Vodafone expands agricultural IoT platform into Europe

Vodafone’s Business division is expanding its agricultural Internet of Things (IoT) platform into Europe to aid digital transformation in the farming industry.

The telecom firm’s MyFarmWeb solution – which is already being used by over 7000 farmers in the US, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand – offers farmers the ability to store, visualise and view information gathered via agricultural IoT sensors and other field data sources.

The five European pilot farms trialling the platform are Dairygold in Ireland; Spain-based Llusar and Grima; Laporta in Italy and Agrar-Betriebsgemeinschaft Leine-Solling GbR in Germany.

These farms are set to provide the platform with region-specific data points to calibrate the data within MyFarmWeb to local farming practices and regional regulations.

According to Vodafone the farm data collected by the platform supports decision making for better soil and crop health, effective water use, and precision fertilizer and pesticide application.

The telco adds that this greater productivity and optimisation can lead to a reduction greenhouse gasses.

Vodafone Business chief executive Vinod Kumar said: “MyFarmWeb is a great example of how digital technologies, and the access to data they provide, can help businesses become more efficient and greener.

“Together, we can accelerate the European Union’s efforts to make the agricultural sector more resilient and inclusive through the use of digital tools, whilst ensuring that sustainability doesn’t come at the expense of profitability.”

Read more: Interview with Erik Brenneis, Internet of Things director, Vodafone