Digital and automation technologies are being increasingly applied in agriculture to boost efficiency and productivity. Sensors, drones, and robots are used in various phases and types of agriculture with other digital technologies such as the IoT, GPS, data analytics, and AI to help farmers monitor fields more precisely and make more timely decisions. Optimizing production processes and resources not only helps achieve higher yields and better quality but also enhances environmental sustainability by reducing unnecessary waste.

To share good practices of transforming the agriculture sector into technology-enabled smart agriculture, the APO Secretariat joined forces with the Ministry of Industry and Technology of Turkiye to organize a virtual study mission from 29 to 30 June to discuss smart agriculture initiatives and observe applications of digital and automation technologies in the agriculture sector in the host country. A group of 52 participants from academia, government agencies, and agroindustries representing 11 APO members attended the study mission, in which they virtually visited the Vodafone model farm and a smart dairy farm in Turkiye.

Three resource persons from Turkiye, Dr. Ufuk Turker of Ankara University and Canan Erakman and Dr. Mesut Yildirir of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, led participants in discussions on policies, technologies, and R&D strategies for smart agriculture, identifying enablers to facilitate transformation toward smart agriculture in APO members.