Agri-food Research Centres as Drivers of Digital Transformation for Smart Agriculture

Updating technologies are leading the transformation in agriculture. These advances improve the production systems to assure the food production and the natural resources optimisation. However, small farmers or communities face significant barriers for the use of these technologies due to lack of knowledge. If agriculture is to be sustained over time, research and dissemination of these advances to all members of the farming community must be improved. For this reason, the research centres focused on the agri-food sector must be the driving force behind the use of these advances, which enables to leap Smart Technologies. Besides, in this research paper, a pilot study has been carried out in one of these centres using an IoT platform where researchers simulate scenarios for the development of varieties which better fitted to the environment. This platform, based on standard and open interfaces and protocols, allows for the integration of heterogeneous information sources as well as interoperability with other third-party solutions for exchanging and exploiting this information.