Digital agriculture

Q&A – Insights from the EPO

How does the growth in innovation of digital agriculture compare with other technologies?

Between 2012 and 2022, patenting in digital agriculture (as measured in international patent families (IPFs)) exhibited growth that was three times that of the average for all technologies, indicating that innovation is growing much faster in digital agriculture than in other technologies.

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Which regions are mostly responsible for this growth and how does Europe compare?

While Europe and the United States have traditionally been strong innovators in this field, Asia and Latin America have recorded the fastest growth in international patent family (IPF) filings over the last decade. Despite this, EPO member states remain the largest source of IPFs in digital agriculture over the period 2000–2022, supported by a broad innovation ecosystem that includes major industry players, 125 universities and 194 start-ups active in European patent applications.

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Which areas in agriculture are most active in digital innovations?

Although livestock management has traditionally been strong, e.g. technologies for tagging animals, the last decade has seen strong growth of digital innovation in (open-field) plant agriculture, with a compound annual growth rate of 13% in the decade from 2012 to 2022, making it the dominant area of innovation. Digital innovation in supporting technologies and artificial growth conditions (such as greenhouses and growth media) has also increased in this period, but not as strongly as in plant agriculture.

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Who are the major innovators in this area?

Traditional large-plant agricultural equipment producers dominate, such as John Deere, CNH Industrial, Claas, Kubota and Amazonen Werke. The companies Lely and DeLaval, who produce livestock management and milking equipment, are also large players. BASF and Bayer are strong in supporting technologies (including pest control), whereas electronic companies such as LG and Panasonic are more active in artificial growth conditions (e.g. in greenhouses).

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How are different digital technologies developing in agriculture?

Imaging and sensing technologies are very important in digital agriculture, and also boasted particularly strong growth in the last decade. This is not surprising, as data-driven agriculture starts with the gathering of the data. Treatment and automation – also covering robotics and autonomous machines – come in a strong second. While patents on drones in agriculture were virtually non-existent up until 2014, since then they have shown steady growth. Data and AI have exhibited very strong growth in the past few years, in particular from 2020 to 2022.

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