Recap of the AI Congress within ECO READY

AI holds great promise for arable farming, livestock farming, horticulture and greenhouse horticulture, but the key question remains how to apply this technology safely and meaningfully. During the AI Congress within ECO READY, participants were offered both a reflective look back and a forward-looking perspective on the practical application of AI. The programme provided a clear path from insight to implementation. Keynotes connected data, risk analysis and food safety, while pitches highlighted building blocks for legal robustness and a resilient data infrastructure. In workshops, these insights were translated into concrete approaches, roles and skills needed to build trust and create value. A visit to the NXTGEN Hightech Agrifood test fields made the step towards real-world application tangible and showed where scaling within value chains is realistic.

Through the combination of keynotes, pitches, workshops and demonstrations, it became clear how acceleration within the Agrifood chain emerges when technology, people and frameworks are aligned from the outset. Short, focused contributions sharpened what makes implementation possible, with attention to legal clarity, real time data insight and hybrid models in which crop expertise and AI reinforce one another. In interactive sessions, these insights gained immediate relevance as participants worked together on strategy, skills and trust, all essential for ensuring that data and AI truly take root in practice. At the same time, working in real cultivation settings showed the value of integration, with sensors, image analysis and decision support coming together to deliver concrete recommendations at the right moment in the growing process. This naturally shifted the conversation from potential to application, with a focus on reliability, maintenance, costs and scaling across plots and companies. In this integrated approach, it became clear that standards and data sharing do not only create individual benefits, but act as a collective accelerator for the entire chain.

For technology companies, the key takeaway is that success depends on explainability, data quality and integration with existing systems, as these factors drive adoption. For agricultural companies, the value lies in decision support that fits daily workflows and can be trusted because origins and performance are transparent. Researchers and governments see that safe implementation requires shared frameworks, ranging from data access and ethics to liability and auditability. This is precisely why early collaboration is essential, so that technology, practice and policy develop at the same pace.