Precision agriculture (PA) is being developed in Chile since 1997. Today there are approximately 20 companies providing products and services in PA at different levels. Most of them are young entrepreneurships which have important knowledge gaps, particularly on technology basis and data management to transform them into useful information.

In order to help closing some of the gaps, and contributing to the development of an innovation ecosystem, an extension proposal was developed, which was funded by the Chilean Development Agency (CORFO). The project has the following objectives: 1) to detect the technological needs of the Chilean exporting agriculture in terms of information and communication technologies (ICT) in order for the emerging companies to develop suitable products and services; 2) to upgrade the participating companies in sensor technologies applicable to agriculture and agribusiness; 3)  to provide the participants the state of the art in terms of platforms, transmission and communication protocols for spatial data; 4) to train the participants in advanced spatial data management, monitoring technologies using UAVs, and availability data and tools for developing new PA applications and products. Together with these specific objectives, the platform will inform the agricultural market about technical, economic, social and environmental benefits of precision farming, help linking beneficiary companies with the emerging international network of companies and investors in new technologies for agriculture,  train the participating companies on the export of their services and products to emerging markets opportunities in Latin America, and establish the basis for creating an environment of collaborative innovation among the participating companies, new companies interested, startups, research centers, universities and technical institutes, investors and users, among others.

The objectives are being accomplished through the use of diffusion media including a farmer’s magazine (RedAgricola), a web page (www.agtechchile.cl), and several classroom and field training activities, including short courses, workshops, seminars and field days. In total, > 8 activities are being developed during the 15-month project with the help of the outstanding national and international PA experts. To measure the success of the project, several objective indicators are being used.