Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT) has been announced as the first of nine regional SmartAgriHubs, as they are being termed, across Europe, which will provide access to agri-tech and supports for farmers.

The €20m project aims to provide access points to the two million farmers across Europe who want to make use of technology solutions for farming and business problems.

Agriculture needs to become smarter, leaner and cleaner

“Agriculture needs to become smarter, leaner and cleaner, while maintaining our trademark EU commitment to high quality and safety standards,” Commissioner for Agriculture Phil Hogan stated at the launch on Monday.

“Projects such as SmartAgriHubs will lead the way and I commend WIT for its central involvement.”

Teagasc will play a lead role in the project and will be working with WIT on future projects.

“We have put agri-tech at the heart of our strategy and are delighted to be leading two of the 28 flagship innovation experiments that will take place across Europe,” director of research at Teagasc Frank O’Mara said.

“We are looking forward to bringing our expertise and connections in this area to SmartAgriHub.”

Some €6m has been set aside for open calls for innovative agricultural projects, with 74% of the budget expected to go to SMEs and a further 10% to partners to support open call projects.

It’s expected that there will be three open calls, with planning to fund up to 70 new innovation experiments through open calls.