ESA – Connected Agriculture

Fund details

The agriculture sector is facing many challenges including the environmental pressure related to climate change and loss of biodiversity, sustainable and efficient management of resources such as water, soil and energy, an ageing farming population in some countries and the shortage of farm labour.

The lack of a digitally-skilled workforce is also slowing down the modernisation of the sector.

In March 2022 the German government classified the agricultural and food sector as a systemically important infrastructure. Responding to this decision, the German Federal Office of Agriculture and Food (BLE) stated that a functioning agriculture infrastructure, including logistics and communication facilities, must ensure short- and long-term food supplies. Reliable communications and digital technologies are key elements in supporting the sustainable transformation of the agriculture sector.

Topics of relevance

Below are some relevant topics that have been identified for this Kick-Start.

• Next generation farm management systems
• Smart livestock and stable monitoring
• Precision farming and automation
• Farm machinery maintenance management

Proposed services must use one or more space assets. Some examples of space assets are provided below.

• Satellite Communications (satcom)
• Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS)
• Satellite Earth Observation (satEO)

Eligibility

ESA Space Solutions can provide funding to carry out Kick-Start activities to any company (economic operator) residing in the following Member States: Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Sweden and the United Kingdom.

Germany and Luxembourg have pre-authorised the funding to this call. Contact details of each national delegate can be found here.

Kick-Start activities are 75% funded by the European Space Agency up to a maximum of €60K per contract.

Talk to us today if you would like to apply for this opportunity.