Swiss Future Farm collaboration

Creation of Swiss Future Farm responds to changing tech-nical requirements and consumer behaviour with develop-ment of future-orientated solutions

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The project addresses the possibilities that have been created by global digitalisation which is having a significant impact on agricul-ture, leading to major changes in the percep-tion and management of farming. New tech-nologies are at the heart of this approach which provides opportunities to link and opti-mise different areas of agriculture.

The Swiss Future Farm will offer a unique and comprehensive platform for the professional exchange of knowledge, data and information with farmers. The concept offers great poten-tial in the areas of education, knowledge transfer and agricultural development, and opens up new synergies between research and the practical application of technology.

The project is the combination of three part-ners' vision for the future of agriculture - AGCO Corporation, the Arenenberg Agricultur-al College and GVS Agrar AG. This pub-lic/private collaboration is driven by the under-lying belief that pooled knowledge leads to innovation.

The three partners – all based in Switzerland - bring different core competencies to the pro-ject. AGCO Corporation is a worldwide manu-facturer and distributor of agricultural equip-ment and solutions offered through leading brands. Its European headquarters is located in Neuhausen. In the field of knowledge and knowledge mediation, the Arenenberg Agricul-tural College in Salenstein, which operates the Tänikon agricultural test facility, has posi-tioned itself as a progressive education centre for agriculture and home economics. In the area of services and consultancy, GVS Agrar AG, headquartered in Schaffhausen, is an im-porter of farm machinery and a service pro-vider with a nationwide dealer network.

The Swiss Future Farm will utilise the existing Tänikon facilities to make optimal use of the capabilities of each of the three partners. Farmers will be able to experience state-of-the-art machinery and technology at first-hand and under real-life conditions as well as real time data transfer to different farm man-agement software. For research, and especial-ly valuable for Agroscope, the Swiss Federal Agricultural Research organisation, the opera-tion allows for the recording and evaluation of data which can be employed in the develop-ment of new technologies and services. The resulting knowledge can then be passed on to farmers who can usefully integrate it into their businesses in line with their own require-ments.

The Swiss Future Farm is focused on the fu-ture of agriculture with the aim of making it both tangible and accessible to all. An infor-mation centre will introduce visitors to current agricultural issues and provide an overview of the development of ongoing projects. A tour of the operation will facilitate further understand-ing and ensure visitors experience the practi-cal application of technology being carried out there.

This pioneering initiative is setting new stand-ards with its development of innovative rela-tionships between wide-ranging expertise and resources. Full details of the project will be released at a later date.