{"id":182125,"date":"2026-01-07T18:42:55","date_gmt":"2026-01-07T17:42:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/diplomazia-economica-e-politica-commerciale\/diplomaziaeconomica\/innovazione-tecnologica-e-startup\/agritech\/"},"modified":"2026-04-02T11:59:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T09:59:07","slug":"agritech","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/en\/diplomazia-economica-e-politica-commerciale\/diplomaziaeconomica\/innovazione-tecnologica-e-startup\/agritech\/","title":{"rendered":"Agritech"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-179400 img-fluid\" src=\"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/agritech-maeci.webp\" alt=\"Agritech\" width=\"800\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/agritech-maeci.webp 1280w, https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/agritech-maeci-300x200.webp 300w, https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/agritech-maeci-1024x682.webp 1024w, https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/agritech-maeci-768x512.webp 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The term Agritech does not have a single, universally accepted definition. It is generally used to describe the shift from an agricultural model based on experience and manual labour to one supported by technology and driven by data, in which operational and strategic decisions are informed by data, sensors and algorithms. This new approach has led to the development of methodologies such as Smart Farming, Precision Agriculture and Digital Agriculture, terms often used as synonyms or as complementary concepts. In sector-specific literature, the term Agritech is often associated with the concept of Agriculture 4.0, namely the most recent phase in the development of agriculture, following pre-industrial agriculture and mechanised industrial agriculture.<\/p>\n<p>The Agritech sector has emerged in response to major <strong>global structural challenges<\/strong>:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>world population growth<\/strong>, expected to reach around 9 billion by 2050, requiring an increase in food production of at least 70%;<\/li>\n<li><strong>climate change<\/strong>, which creates instability in agricultural yields through extreme events, pests and diseases;<\/li>\n<li><strong>scarcity of natural resources<\/strong>, including land, water and energy;<\/li>\n<li><strong>food waste<\/strong> and inefficiencies across the supply chain.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The application of Agritech solutions \u2014 including artificial intelligence and machine learning for process automation and predictive analysis, drones and advanced sensors for crop monitoring and mapping, and gene editing for crop improvement \u2014 can:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>increase productivity and yields;<\/li>\n<li>reduce input and labour costs;<\/li>\n<li>improve sustainability;<\/li>\n<li>optimise the agricultural value chain;<\/li>\n<li>enhance transparency and quality throughout the supply chain.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In this field, increasingly shaped by the interaction between innovation, food security and sustainability, the role of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation is of particular importance. The Ministry contributes to the definition and implementation of strategies and promotes the internationalisation of innovative agricultural and agro-industrial supply chains. More specifically, Office IV (Promotion of Innovative Industrial Supply Chains and Startups) of the Directorate General for Growth and Export Promotion works to foster dialogue among institutions, businesses and research centres, while supporting the development, uptake and scalability of Agritech technologies within the Italian business landscape. In this way, Agritech becomes not only an area of growth for the country, but also an instrument of economic diplomacy and international cooperation, capable of strengthening Italy\u2019s role as a credible actor in addressing global sustainable development challenges.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>Last updated: January 2026<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The term Agritech does not have a single, universally accepted definition. It is generally used to describe the shift from an agricultural model based on experience and manual labour to one supported by technology and driven by data, in which operational and strategic decisions are informed by data, sensors and algorithms. This new approach has [&hellip;]","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":181993,"menu_order":70,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-182125","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/182125","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=182125"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/182125\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":182178,"href":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/182125\/revisions\/182178"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/181993"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=182125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}