Agriculture is currently facing major challenges related to ensuring the food security of a rising population and climate change with extreme weather patterns. At the same time, agriculture is a cause of environmental degradation, pollution and biodiversity loss. Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) is proposed as an approach that provides a roadmap to sustainable agricultural development. Despite this, farmer adoption rates of CSA practices and technologies in Europe remain low. This paper seeks to systematically review and synthesize the factors that facilitate or hinder farmers’ uptake of CSA in Europe. Out of the 2827 articles identified in the Web of Science and Scopus databases, a total of 137 research articles were included for analysis following the PRISMA methodology. The factors are categorized into seven categories, namely socio-demographics, psychological, farm characteristics, practice/technology-related attributes, biotic/abiotic, systemic and policy factors, with the majority of the studies focusing on the first four categories, while systemic and policy factors are relatively understudied. The results highlight for the first time that the adoption of CSA does not depend solely on farmer characteristics but also on the food systems and structures in which farmers operate, as well as the interactions with other value chain actors. To promote the adoption of CSA practices, extension and advisory services along with access to timely and reliable information, play a vital role in increasing awareness and in the provision of training and the encouragement of farmers’ behavioral shifts towards sustainable practices. From a technological point of view, adapting technologies to be easy to use, compatible with current farming objectives and cost-efficient will render them less risky investments for farmers and will foster adoption rates. Finally, support from the government in terms of financial support, subsidies and reduced bureaucratic procedures is crucial for motivating CSA adoption.

In the evolution from Agriculture 2.0 to Agriculture 5.0, the agricultural sector has witnessed transformative changes. Agriculture 5.0 represents a revolutionary phase, integrating advanced technologies to enhance efficiency and sustainability adapted to individual field and livestock needs. The integration of robotics, extended reality, and 6G technologies marks a significant leap, enabling real-time monitoring and automation in farming practices. Artificial intelligence and big data are pivotal in Agriculture 5.0, offering insights for decision making and predictive analytics. Natural language processing plays a crucial role in facilitating efficient communication and data processing. The transition to Agriculture 5.0 should also consider societal challenges, in terms of technology lock-ins and the need for behavior shifts among stakeholders for faster adoption and customization of the solutions. This article presents a comprehensive description of Agriculture 5.0, underscoring the potential and hurdles in reshaping the future of farming.

This chapter discusses how smart farming technologies are being used to optimise and transform agricultural practices and food systems to make them more sustainable and resilient to the climate change and food security crises. These include precision farming, water-smart, weather-smart, carbon, and energy-smart, as well as knowledge-smart agricultural practices. Adoption of these technologies comes with various barriers and drivers which hinder or aid farmers in their transition to digital agriculture. These are categorised into socio-demographic, psychological, farm characteristics, technology-related, systemic, and policy factors. The chapter also discusses international visions of future food systems based on digital technology promoted by international agencies such as the United Nations (UN) Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and the World Bank as well as the European policy framework to support and monitor digitisation in agriculture and the food system.

This study examines whether information about production methods and social norms can increase consumers' willingness to pay (WTP) a price premium for food produced using climate‐friendly farming methods. A randomized survey experiment was conducted with 1568 respondents across Denmark, Lithuania, and Spain, who were assigned to one of four experimental groups: a control group, a group receiving information on food production methods that can reduce climate impact, a group exposed to social norm messaging, and a group receiving combined interventions. Results show that while a substantial share of consumers expressed a positive WTP for climate‐friendly produced carrots and beef, the proportion declined rapidly as the premium increased. Moderate premiums were acceptable to many respondents but only about 10% were willing to pay a premium above 10%. The average WTP for carrots was 5% in the control group and increased by about 16% under the combined information and social norm intervention, indicating that the two strategies together modestly enhance premium acceptance. Very similar patterns were observed for beef. The effects of the treatments differed across demographic groups: respondents aged 41 or below were more responsive to social norms, while respondents above 41 reacted more to production method information. Overall, the findings suggest that leveraging production information with social‐norm message can modestly promote climate‐friendly produced food choices and offer useful guidance for designing tailored communication strategies.

The use of digital tools in agroecological crop production can help mitigate current farming challenges such as labour shortage and climate change. The aim of this study was to map digital tools used in crop production, assess their impacts across economic, environmental, and social dimensions, and determine their potential as enablers of agroecology. A systematic search and screening process, following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses methodology, identified 453 relevant studies. The results showed that most digital tools are applied for crop monitoring (83.4%), with unmanned aerial vehicles (37.7%) and camera sensors (75.2% combined) being the most frequently used technologies. Farm Management Information Systems (57.6%) and Decision Support Systems (25.2%) dominated the tool categories, while platforms for market access, social networking, and collaborative learning were rare. Most tools addressed the first tier of agroecology, which refers to input reduction, highlighting a strong focus on efficiency improvements rather than systemic redesign. Although digital tools demonstrated positive contributions to social, environmental, and economic dimensions, studies concentrated mainly on economic benefits. Future research should investigate the potential role of digital technologies in advancing higher tiers of agroecology, emphasising participatory design, agroecosystem services, and broader coverage of the agricultural value chain.