The European Digital Infrastructure Consortium for Agri-Food has been officially established, with its seat in Paris, the European Commission said. A launch event brought together French Agriculture Minister Annie Genevard, participating countries, the Commission and agri-food stakeholders.

The consortium brings together Austria, Croatia, Finland, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovenia and Flanders. Germany, Ireland, Latvia and Spain are observers.

Its initial work includes developing a common Digital Farm ID: a proposed federated, interoperable identifier intended to connect with national farm-identification systems. The Commission said the project is intended to align with European Digital Identity technical solutions where relevant, including work on European Business Wallets.

The consortium will also explore AI-based services for agricultural risk management, product traceability and carbon certification through multi-country deployment actions that are set to receive support. The Commission said other Member States may join under the rights and obligations in the consortium’s statutes.

The Commission’s announcement describes the Digital Farm ID and related services as work to be developed or explored; it does not say that the identifier or those services are already available.

The initiative is intended to coordinate cross-border digital infrastructure and interoperable approaches for Europe’s agri-food sector, but its proposed identifier and AI-related services remain under development or exploration.

EDICs are international organisations under the Digital Decade Policy Programme through which Member States can jointly develop, operate and invest in cross-border digital infrastructure under shared governance.

Source: EDIC for Agri-Food launched to support digital innovation across Europe’s food and agriculture sector / European Commission, Digital Strategy / CC BY 4.0

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Independent summary/adaptation based on “EDIC for Agri-Food launched to support digital innovation across Europe’s food and agriculture sector” by the European Union / European Commission, Digital Strategy. Changes have been made; this report does not imply EU endorsement.

Source URL: European Commission, Digital Strategy.

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