The Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated the use of technology in the farming sector, according to a new report.
More than 1,700 farmers across the country were surveyed for the 2021 Ifac Irish Farm Report about the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, the adoption of technology and their outlook for the future.
More than 70 per cent of farmers surveyed want online mart selling to continue after the pandemic and more than half of farmers use herd and breeding software on their farms.
Ifac is Ireland’s farming, food and agribusiness professional services firm. John Donoghue, chief executive of Ifac said the report highlights how the community has had to adjust to the challenges and changes of the last year.
“The adoption of technology has accelerated with tech now playing an increasingly important role in farm management,” he said.
The study also found that 80 per cent of farmers now use some form of agritech to enhance their operations, with tools ranging from herd management tech to robotic scrapers.
A number of Irish agritech start-ups have also received significant funding in the last year. This includes MagGrow, which raised €6 million for its crop-spraying tech and Micron Agritech, that was awarded €500,000 in seed funding for its rapid parasite testing kit.
LSL News.