43% of EU farms with internet access

In 2023, about 43% of EU farms reported having internet access. Some northern and central European countries such as Denmark, Germany, Slovakia, Latvia, Czechia, and Austria, had rates above 90%.

Farm management information systems – digital platforms for farm operations – were used by about 11% of EU farms, with France having the highest adoption rate (about 60%). By contrast, the adoption of robotics (machines capable of autonomous operation without direct human intervention) was relatively low, covering about 7% of all farms. 

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Source dataset: ef_mp_digi

In 2023, around 18% of farms with utilized agricultural area (UAA) applied some kind of precision farming technology or practice such as robotics for plant protection products, band spraying of plant protection products, variable rate techniques (automated precise application of farm inputs to a given location with the means of data generated from sensors, satellites or GPS), precision monitoring of crops and soil analysis. These farms managed about 44 % of the EU’s total UAA.

At country level, there were considerable differences in the UAA managed by farms using precision farming technologies. Luxembourg, Finland and Estonia had the highest shares (above 75%), while the lowest were in Cyprus (about 1%), Greece and Romania (between 10% and 15%).  

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Source dataset: ef_mp_digicr

For more information

• Statistics Explained article on agriculture statistics – machinery and digitalization
• Thematic section on agriculture 
• Database on agriculture
• Key figures on the European food chain – 2025 edition 

Methodological notes

The analysis in this news article only includes agricultural holdings above the physical thresholds set by Regulation (EU) 2018/1091 on integrated farm statistics, which represent an estimated 98% of the utilized agricultural area (UAA) and 99% of the livestock units (LSU) of all farms in the EU in 2023. Any mention to UAA, LSU or EU farms refers only to this subset, which is used as the denominator in the calculation of percentages. Very small agricultural holdings are excluded.