The branch of the economy that is reinventing itself in Romania. “Agriculture 4.0” is changing the demands of rural jobs

In the context of technological advancement in the agricultural sector, the requirements for professionals in the field are changing, and agricultural specialists need to complement their knowledge in agricultural sciences with expertise in information technology and environmental protection, according to a recent analysis.

Under the conditions of new technologies in the agricultural field, there are also changes in the requirements for agricultural jobs. A specialist in this field now needs not only knowledge in the field of agricultural sciences, but also in the information technology or environmental protection sector.

“In the agriculture 4.0 the future lies, there will be no farmer in the next decade that will be successful if he does not use the smart applications that are already available in the market, and the fact that our students learn this from the time of college, they get used to these applications and realize their importance , it will surely be of great help to them when they end up managing a farm“, pointed out the university professor. Dr. Gerard Jităreanu, rector of the “Ion Ionescu de la Brad” University of Life Sciences in Iasi.

Digitization means producing more, but with fewer resources. If the profit in agriculture is to be increased, people need to come up with solutions that impact it.

“If you end up on a big farm that’s 15,000 ha (hectares), in six locations, and you have to call five engineers or ten engineers every day to report what they’ve done, it’s going to be a difficult life. You will say that you want digital solutions to solve your problem. After 2030, there will certainly be no farms that do not use digital functions. It is very important for them to understand and use these solutions to increase farm efficiency“, explains speaker Ervin Miklos, representative of Agro Monitoring.

According to experts, the Internet of Things (IoT) is relevant to both arable crops and animal husbandry. There is a wide range of IoT use cases in agriculture, including monitoring livestock, managing tanks, tractors and combines, monitoring soil conditions such as moisture and chemical composition.