Italian operator TIM and agricultural confederation Confagricoltura have signed an agreement to launch the “Agritech Innovation Hub” project, with the main aim of developing smart agriculture in Italy.
The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) intends to support agricultural entrepreneurs in the post-COVID economic, technological and social recovery, providing them with innovative solutions and platforms.
In particular, the partners said that the smart agriculture agreement creates a “close collaboration” which will lead to the establishment of a foundation involving institutions and partners of national standing interested in the implementation of innovative technologies in the field of agriculture. The work of the foundation will be supported by an “advisory hub” consisting of a consulting company in the sector and an “industrial hub” consisting of industrial companies, with the task of creating and proposing innovative, scalable and affordable offers and products for the entire network of agricultural entrepreneurs, TIM said.
The hub will be based on a specific service digitalization and data management platform intended to create integrated offers and immediately usable by agricultural entrepreneurs, the Italian telco added.
The agreement will give a strong boost to the digitization of inland and rural areas to encourage the adoption of applications that make use of the potential of fiber and related services to support agri-food companies that produce, process and market essential goods and services.
“The many smart agriculture applications, which will demonstrate their full potential with the spread of 5G and the Internet of Things, range from field sensors planted in the ground or installed on plants to continuously detect parameters, including soil humidity, acidity or temperature, to connected tractors capable of moving autonomously across fields to plough, sow or till the soil,” TIM said.” Furthermore, in the wearable sector, collars and smart tags applied to livestock already allow for biometric parameters of the animals housed in the stables or raised outdoors to be collected on an ongoing basis. While drones, equipped with cameras, multispectral sensors and GPS geolocation systems, acquire useful data to obtain orthophotos, vigour indices and prescription maps that help to understand the health of crops and the quantity of seed, fertilizers and plant protection products to be distributed.”
Under the terms of the agreement, TIM will also organize seminars and professional training opportunities for Confagricoltura members to support them in learning about digitisation processes in the sector.
Telecom Italia previously expects to provide 5G technology in at least 120 cities and 200 tourist destinations across Italy by 2021.By that year, TIM also plans to provide 5G coverage for 245 industrial districts and 200 specific projects for big businesses.
The Italian carrier said that its 5G services will be offered through spectrum in the 700 MHz, 3.6-3.8 GHz and 26.5-27.5 GHz bands.
