Digital agriculture: next call for applications for the DIGIFERMES label

2 septembre 2021

From October 1 to November 30, a call for applications in the digital agriculture sector will be launched. This initiative is part of the DIGIFERMES network, which aims to support farmers in the implementation of digital technologies. Thus, farmers with an experimental farm where digital agriculture is developed will have the opportunity to become a DIGIFERME.

Presentation of the DIGIFERMES project and the associated label

Arvalis, Institut du végétal, has decided to support farmers in the implementation of digital technologies, in partnership with IDELE, ITB, Terres Inovia and ACTA, by creating the DIGIFERMES network in 2016. This network of experimental farms aims to:

Test the connected tools in real conditions,
To be a laboratory and a research center for interested companies,
Serve as a test bed for prototypes and tools under development proposed by digital agriculture companies and start-ups.

This label is awarded only after examination of an application file by a labeling commission, and is reassessed every 3 years. The DIGIFERMES work program is in the field of digital technologies on a farm scale, and this on 4 strategic axes:

Digitalization of agricultural equipment: hi-tech machinery, precision farming and modulation of practices, sensors, robotics, drones, interoperability of equipment, etc.
Tactical production management: development of digital solutions to help manage operations and make day-to-day decisions.
Strategic management of farms: technical and economic evaluation of systems and solutions deployed, anticipation of regulatory changes, sustainability, resilience and robustness in an increasingly variable environment
Data production and enhancement: data convergence (open source), telecommunication (high and low speed network), IoT (connected objects), open-data, crowdsourcing, modeling, data cloud

How to participate in the call for applications and be awarded the DIGIFERMES label?

In order to obtain the DIGIFERMES label, it is necessary to participate in the call for applications, which will take place from 1 October to 30 November 2021. A file is to be provided where each candidate will have to fill in:

A table describing the farm, which will allow the labeling committee to assess the capacity of the experimental farm to set up experiments to support new technologies in a robust and independent manner.
A table describing future projects, which will serve as a basis for the commission to judge the quality of future digital projects, as well as the ambition of the applicant with regard to digital agriculture. The purpose of this table is also to identify new projects, never before thought of in the DIGIFERMES.

All the applications will be examined by this commission, which is made up of a representative of each founding institute of the label, and this, before January 15, 2022. Applicants whose applications are accepted will have to present their project to the committee, which may then validate it in order to label the experimental farm, postpone the application for 6 months while proposing ways to improve the project, or refuse the application.

Applications must be sent before 30/11/2021 to Inès TEETAERT – i.teetaert@arvalis.fr, coordinator and manager of the DIGIFERMES network. It is important to specify the subject of the email: “Application for the DIGIFERMES label_ name of the farm”. More information here.

Translated from Agriculture numérique : prochain lancement de l’appel à candidatures pour le label DIGIFERMES