This new paper in the Digital Vision programme, explores how innovation must be leveraged, from adopting data analysis to improve crop yields and monitor wildlife to using automation to optimise farm machinery – with featured technologies ranging from blockchain to High Performance Computing.

Adrian Gregory, CEO, Atos UK&I, said: “For the farming and food industry, the digital revolution is well underway at a time of wider significant change. Just as they always have, farmers will adapt and innovate to meet complex financial, environmental and societal demands. This paper looks at the important contribution that digital transformation is making by empowering and enabling farmers, and the wider agricultural sector, to face the challenges and opportunities arising from Britain’s evolving landscape.”

The Digital Vision for Farming opinion paper also examines how digital technology can be implemented to benefit crop husbandry and animal health, improve the efficiency and transparency of supply chains and minimise disruption from inspections, leading to improved competitiveness and better outcomes for farmers, consumers and the environment.

George Eustice MP, Minister of State for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, said: “Advances in technology will help us to achieve the ambitions set out in our Agriculture Bill to farm more productively in a way that protects and enhances the environment.”

“Data-sharing powers in the Bill will improve transparency in the supply chain, helping food producers strengthen their negotiating position at the farm gate and get a better deal in the marketplace.

“Meanwhile, we are developing the Livestock Information Programme to modernise livestock traceability and looking to technology to simplify farm inspections.”

This paper comes after Atos was awarded a five-year contract for its proposed solution to transform the UK Government’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs’ (Defra) existing IT estate to world-class, energy-efficient Cloud hosting services, on Atos’ Digital Private Cloud (DPC).