Internet of Food and Farm 2020 (IoF2020) : all about Smart, Precision and Dynamic Agriculture

(Source: IOF2020.EU)

The Internet of Food and Farm 2020’ / IoF2020 Large Scale Project (2017 - 2020) is dedicated to accelerate adoption of Internet of Things (IoT) for securing sufficient, safe and healthy food and to strengthen competitiveness of farming and food chains in Europe. It will consolidate Europe’s leading position in the global IoT industry by fostering a symbiotic ecosystem of farmers, food industry, technology providers and research institutes.

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With the help of IoT technologies higher yields and better quality produce are within reach. Pesticide and fertilizer use will drop and overall efficiency is optimized. IoT technologies also enable better traceability of food, leading to increased food safety. 

‘Internet of Food and Farm 2020’ / IoF2020 emerged from the Alliance of Internet of Things Innovation (AIOTI) initiative which was established by the European Commission and aims at developing and supporting the dialogue and interaction among different Internet of Things (IoT) players in Europe.

Anticipating vast technological developments and emerging challenges for farming and food, the 4-year IoF2020 project stays agile through dynamic budgeting and adaptive decision-making by an implementation board of representatives from key user organizations. In particular, the IoF2020 consortium of over 70 partners, led by Wageningen UR and other core partners of previous key projects such as FIWARE and IoT-A, will leverage the IoT ecosystem and architecture that was established in those projects. 

The goals of the project are ambitious:

  • to consolidate Europe’s leading position in the global IoT industry by fostering a symbiotic ecosystem of farmers, food industry, technology providers and research institutes;
  • to make precision farming a reality;
  • to take a vital step towards a more sustainable food value chain. 

A mid-term open call will allow for testing intermediate results and extending the project with technical solutions and test sites. The first results are expected in the first quarter of 2018. 

A lean multi-actor approach focusing on user acceptability, stakeholder engagement and sustainable business models will boost technology and market readiness levels and bring end user adoption to the next stage. This development will be enhanced by an open IoT architecture and infrastructure of reusable components based on existing standards and a security and privacy framework.

The heart of the project is formed by 19 use cases grouped in 5 trials with end users from the:

verticals and IoT integrators that will demonstrate the business case of innovative IoT solutions for a large number of application areas.

A coherent dissemination strategy for use case products and project learnings supported by leading user organizations will ensure a high market visibility and an increased learning curve. Thus IoF2020 will pave the way for data-driven farming, autonomous operations, virtual food chains and personalized nutrition for European citizens.

How will IoF2020 contribute to achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals?​​​​​​​

"The UN’s SDGs call for a worldwide system evolution towards a more equal, sustainable and prosperous world. Of the 17 SDGs, IoF2020 will have a direct impact on:"

"The implementation of IoT technologies in the farming and food sector can help to increase agricultural output, address environmental issues, improve the availability of information, enable consumers to make better-informed choices, prevent fraud and use resources in a more responsible manner."

Okay, I like your ideas. How can I participate? What do you need?​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

"Talk to your friends, family, clients, suppliers and co-workers about these exciting new technological developments to be realized in IoF2020 and help us engage them. If you would like to get involved in the project or require further information, feel free to reach out to me."

Dr. ir. George Beers
Wageningen University and Research
Wageningen, The Netherlands
+31 (0)70 3358337
[email protected]
[email protected]

Source: INTERVIEW WITH GEORGE BEERS: WHAT IS IOF2020?

Source: IOF2020.EU