The 2nd Panhellenic Rice Congress, organized on Thursday, February 15, 2024 by the National Interprofessional Organization of Greek Rice (“N.I.O.O.R.EL.”) in Thessaloniki, was the ideal opportunity for NEUROPUBLIC’s gaiasense system to highlight the necessity and contribution of smart farming in the primary sector and, in particular, in Greek crop production.

Representatives of the political leadership, institutional bodies such as agricultural cooperatives and rice mills, as well as rice producers were present and discussed the developments and challenges facing rice cultivation, while highlighting key issues that concern Greek rice cultivation and rice processing, with the main aim of developing strategic choices for the product and highlighting its value.

In fact, Ioannis Mavroudis, NEUROPUBLIC’s Vice President and Executive Director, was at the Porto Palace Hotel and spoke about climate change and the challenges it creates, the road to sustainable agriculture, as well as the role of new technologies and, of course, smart farming and the development of the competitiveness of Greek rice in international markets.

“Smart farming is the application of advanced computing and data analysis technologies with the ultimate goal of optimizing and rationalizing the entire production system“, Mr. Mavroudis commented, and continued by saying that “the gaiasense smart farming system is a Greek innovation that combines computing technologies with agronomic science in a holistic way. Gaiasense is the largest smart farming infrastructure on a pan-European level, covering through a proprietary network of more than 500 telemetric stations in 27 different crops, an area of more than 2 million acres in 6 countries in Europe. It is a system that aims to transition agri-food into the digital future“, while he did not fail to further elaborate on gaiasense’s contribution to the environment and climate: “It guarantees their safety, confirming that the future of the agri-food sector goes hand in hand with technological development,” he explained.

“A necessary requirement for the implementation of all new technologies is the existence of agricultural advisors who will stand by the producers and will be able to exploit the potential of technological tools for their benefit. It is necessary to form in our country an integrated system of agricultural advisory services, with the incorporation of all the links in the value chain and knowledge of agricultural production, so that the Greek producer can be competitive in the global market and ensure its economic and social sustainability, ” Mr. Mavroudis concluded.