The coronavirus epidemic is forcing Czech farmers to engage more and more modern technologies. Farmers are educated through online seminars or webinars mediated by the Czech agrotech startup Agdata, a leader in precision agriculture. This leads to a little-seen phenomenon, with the conservative agricultural sector switching to new solutions in the form of online learning. Digitalisation is currently helping farmers mainly to replace labour, which is still in short supply in the sector.
An ageing population of farmers and a shortage of young people. These are not optimal starting conditions for moving into the digital era and following trends in IoT. However, in the words of Jiří Musil, CEO of Agdata, the opposite is true. "Last week we launched webinars for our existing clients as well as for other farmers who want to learn in the field. At first we thought we would have a maximum of one farmer per day, but great interest exceeded our expectations and we currently offer a total of four dates per day, which are always occupied and often take place at one time several parallel webinars. In the first days after the registrations opened, we registered several dozen applicants," explains Musil.
Online seminars are primarily used to gain expertise and improve telematics work or to use sensory on their own field. Farmers are thus actively looking for information and learning how to apply modern technologies and use them to make up for the lack of labour. This is also related to the current shortage of seasonal workers, especially from abroad. Due to current government regulations, it is not possible for part-time workers to come and help plant and harvest the first crops, such as onions or kale. Therefore, farmers are looking for all possible ways to make as many tasks as possible more efficient so that they can devote to working in the field.
According to Agdata data, the current situation will affect around 1000 large farms, which will lack up to a third of seasonal workers. If the situation does not change, in the first summer months of harvesting forest fruits or early potatoes, there will be thousands of workers who would otherwise help with the harvest. That is why the Czech startup records an increased demand for digitalization teaching as such.
"Due to the current challenging situation, we have decided that our seminars will be free of charge. We realise that we need to help out in a crisis and we want to set an example. In the past, we held live seminars for farmers, most recently in Jihlava. But given the limited movement and the need to act, we immediately decided to educate farmers online. We plan to use webinars even after calming the situation. So far we have only positive feedback and we are glad that farmers like this form of communication," concludes Jiří Musil.
It is possible to log in to the webinar on the agdata.cz/webinar. Agdata currently operates on more than 20% of Czech soil and its instruments are used by more than 1700 active farmers, which is roughly 10% of all farmers who feed agriculture or have it as a primary source of income.
