The workshop took place in Lisbon and Aveiro. "AI Applications in Agriculture: Innovation and Digitalization", promoted by the National Center for Advanced Computing (CNCA) in collaboration with the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), and integrated into the project AI Factory BSC, a project funded by the Recovery and Resilience Plan. The event brought together around 50 agricultural producers, researchers and industry experts for a session dedicated to the transformative potential of Artificial Intelligence in agriculture.
More than just a meeting to present use cases, the workshop took on a distinctly practical and experimental character, allowing participants to interact directly with advanced computing technologies. One of the central moments of the initiative was the opportunity to train AI models for identifying agricultural crops in satellite images, using the Deucalion supercomputer, funded by the PRR. This experience provided a concrete vision of how high-performance computing can accelerate innovation in the agricultural sector.
Real-world use cases highlighted in the session.
Throughout the session, several real-world use cases with measurable impact were presented, demonstrating how Artificial Intelligence is already being applied in areas such as crop monitoring, resource optimization, and decision support in the primary sector. The role of the AI Factory in providing access to computational resources and technical support, made available free of charge to eligible entities and projects, was also highlighted.
The interactive session at Deucalion stood out as one of the program's highlights, making the AI model training process tangible and bringing users with varying levels of experience closer to the potential of advanced computing.
This initiative reinforces the message that the digitalization of agriculture is not a future prospect, but an ongoing reality. Portugal now has the infrastructure, knowledge, and strategic partnerships that allow it to accelerate this transformation and position the country at the forefront of technological innovation applied to the agricultural sector.
