Agriculture 4.0: Can Agritech Transform Farming in the EU?

Agricultural technology, commonly known as agritech, is regarded as the fourth revolution in agriculture (“Agriculture 4.0”), leveraging digital and data technologies to enhance the efficiency, productivity, and sustainability of farming systems and food production (Abbassi et al., 2022; Javaid et al., 2022; Robinson, 2024). It encompasses solutions such as precision agriculture, vertical farming, and automation — “not simply for the sake of innovation” (De Clerq et al., 2018) — to address global challenges like climate change, population growth, and resource depletion. The potential of these rapidly advancing agritech innovations is described as “potentially game-changing” by Klerkx & Rose (2020), capable of sparking both green and digital revolutions in the European Union (EU), referred to as a “twin transition” (Myshko et al., 2024), through informed and evidence-based decisions supported by “big data” collection.

This article will discuss whether agritech can transform the EU’s unsustainable farming practices and build its agriculture’s resilience to worsening climate change, which is impacting harvests and disrupting weather patterns.

A complex crisis is developing in European agriculture (Reidsma et al., 2023), with far-reaching impacts on human health and well-being, livelihoods, biodiversity, and ecosystems (Meuwissen et al., 2020; Lécuyer et al., 2021; Schils et al., 2022). Several authors have concluded that the amount of agricultural land globally for both crops and livestock has peaked (Hopmans et al., 2021; Ritchie, 2022), and rapid land degradation and resource depletion from unsustainable agricultural practices have led the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) to soberly declare: “all evidence points to slowing growth in agricultural productivity, rapid exhaustion of productive capacity and generation of environmental harm” (FAO, 2021). Moreover, between 60% and 70% of Europe’s soil is severely degraded (Veerman et al., 2020), and the area of farmland is shrinking due to abandonment, demographic changes, and urbanisation (Castillo et al., 2021; Debonne et al., 2022; Valujeva et al., 2022). Around the world, intensive human activity has resulted in the loss of a third of arable land over 40 years (FAO, 2015, quoted in Joseph et al., 2019). Yet, an unquenchable demand remains for food to support a global population of 8 billion, expected to grow to 9 billion by 2050.

Unsustainable farming practices, such as deforestation, excessive mechanisation, monoculture, and overgrazing (Pretty, 2008; Tefera et al., 2024; Wang & Azam, 2024), are exacerbating the depletion of the world’s natural capital and intensifying the competition for what productive agricultural land remains. Consequently, the pressures of land use are “emerging as one of the defining environmental challenges of modern times” (King et al., 2023). This so-called “land crunch” (Erb et al., 2024) is escalated by the impact of climate change, which is already affecting an industry inherently sensitive to weather and climate. In the EU, increased frequency of extreme weather events (droughts, floods, and heatwaves) and disrupted growing seasons pose challenges to food security and environmental protection. There is, therefore, an urgency for a transition to sustainable farming practices and efficient methods of food production.

Figure 1: Agritech is leveraging drone technology to revolutionise farming practices (NIKON Corporation, 2024).

Roughly 39% of the EU’s land area is dedicated to agriculture, making it the primary land use. Yet in 2024, the sector contributed only 1.3% of the union’s total GDP, which is “about the same share as 15 years earlier” (Eurostat, 2025). Employment in agriculture has traditionally been insecure or seasonal (Kołodziejczak, 2025), but EU agricultural labour figures are declining, with millions of unfilled positions on small-scale farms and fewer young people entering the sector (Schuh et al., 2019). Between 2005 and 2020, employment in EU agriculture fell from 6.4% to 4.2% (Eurostat, 2022), potentially causing delays in food production or even harvest losses (Savary et al., 2020), threatening the sector’s sustainability. The decline is particularly evident in the eastern member states of Hungary, Poland, and Romania, where common trends of rural-urban migration among young professionals and an ageing farming population are driving rural depopulation (Dudek & Rosa, 2023; Ursu et al., 2023; Nagy, 2021). Furthermore, rising operating costs and lack of profitability have led to small traditional farms across the EU being consolidated into larger commercial farms capable of generating higher profits and increased agricultural output. Agritech, despite being costly, offers efficiency and can address labour shortages on struggling farms, but the lack of a skilled workforce to operate these technologies hampers their adoption. Despite these pressing challenges, the EU recognises the potential of agritech and digitalisation through initiatives and projects that give farmers a new drive to transform agriculture into a resilient and sustainable sector (Bacco et al., 2019; Giagnocavo et al., 2025). 

Global events and market shocks have exposed the vulnerabilities of the EU’s input supply chains of animal feed and fertilisers, crucial components of food production (Loi et al., 2024). The extremes of climate change are becoming more frequent and damaging, disrupting crop cycles and changing weather patterns. Consequently, there is a growing urgency to bolster food security for the union’s population, a central commitment of the EU’s 1962 flagship Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), reformed in January 2023 as CAP 2023-27. The new results-oriented CAP emphasises the role of digitalisation in modernising agriculture (Chereji et al., 2022; Gebresenbet et al., 2023). Sustainability is a key theme, but flaws and challenges regarding policy and planning flexibility for individual member states, implementation costs, uptake by farmers, and measuring its overall effectiveness have been noted (Khafagy & Vigani, 2022; Cuadros-Casanova et al., 2023; Guyomard et al., 2023), which could lead to uneven environmental progress within the EU. The ambitious goals of the new CAP are closely aligned with the 2020 European Green Deal, which aims to develop a more sustainable and carbon-neutral EU food system. Agritech is seen as a key enabler of this transition.

Beginning with the plough and the wheel, and progressing through the Industrial Revolution, the application of technology in agriculture is not new. Modern agritech is an evolution of existing technologies. It offers farmers competitive and innovative solutions to minimise the environmental impact of farming and reduce greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture, the second-largest source after the energy sector (Pence et al., 2024). Agritech differs from traditional agricultural mechanisation through the use of data and digital tools, robotics, and emerging technologies such as AI and the Internet of Things (IoT). This enables precision farming by analysing crop health, soil conditions, and water and fertiliser levels, with the aim of optimising resource use (Sharma & Shivandu, 2024; Miller et al., 2025). While mechanisation worldwide focuses on increasing productivity and reducing labour costs through large farming machinery (Srisompun et al., 2019; Zou et al., 2024), agritech’s data-driven approach aims to support better decision-making for EU farmers, creating sustainable environments and enhancing food quality and security (European Parliament: Directorate-General for Parliamentary Research Services et al., 2016; Finger, 2023).

Figure 2: A possible configuration of a smartphone-integrated precision agriculture system (U.S. Government Accountability Office, 2019).

The Agriculture 4.0 revolution is driven by advanced technology capable of delivering real-time data collection and processing, automating planting and harvesting, and monitoring field and crop conditions (Javaid et al., 2022; Ronzhin et al., 2025). Big data collection raises privacy issues due to the sensitive nature of the information gathered. To break down the EU’s historic data-sharing barriers and complexities, a Common European Agricultural Data Space (CEADS) has been proposed in the Green Deal as an initiative to establish a secure environment where agricultural cross-border data can be shared and analysed, i.e., “a central data infrastructure as a ‘one-stop-shop’” (ATİK, 2023). Agritech data and innovations, if fully utilised, have the potential to be a “multifunctional endeavor contributing to economic development, community revitalization, and food security” (Nesheli & Salaj, 2024). Due to rising energy and technology costs, though, doubts remain about whether this farming revolution will stay a “niche” venture (Klerkx & Rose, 2020). In the EU, these new technologies are rapidly expanding in both practice and research in major agricultural states such as Germany, France, and the Netherlands (Bellon-Maurel et al., 2023), with the latter being the world’s second-largest vegetable exporter (Vermeulen et al., 2020). The motivation to adopt agritech is emphasised by Stringer et al. (2020, p.175): “Different types of farmers need different adaptation and sustainable development pathways as they are starting from different points and are affected by global trends in different ways.”

Agritech is transforming farming practices, not only through technology but also by enhancing land management and labour efficiency. Vertical farming involves growing small fruits and vegetables in stacked layers indoors, rather than horizontally outdoors, within high-tech, climate-controlled environments (SharathKumar et al., 2020; Rathor et al., 2024). Its limited use of space, higher yields, and reduced water consumption make it especially suitable for unconventional urban settings with minimal labour requirements (Baiyin & Yang, 2024; Singh et al., 2024). Consequently, vertical farming has been promoted as a sustainable solution for urban food production in the EU. However, compared to Asia (Oh & Lu, 2022) — such as in Singapore (Wood et al., 2020) — where the expansion of vertical farming is reshaping the continent’s agricultural sector in response to rapid urban growth, adoption in the EU, whose population is projected to be 80% urbanised by 2050 (UN DESA, 2019, p.5, quoted in Waugh, 2025), has progressed more slowly and limited (Vîrtosu & Li, 2024). Nonetheless, in the Netherlands, where approximately half of the land area is used for conventional agriculture (Vermeulen et al., 2020), small-scale hydroponic experiments — a soilless form of vertical farming — have increased crop yields by 40% with significantly lower resource inputs (Nina et al., 2024). Similar vertical farming trials aimed at mitigating future climate change risks and addressing food security challenges have been successfully conducted in Spain (Gargaro et al., 2024), Germany (Abdurakhmonov, 2025), and on a large scale in Sweden (Martin et al., 2023).

Vertical farming is a young but expanding industry. While the number of farms in the EU remains small, vertical farming’s growth offers social and environmental advantages for food systems (fresh produce and investment for local economies) and urban populations (opportunities for community building and training) (Avgoustaki & Xydis, 2020; Kluczkovski et al., 2025). Supported by the EU's Green Deal and the Farm to Fork strategy, vertical farming aims to provide “high-quality food at affordable prices” sustainably (European Commission, 2020). This innovative agricultural method is resilient to climate change and weather disruptions, allowing year-round harvests, and generates less waste compared to traditional farming (Burritt et al., 2025; Gunapala et al., 2025). Additionally, the localised supply chain reduces emissions by cutting transportation distances, resulting in a lower environmental footprint “compared to the conventional supply of mixed salad bags” (Siñol & Martin, 2025).

Figure 3: Lettuce plants being grown in a vertically-stacked hydroponic system (Valcenteu, 2010).

While the digital capabilities of Agriculture 4.0 have enormous potential to transform the efficiency and viability of rural and urban farming and food production in the EU, cost, data privacy concerns, and skills shortages continue to slow development. Farming in the EU is at a crossroads, facing interconnected challenges of climate change, intensive farming practices, rising costs, and resource depletion, which are forcing farmers and politicians to reevaluate farming and land management practices that are “increasingly aggravating societal and environmental safety concerns” (Helfenstein et al., 2024). As climate change causes weather events to become more extreme and unpredictable and the planet to warm at an unprecedented rate, there is a critical need for significant investment in innovation and research to develop sustainable and resilient farming alternatives that improve crop yields, food security, and promote biodiversity.

Agritech is promoted as delivering major advancements in farming and food production, but it faces criticism for its negative socioeconomic and environmental impacts (Rotz et al, 2019, quoted in Barrett & Rose, 2020; Stanghellini & Katzin, 2024). Although the EU offers farmers financial assistance through the CAP to achieve the sustainability goals of the Green Deal, the costs of purchasing and implementing high-tech can be prohibitive to those with dwindling revenues or small-scale operations (Chatrabhuj et al., 2025). Farmers may become disconnected from the land if they lose traditional skills by becoming too reliant on agritech (Rose et al., 2018, quoted in Barrett & Rose, 2020), which could lead to negative consequences for the soil and natural resources due to poor resource management.

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Cover image: [a painting on a vintage postcard of farmers working in a field]. (n.d.).

Figure 1: NIKON Corporation. (2024). Drone EFT. [photograph]. Unsplash. https://unsplash.com/photos/a-man-standing-next-to-a-black-and-white-flying-device-xLMKITJV0-0

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