Digital integration toward smart and sustainable agriculture in the European region

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to empirically examine how the process of digital transformation as a whole affects the agricultural industry's capacity to survive. The four components of digitalization are digital technology integration (DESI_IDT), digital human capital (DESI_HC), digital public services (DESI_DPS), and digital connectivity (DESI_CONN). The empirical analysis relies on a panel dataset covering 24 EU member states over the period from 2014 to 2022, using a range of econometric methods. The findings highlight the value of digitization in raising production, exporting, creating jobs, and maintaining the sustainability of the surroundings in the agricultural industry. On the other hand, the U-shaped consequences of digitalization on every aspect of the sustainability of the farm industry are nonlinear, indicating that positive outcomes materialize only once digitalization advances to a particular point. Our aim is to broaden our understanding of the relationship between sustainable agriculture and digitization by creating a conceptual structure. The policy consequences of our results for sustainable and intelligent agriculture are significant.