Area where I live is mainly based on agriculture economy from small-mid size farms. When I’m not traveling, I can meet my friends and some of them are farmers. They produce good wine, cheese, delicious fruits and vegetables. I’m lucky because I can talk with them tasting their “gems” over dinner.

They are proud talking about their products, but I am seeing them become anxious when we talk about precision agriculture. They feel too small, the landscape is not flat enough, expert technicians aren’t available, machine and systems are slow, expensive, mainly prototyping… in the meantime they receive a lot of pressure from the marketing of innovation. They know, they should do something, but they don’t know where and how to start an effective solution for the real business development. In a while they become nervous and It’s not because of the wine. Good Listening to (not yet) Smart Farmers is the key factor here for innovators and technologists.

Labor cost has relevant impact and recently the lack of labor is beginning a serious issue. At the same time product quality is not more a key selling point but a mandatory prerequisite to sell the product. Finally, resource usage optimization is strategic both for budget and the green new deal.