The future of Hungarian agriculture and the livelihood of farmers depends to a great extent on to what extent we are able transpose and learn the most advanced information technology results and various solutions that assure efficient, modern and more economical production”, Minister of Agriculture Sándor Fazekas said on Hungarian M1 television’s and Kossuth Radio’s morning programs.
“Hungarian agricultural has reached the doorway to a new era. Agricultural digitalisation and state-of-the-art IT procedures have reached Europe from America, and we in Hungary must count on the fact that the transposition and application precision farming cannot be overlooked. Computer-controlled agricultural machinery is already operating in many areas and help farmers produce as economically and successfully as possible, and to create better and more reliable produce”, the Minister explained. “One of the key questions of Hungarian agriculture is whether we can take advantage of this opportunity and adapt to the new circumstances", Mr. Fazekas said, explaining that “an IT background, and precision equipment and technologies are becoming more and more essential for successful and efficient production, and this in turn contributes to ensuring farmers can make a good living in rural Hungary”
The Agriculture Minister also highlighted the importance of education. As he explained, the task of the agrarian administration in the coming years is to provide all the necessary information within the framework of vocational training and advice. “The results of recent years show that farmers have adapted to increasingly extreme climate conditions, but the spread of precision farming could further help them in this”, Mr. Fazekas said. “At the same time, just as we are talking about the doorway to a new era with relation to agricultural digitalisation, the same is true with relation to funding policy. The current Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) will be replaced by a new one from 2020, one of the important tasks of which will be to further strengthen family farms by providing opportunities for rural families that are involved in agricultural production as a profession. There are currently 27,000 family farms in Hungary, it is essential for them to continue to receive the various forms of funding”, he emphasised.