Author: Merveille Ntabuhashe (AEIDL)
More than 120 participants signed up to come to the Fondation Universitaire in Brussels on 15 and 16 September 2026 for the CODECS Final Conference, bringing four years of research on agricultural digitalisation into discussion with future EU policy. Organised by the European Association for Innovation in Local Development (AEIDL), the event brought together EU representatives, researchers, farm advisors, technology developers and real -life case studies: our Living Labs. Over two half-days, participants explored how digital innovation and policy can work together to support more sustainable, fair and resilient European agriculture.
Incidentally, at the same day, in the State of the EU address of 2026 President Von der Leyen outlined at the European Parliament “crops need water to grow, while livestock need it to survive” and that “Europe’s farmers have risen to the challenge” of increasingly difficult conditions. For this she stressed the need for “a whole of society approach – all the way through to the local level where adaptation matters most”, one in which AI and data are essential for resilience and make the agrifood sector a centre of innovation. After four years of work the CODECS, project provides a wide set of tested results that help spearhead the digitalisation in agriculture, just as when the EU and Member States and the agrifood sector are preparing for the new National and Regional Partnership Plans 2028-2034.
Digital farming as a system
The first day moved from the concepts behind digital agriculture to evidence from farms and Living Labs, before examining its economic, social and environmental impacts. Opening the conference, CODECS Coordinator Gianluca Brunori (University of Pisa) described digital technology as a wider system connecting sensors, satellites, data and social relationships. He stressed that successful digitalisation depends on the capacity to manage trade-offs rather than simply increasing technology adoption.
In his keynote address, Pierluigi Londero, Head of Data Governance at the European Commission’s DG AGRI, placed this discussion within the EU regulatory context, highlighting that “connectivity is about rural areas beyond the farm, and even supply chains, as public administrations play a key role in facilitating adoption in an open, safe, transparent and fair manner.”
The discussion then turned to how these systems can be understood and assessed. Katrine Soma from Wageningen Research presented the CODECS Conceptual Framework, showing how economic, environmental and social impacts can be considered together. Chiara Mannari from CNR presented socio-technical process modelling to illustrate how digitalisation changes farm activities, roles and dependencies, while Simona Cristiano from CREA explained how Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation Systems (AKIS) can turn farm data into practical advice.
Moving from theory to practice, Rosa María Heredia Hortigüela and Cynthia Giagnocavo from the University of Almería presented findings on digital ecosystems from 19 CODECS Living Labs across Europe. Using 56 test indicators, they showed that technology readiness alone is not enough if local farming routines and support networks are not also prepared. Highlighting the practical experience, Jovana Milosavljeva from Ag Futura Technologies provided an example from the RAMAS Living Lab in North Macedonia, where soil sensors, drones and satellite analytics are used to provide personalised decision-support advice to farmers.
The day concluded by examining the costs and benefits of farm digitalisation. During a round table moderated by Véronique Bellon-Maurel from INRAE, Costas Iliopoulos from ELGO-DIMITRA stressed that digital investments need to match farm scale and available advisory support. Beatriz Herrera from the University of Hohenheim noted that digital tools can reduce physical labour but may also create digital stress and reduce farmer independence. Alexia Gobrecht from INRAE highlighted that environmental benefits depend on changes in farming practices rather than on technology alone. Jonathan Van Beek from ILVO (Belgian Living Lab) highlighted that while technologies can reduce pesticide use and physical labour, he noted that benefits can be offset by investment costs, processing delays and the environmental footprint of data storage and computing.
Together, these discussions demonstrated that the success of digitalisation cannot be assessed through technology adoption alone, setting the scene for the second day of the conference, which focused on the policy frameworks needed to create enabling conditions for sustainable digitalisation.
From research evidence to agricultural policy
The second day shifted from research findings to their implications for European policy, with discussions moving from the policy environment to practical tools and recommendations for sustainable and inclusive digitalisation. Francesco Iadecola from DG AGRI opened the day with a keynote on future EU research and policy directions. He presented the EU Vision for Agriculture and Food, the AgRI 2040 framework, the Apply AI strategy, and post-2027 National and Regional Partnership Plans under the Multiannual Financial Framework, outlining how these initiatives aim to connect research with market deployment and regional funding.
The first session of the day examined how different policy environments shape digital agriculture. Mar Delgado from the University of Cordoba presented her analysis of the Policy Landscape for Agriculture Digitalisation in Europe, calling for long-term, context-sensitive policies rather than generic technology pushes. Pierre Labarthe from INRAE highlighted a gap between top-down policy frameworks and farm-level realities, where informal advisors and private IT companies often play an important role. Looking towards 2040, Niamh Mahon from the James Hutton Institute stressed the need for ethical governance and co-creation with farmers to avoid widening digital divides. Finally, Paschalis Tziastas from DG RTD concluded the session by adding insights on agroecology, calling for cost-effective tools and low-power algorithms to reduce environmental footprints. As he highlighted, “digitalisation is not an end result, but instead a continuous journey and a means to an end.”
The focus then moved to practical policy pathways for sustainable and inclusive digitalisation. Serafín Pazos Vidal from AEIDL presented three instruments from the CODECS Policy Toolbox: guidelines for local digital strategies, an investment checklist for public authorities, and an evidence-based monitoring framework. These suite of complementary tools aim to provide officials and stakeholder new to the agricultural digitalisation the possibility to have a preliminary assessment of the contextual, strategic and financial elements that would enable the creation of an evidence-based agricultural digitalisation strategy and investment plan in a way that is based on context specificities, instead of implementing top down high level strategies or off-the-shelf solutions.
The discussion particularly highlighted the social dimension of digitalisation, including gender equality and inclusion. Jun He from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) stressed that meaningful inclusion requires targeted training and safeguards, while Gianluca Brunori presented CODECS recommendations including gender-inclusive advisory services, dedicated funding and equal representation in agricultural decision-making.
The conference ended with a panel discussion examining how to translate empirical research into concrete policy choices Emils Kilis (Baltic Studies Centre) highlighted the need for long-term, context-sensitive policy frameworks supported by practical toolboxes to help public authorities design local strategies and guide investment decisions. Daire Boyle (representing the 4Growth project) outlined key market and investment conditions for scaling digital solutions, emphasising open, interoperable infrastructure, legal clarity, fair data governance, public-private partnerships, and measures to safeguard farmer autonomy against dominant technology providers. Ian Baker (Catalys & University of Birmingham) shared practical lessons from the FAO Digital Villages Initiative, stressing the importance of rural digital inclusion, local facilitation, and the role of research institutions in outreach and demonstration.
In his closing remarks, Gianluca Brunori reflected on four years of collaborative research across 20 Living Labs. The discussions highlighted a central message from CODECS: the impact of digital innovation depends not only on the technology itself, but also on the people, farming systems and policies that shape how it is used.
The discussions highlighted a central message from CODECS: the impact of digital innovation depends not only on the technology itself, but also on the people, farming systems and policies that shape how it is used. As Europe prepares the next generation of agricultural, rural and digital policies, the challenge is therefore not simply to digitalise agriculture, but to ensure that digitalisation contributes to sustainability, resilience, inclusion and long-term public value.
