S10 - Session O3 - Challenge of implementing horticulture 4.0 innovations in the value chain

Authors: Marike Isaak *, Sabine Ludwig-Ohm, Walter Dirksmeyer

Robotics, sensor-based solutions and artificial intelligence in interaction with data management and decision support systems offer the opportunity to meet the current challenges in horticulture. To accelerate the integration of these technologies in horticulture, the German Ministry of Agriculture established 2019 a program to promote Horticulture 4.0 innovation (twelve research and development (R&D) projects) and funded the networking and transfer project HortiCo 4.0 to ensure international competitiveness and increase sustainability. The HortiCo 4.0 project aims to promote cooperation between R&D projects, support knowledge transfer and analyze the technical and socio-economic effects of digitization. The objective is to identify opportunities and challenges when transferring these innovations into the value chain. Horticulture 4.0 innovations are clustered according to their function; they can simplify or replace operations in the production systems, optimize production processes, help coordinating between value chain actors or facilitate information transfer. First, the stakeholders affected by these changes were identified and the impact of innovations was described and assessed by a combination of literature analysis and qualitative research (expert and focus group interviews). The key actors involved in these digitization processes are the horticultural farms, which are intended to implement new technologies in the given framework conditions. Results show that information on the impact of digitization can contribute to the acceptance of new technologies within the value chain both at the horticultural farms (e.g. optimized use of resources, lower costs) and in the society as a whole (e.g. low environmental impact). For horticultural farms, the costs of integrating a new technology into existing production processes is an important factor. The lack of an appropriate regulatory framework, e.g. for the use of autonomous platforms in the field or standardization of interfaces, is a barrier for adoption. Hence, there is a need for political changes to establish new technologies in horticultural practice.