevention and greater autonomy for farmers. The main goals of digitalization and automation in agriculture are twice, as much food with significantly less investment. Also, another important goal is the ecological sustainability of production, which implies the preservation of natural resources – water, soil and energy, in conditions of intensive farming. An adequate answer to these problems and challenges is in the mass digitalization of agriculture and application of new, clean technologies together with knowledge-transfer from academia (universities and research institutes) to practice. Special attention of our Government is dedicated to support small and medium size family agricultural households.

One of the primary goals of market-oriented agricultural production is, not only primary production, but processing of agricultural products based on ecologically clean technologies with the use of renewable energy sources and a high degree of automation. In the region of the Western Balkans, in addition to high-quality land, water resources and a moderate climate, solutions that affirm the application of advanced technologies and above all digitization, automation and robotization of agricultural production are increasingly being applied.