[Global “Agri-Talk”] Why Does Europe Develop Agricultural Robots Together with Farmers?

[Global 'Agri-Talk': Capturing the Future of Agriculture] Changho Han, Senior Researcher, Europe Research Center, Korea Institute of Science and Technology

Not as users of technology, but as partners in development

Climate change is increasing uncertainty in agriculture, and securing labor is also becoming more difficult due to the aging of rural communities and population decline. With rising labor and material costs added to the mix, agriculture faces the challenge of maintaining stable production with fewer people and resources.

This is also why artificial intelligence and robotic technologies are drawing attention. By sensing the condition of crops and the environment, and determining and carrying out the necessary tasks, they can support farm work and regulate resource inputs more efficiently.

In Europe as well, autonomous agricultural machinery, weeding and harvesting robots, and AI-based crop diagnosis technologies are being developed rapidly. However, looking at various agricultural research efforts in Europe, there is an issue that is treated as importantly as technological performance. It is the question of who participates in the technology development process, and from when.

The agricultural field is different from the laboratory
A robot that works well in the laboratory is not immediately put to use on an actual farm. That is because crops, soil, weather, farm size, and work methods all differ.

If equipment is difficult to move, if repairs are cumbersome when it breaks down, or if it is hard to recover the investment cost, then actual adoption is not easy even if performance is excellent. Factors that may seem like minor issues to developers can become important conditions for farmers in deciding whether to adopt a technology.

In agricultural settings, not only the performance of a technology but also how well it fits actual work is important. However, this kind of field suitability is difficult to assess sufficiently through limited testing only at the final stage of development. That is why the experiences of actual users need to be reflected from the early stages of development.

Farmers are not the final testers
In many recent agricultural research projects in Europe, farmers are viewed not simply as end users but as participants in the development process. Farmers also take part in deciding which problems to solve first, under what conditions testing should be conducted, and what should be regarded as a successful outcome.

For example, when developing a weeding robot, it is not enough to evaluate only how accurately it identifies weeds and how fast it moves. It is also necessary to examine whether it can be used alongside existing farm work, whether transport and maintenance are easy, and whether farms can afford the cost.

Validation is also part of development
In Europe, the infrastructure for testing agricultural AI and robotic technologies on actual farms and related facilities is also being expanded. A representative example is the European Union’s agrifoodTEF, a network of testing and validation facilities that supports technologies developed in laboratories to be tested in real environments and reviewed for performance, safety, and ease of use.

The value of such testing and validation does not lie only in confirming the performance of developed technologies. Validation becomes part of development when it leads to a process in which problems identified in the field are fed back into design and algorithms, and the revised technology is tested again. In fields like agriculture, where working conditions vary greatly, this kind of repeated testing and improvement is even more important.

What Korean agricultural technology can learn
In Korea as well, research and development centered on field validation and solving agricultural issues is being steadily promoted, and efforts are continuing to reflect the opinions of people in the field, including farmers and companies, in policy and technology development.

However, one point to note from the European case is that the participation of relevant actors, including farmers, is not limited to field testing, but is expanded from problem setting and project planning all the way to research execution and the use of results.

If this kind of joint planning approach is used more broadly in Korea as well, it would help reflect field needs in technology from the early stages of development.

Agricultural robots are not completed simply by moving with precision. If they are to solve the tasks farmers need and be used continuously, it is necessary to view farmers not as the final users of technology but as partners in development. This is the direction shown by Europe’s development of agricultural robots.

※ This article was written based on public materials from the EU CAP Network, the European Commission, agrifoodTEF, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, and the Rural Development Administration.