EU CAP Network workshop 'Sensing the future: practical applications of proximal and remote sensing for farmers and advisors'
- Innovation, knowledge exchange & EIP-AGRI
- Digitalisation
- Data Management
- Monitoring
- Fostering Knowledge & Innovation
The workshop ‘Sensing the future: practical applications of proximal and remote sensing for farmers and advisors’ took place in Valencia (Spain) on 27-28 January 2026 to explore practical applications of proximal and remote sensing technologies in agriculture, with a particular focus on supporting digital farming and precision agriculture.
- Programming period: 2023-2027
- Socio-economic impacts
The European agricultural sector is at the heart of the twin digital and green transitions. Farmers and advisors face increasing pressure to enhance resource efficiency, build climate resilience and increase environmental sustainability, while maintaining socioeconomic viability. Meeting these demands requires not only better management practices but also innovative tools that can improve decision-making at multiple levels. Proximal and remote sensing technologies (from satellites and drones to farm machinery-mounted and fixed sensors) feed powerful decision support tools to address these challenges. However, a significant gap often exists between the potential of these technologies and their practical, day-to-day uptake on farms.
The workshop ‘Sensing the future: practical applications of proximal and remote sensing for farmers and advisors’ took place in Valencia (Spain) on 27-28 January 2026 as part of EU CAP Network activities on innovation, knowledge exchange and EIP-AGRI.
The aim of this workshop was to exchange, share and learn from experiences on how to empower farmers and advisors to adopt and trust proximal and remote sensing.
This workshop gathered 90 participants from 17 Member States, including farmers, advisors, technology providers, researchers and policymakers. Together, they explored the practical potential of proximal and remote sensing technologies in agriculture through:
- showcasing the concrete benefits of these technologies in addressing agricultural and environmental challenges across Europe;
- facilitating the exchange of knowledge and good practices among key stakeholders;
- examining practical approaches to integrating data from multiple sources into affordable and farmer-friendly tools; and
- identifying common barriers to day-to-day uptake on farms and discussing possible solutions to overcome them.
This final report summarises the outcomes of the different sessions of the event: plenary and poster sessions, field visits, a breakout session on barriers to and solutions for the adoption of these tools, a breakout session on the opportunities they offer and an interactive exchange on future perspectives.
