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Achieving agricultural sustainability through the Farm Advisory System and rural digitalisation

The Farm Advisory System makes innovative knowledge and practices accessible to all farmers. “We are facing a major transformation of the agricultural sector that requires a shift towards more environmentally-friendly practices without undermining economic sustainability” explains Tassos Haniotis, Director of Strategy, Simplification and Policy Analysis in the European Commission’s Directorate General for Agriculture and Rural Development. Digitalisation and rural broadband are crucial, enhancing knowledge exchange and creating multiplier effects, such as new jobs and services in rural areas.

Title over photo of a farmer crouching in a sunny field, inspecting a low-growing leafy crop: 'Achieving agricultural sustainability through the Farm Advisory System and rural digitalisation'

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The European Farm Advisory System enables farmers to better understand and comply with EU rules for environmental, public and animal health, animal welfare and the Good Agricultural and Environmental Conditions (GAEC), which aim to achieve a sustainable agriculture in the EU.

All countries in the European Union have a Farm Advisory System that provides advice to farmers, helping them to adjust their practices and implement the recommendations suggested in the new Common Agricultural Policy.

As Mr Haniotis explains, “a gap exists between the knowledge that is generated with research, innovation and best practices on the ground, and the fact that this knowledge is not shared by all farmers but only the most pioneering among them”. “The Farm Advisory services could take the form of experimenting with new practices, training of farmers, linking with universities or research institutes and providing to them with the data necessary to run their experiments with new techniques.”

Mr Haniotis concludes by underlining the importance of rural broadband for “the transfer of data and the transfer of knowledge, in the feedback between farmers and the farm advisory systems and in a mature 21st century where digitalisation is the orientation that we see on the ground in all human activities”.

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