Digitale Wertschöpfungsketten für eine nachhaltige kleinstrukturierte Landwirtschaft.

Small-scale agricultural farms risk falling further behind due to the economies of scale associated with technological progress and the increasing digitalization of agriculture. This could accelerate structural change in the sector. Regions with insufficient information and communication infrastructure—such as the Black Forest—may be particularly affected. However, even regions with excellent IT infrastructure, such as the Stuttgart metropolitan region, face significant disadvantages due to their small-scale farming structures as digitalization increases.

A lack of digital autonomy, capital cost disadvantages due to scale, and training opportunities that are not tailored to the needs of small-scale farms increase the likelihood of “digital marginalization.” Against this backdrop, the collaborative project “DiWenkLa” (Digital Value Chains for Sustainable Small-Scale Agriculture) aims to integrate regions with small-scale farms into a more digitalized concept of value chains. The goal is to provide low-cost, value-enhancing, and self-determined access to processing, marketing, and end consumers.

The results will be designed to be transferable to other metropolitan regions and upland areas in Germany. Based on the products and services expected to become more important in these regions—such as field vegetables, wheat, and soy as well as recreational horse keeping (Stuttgart metropolitan region), and grassland/cattle farming (Southern Black Forest)—various experimental fields will be established. These will be supported by agricultural businesses and companies from upstream and downstream sectors, with the aim of developing and making digital technologies available for practical use.