The agricultural professions of the future: managing a smart farm and rethinking the food system

For over a year now, it's been possible to board flights at El Prat Airport without having to show any identification: just hold your face up to a camera. Biometric technology—similar to that used to unlock a mobile phone with a user's face—is increasingly present at airports around the world to streamline checks and improve security. While, for now, Barcelona is only offered by Vueling on some connections and upon passenger request, a study by the airline organization IATA reveals that, by 2024, 46% of travelers will have already used this technology at some airport around the world. Furthermore, 73% say they prefer this system to having to show their passports or boarding passes to staff. But what does all this have to do with the agricultural professions of the future?

Biometrics is a technology that can also be very useful on Catalan farms. "We have launched a pilot project to adapt facial recognition systems like those at airports to identify individual pigs by their faces," Lluís Miquel Plà Aragonés, a professor at the University of Lleida (UdL) and researcher in Agrotecnio, told ARA. For the expert, this opens the door to abandoning the use of identification chips placed on each animal, which are expensive and difficult to implement en masse on farms. "On the other hand, biometrics is a cheaper and more reusable technology that requires, for example, a fixed camera," he continues.

But it's not all flowers and violas. Although the technology already exists, its application in livestock environments presents several challenges. On the one hand, animals are not easily scanned, and on the other, lighting and movement conditions within a farm hinder the system's accuracy. Furthermore, the algorithms need to be trained to be truly reliable in real-life and changing situations. According to Plà, this project perfectly exemplifies the current state of Agriculture 4.0: there are technologies with great potential, but they still require time, adaptation, and investment to become common tools on farms.

In search of new profiles

However, this technological transformation hits an unexpected stumbling block: the lack of trained—and interested—profiles to develop it. According to Plà, agricultural or veterinary studies don't prepare students to create digital tools, but rather to perform diagnoses, manage farms, or apply treatments. Likewise, computer scientists don't see the primary sector as an attractive career path. "They don't look to the countryside," the researcher summarizes. "Agronomists wait for someone to provide them with a useful tool, but they don't consider it their own. And technology profiles think more about industry or the city," he diagnoses.

The result is a void: there is business interest and technological potential, but there is a lack of professionals capable of bridging the two worlds. "Specific interdisciplinary training would be needed, but for now, it is still scarce, and universities are progressing slowly," he adds.

Faced with this mismatch between needs and training, some initiatives are beginning to take action to bring research, business, and the region closer together. This is the case of the Lleida Agrobiotech Park, a public agri-food innovation center linked to the Generalitat (Government of Catalonia) and the University of Lleida, which acts as a connecting space between science and the productive sector. One of its lines of work is precisely to promote the transfer of technology and knowledge to the agricultural sector, with the goal of making it more competitive, sustainable, and prepared for the challenges of the future.

As part of the Breakfast4Inno series, the Park organizes thematic sessions that connect research teams and companies in the region. At one of the most recent meetings, dedicated to the digital transformation of the pork sector, Plà himself presented artificial intelligence projects he is developing with companies such as Selección Batallé.

The possibilities of precision agriculture

Although often used as a synonym for digitalization in agriculture, Agriculture 4.0 is actually a broad umbrella that includes various technological approaches: from automation and robotics to artificial intelligence, the use of sensors, drones, and management platforms. Among all these avenues, one of the most established and internationally recognized is precision agriculture (PA).

Essentially, the discipline collects, processes, and analyzes spatial and temporal data from fields and animals, combining it with expert knowledge to make decisions adapted to the real variability of the farm. "Traditionally, an entire field was treated equally," recalls Àlex Escolà, coordinator of the AgróTICa and Precision Agriculture Research Group at the University of Lleida and the CERCA Agrotecnio center. "PA, on the other hand, allows for the application of different doses of irrigation, fertilizer, or phytosanitary products within the same field, according to the actual needs of each area," summarizes Escolà. This translates into less waste of resources, greater efficiency, and greater sustainability.

New training offer

Although the University of Lleida has been offering precision agriculture (PA) courses in the agricultural and food engineering degree program for over a decade, until now there was no formal, specialized training in Catalonia for further study. For years, interested students had to travel to other regions to continue their training, but this academic year, 2025/2026, this has changed: a new emphasis on PA and digital technologies is being launched within the interuniversity master's degree in agricultural engineering, with lecturers from the UdL, the UPC, and other leading institutions.

This new line, which is part of a master's degree that qualifies for professional practice as an agricultural engineer, offers approximately 250 hours of specific training and has already generated significant interest among prospective students. Furthermore, the Generalitat (Catalan Government) recently launched the Agricultural School of New Technologies and Horticulture in Cabrils, and initiatives such as the Timac Agro-UdL Chair have been created, which promotes training and outreach activities on PA through workshops, conferences, and academic awards.

Beyond algorithms

However, not all of the future of the agricultural sector lies in sensors and algorithms. For 26 years, the Master's in Agroecology and Organic Agriculture at the University of Barcelona has trained professionals to critically rethink the food system, combining scientific, technical, and social knowledge. "We're not against anyone: we're contributing," asserts Francesc Xavier Sans, director of the Master's program and professor of Botany. "Agroecology is a response to the social, environmental, and economic impacts of the dominant model," he says.

The master's program focuses on transdisciplinary training, with students from both the natural and social sciences, and opens the door to diverse career opportunities: farm management, sustainable food projects, and consulting on ecological initiatives. "It's a program for the present and the future," Sans concludes.