Whether it’s improving efficiency, enabling smarter and faster decisions, or reducing the environmental footprint, technology has become an integral part of Irish farming, perhaps more than we realise.

How farmers use it, however, varies greatly. According to the latest ifac Farm Report, 31% of farmers say technology enhances decision-making on the farm, while 37% believe it improves labour efficiency.

Among tillage farmers, 71% identify precision agriculture as the most impactful technology on their farms. Interestingly, 56% of respondents highlight renewable energy as the most significant technology on farms.

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However, this industry is evolving quickly, with new technologies set to transform farming even further.

In 2022, only 5% of businesses had made investments in artificial intelligence (AI) technology. By 2023, just 21% of leaders were aware of AI applications and actively using them. The pace of adoption since then has been remarkable. According to ifac’s latest Agribusiness Report today, 77% of business leaders now report using tools such as ChatGPT and Microsoft Co-Pilot.

AI is rapidly weaving its way into how we farm, with applications and service providers now using it to make everyday tasks quicker and more efficient, as Adam Woods reports in this Focus. The power of AI is unlocking innovations once held back by limited computing capabilities, from autonomous machinery to intelligent robotic systems, explored later in this feature.

In this week’s agri technology Focus, we take a look at some of the innovations taking place on farms today, while also keeping an eye on the future.

On page 45, Adam Woods chats with Lauraun Ryan, co-founder of Vetly AI, a new artificial intelligence tool designed to help vets write up visit notes.

On pages 46 and 47, we speak with Professor Gerry Lacey about his work in agricultural robotics and combining solar farms with food production. On page 48, we ask whether it is actually viable to convert tractors to run on electricity and talk to Hibra Design, the company offering that service to farmers.