EU Law on Digital Agriculture

online course

The interdisciplinary summer school “EU law on Digital Agriculture” will be held on 5-9 July 2021, for a total amount of 40 hours of training, delivered online and organised by the Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies.

The summer school is part of the Jean Monnet Module SUSTAIN “EU Law on Sustainable and Climate-Resilient Agriculture after the European Green Deal” co-funded under the Erasmus+ programme and coordinated by professor Mariagrazia Alabrese.

The European farming and food system has to deal with a complex set of global and regional challenges, from climate change and environmental degradation to inequality in the supply chain. These issues require profound transformations in the way we produce, market, and sell agricultural products. Food sustainability requires a transition from current linear food production to cyclical oriented systems. Innovation will be crucial to support the transformation of agri-food systems. The law and policy framework for digital agriculture and the technical and economic aspects for implementation of smart agriculture will be explored during the Summer School. The Summer School will discuss the connections between innovation, sustainability, and climate change policy. E-innovation and ICT for sustainable and climate-resilient agriculture will be addressed from an interdisciplinary perspective, including law, economics, computer sciences, and agricultural engineering.

The Summer School will consist of lectures, seminars, discussions, role playing and simulation games. Case studies sessions and Q&A sessions will be planned in order to stimulate the exchanges between trainers and trainees, promoting the creation of a network among all the participants within an interdisciplinary environment. The case studies sessions will host guests from the EU Institutions and from the agri-food industry.

Course leader

Mariagrazia Alabrese, Associate Professor in Agricultural, Food and Environmental Law at the Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies, Italy

Target group

Undergraduates, post-graduate and PhD students (in Law, Politics, International Studies, Agricultural Sciences, Computer Science, amongst other fields), as well as professionals (such as lawyers, international/regional organisation officers, public servants working on agricultural and rural development, agricultural engineers), who are looking for cross-disciplinary learning opportunities, would find the course most suitable.

Course aim

The participants will acquire a wide understanding of the EU regulatory technology framework for building a healthier, fairer, and more sustainable and climate-resilient agri-food system. By the end of Summer School, participants will:
- handle the policy framework on digital agriculture and smart farming in the EU;
- be aware of the European rules on using and sharing agricultural data;
- manage the principles of e-business and its practice in the agricultural sector;
- understand the challenges in establishing a digital traceability of agri-food practices.

Credits info

2 EC
The Summer School provides the option to acquire 1 additional ECTS by submitting a final paper that will be evaluated by the Teaching Staff. The final paper may follow the structure of case-studies analysis, critical essay, or review article. The topic of each paper will be discussed with the Teaching Staff. Selected papers, among those successfully evaluated, will be included in the Paper Series of the Jean Monnet Module SUSTAIN.

Fee info

EUR 250: The Summer School fee includes attendance costs, tutorship, and teaching materials.