Northern Central Finland will receive a substantial pot of approximately EUR 3 million from the EU's Just Transition Fund (JTF). The Finnish Future Farm project will create a practical co-creation environment and a centre of expertise on the Bioeconomy Campus in Tarvaala, Saarijärvi. The total funding of the project is approximately EUR 3.5 million. The main implementer of the project is the University of Applied Sciences of Jyväskylä and the co-implementer is the Northern Central Finland Vocational Institute. Partners include major companies such as Valtra, AGCO Power and Neste, as well as the City of Saarijärvi.
Agriculture is undergoing the biggest transformation in decades. Achieving the goals of the Carbon Neutrality and Smart Specialisation Strategy of the climate-neutral European Union and Central Finland requires the large-scale adoption of new precision farming technologies and solutions that reduce emissions. Development and the introduction of new technological solutions have still been slow.
"This is also due to the fact that there is no common agrotechnology development environment for product development, for example," says Mikko Lehikoinen, Vice President, Marketing Valtra EME.
The Finnish Future Farm project responds to this need by creating a co-creation environment that can develop solutions that minimise CO2 emissions from arable farming (grass and grain) and improve economic profitability. The project also utilises ready-made solutions, such as diesel and fuel oil products manufactured by Neste for the Finnish market from 100% waste and residues. The key objective is to promote cooperation opportunities and innovation activities through the smart agriculture start-up community and accelerator ecosystem.
"This kind of ecosystem has been completely lacking in Finland. We have recognised its need in the innovation competitions or hackathons of our bioeconomy business accelerator, BioPaavo," says Minna Lappalainen, Director of the Jamk Institute of Bioeconomy. "The funding granted for the construction of a centre of excellence in smart agriculture opens up a unique opportunity for us to promote the development of both the sustainability and profitability of food production and the new, international growth business based on it."
"The goal of the project is to develop agricultural education and research infrastructure in Finland to support the product development of future agricultural machinery power sources," says Jarno Ratia, Director of Product Management at AGCO Power Oy. "Our expectations are also high regarding the development of stakeholder cooperation."
"Agriculture has enormous potential for reducing emissions. I expect the project to demonstrate that potential and find solutions to achieve the emission targets, which I believe will be of wide interest to those involved in agriculture,' says Joni Pihlström, Senior Vice President, Corporate Customer Sales at Neste Finland.
The project, which will run from 1.9.2023 to 30.6.2026, will receive funding from the EU's Renewing and Competent Finland 2021–2027, the EU's Regional and Structural Policy Programme, its Just Transition Fund (JTF).
In its funding decision, the Regional Council of Central Finland states: "The project has clear novelty value and is strongly business-oriented. The main goal of the project is to produce RDI solutions for agricultural companies and to create an RDI environment based on smart technology in Tarvaala. The project supports the objectives of the regional transition plan for Central Finland."
