Sustainability and digital transformation are two processes that significantly impact the agricultural sector. Digital transformation alone requires companies to highly coordinate them available human capital and new technologies. Sustainability makes sure this happens in an environmentally friendly way. These principles brought changes to the sector, and today Agriculture 5.0 has started to replace Agriculture 4.0, which integrates digital technologies alongside with focusing on optimizing resources, improving efficiency and applying sustainable practices in firm operations. Thanks to new digital technologies, human resources can be even more effectively managed as a strategic resource within organizations. In our study, we review the trends of the past 10 years related to agricultural education at BSc/BA and MA/MSc levels. We also examine the current digital skills of those working in agriculture, highlighting competencies related to data analysis. We present the digital technologies characteristic of the sector and those anticipated in the future, along with the associated required digital competencies. Our results are presented from the perspective of digital, data-driven decision support, which helps quantify and collect various indicators of effectiveness and sustainability within a framework, thus achieving the set economic and environmental goals.
The authors began the research with discovering all the relevant literatures of the field with a keyword analysis. They have generated a co-occurrence map via WoSViewer which provided intriguing insights (Figure 1). This visual representation notably reveals several concentrated clusters where certain terms intersect significantly with agriculture, suggesting an evolving dialogue in academia where digital skills and digitalization are increasingly recognized for their transformative potential.
The keyword analysis was performed on available articles indexed in Scopus, with 2616 used keywords. Of these, 60 appeared more than five times and are used simultaneously. The keyword that appears most often is ‘agriculture’, followed by ‘digital skills’, ’digitalization’ and ’sustainable development’. The most common ones are detailed in Table 1. Those keywords that occurred more than 5 times have been grouped into six co-occurrence clusters (which were ICT & labour, IoT & Economy, sustainable agriculture, education & competence, digitalization & innovation and digital literacy in agriculture). The increasing emphasis on digital skills in the latest related research papers highlights a broader recognition of their essential role in driving competitiveness, particularly within the agricultural sector.
In recent years, the incorporation of modern technological skills into agricultural activities has become essential for advancing long-term sustainability goals. The growing use of digital technologies in rural regions is reshaping previous sectoral practices, leading to more efficient resource allocation and the development of innovative farming and management techniques.
While this shift toward digital methods is promising, it also underscores the gap between urban and rural areas in terms of technology and knowledge access. Addressing this disparity is crucial to fully harness the benefits of digital advancements in agriculture. By obtaining more advanced digital skills the adoption and implementation of new technologies becomes smoother, paving the way for a more efficient and resilient agricultural performance. 2.1. Secondary data analysis
To substantiate our findings, we collected relevant datasets from Eurostat regarding the digital skills of those individuals who are working in agriculture and are aged between 15-74 years. Eurostat collects data regarding a wide range of different soft and computer skill, which need further detailing.
For this study, secondary data was collected from surveys targeting agricultural engineers who
completed their university degrees in Hungary. The two primary publicly accessible sources of data
were the DiplománTúl (2024) and the FIR (Adult Education Information System) database
Since the data was initially distributed by majors, we calculated approximate headcounts of graduates who secured employment, either full-time or alongside further studies upon their graduation. After compiling the total number of graduates per occupation, we identified the most common positions, which were predominantly in the management area.
Our research builds on the work of Zhou et al. (2024), who highlighted that individuals with higher education tend to possess more advanced digital skills and have higher digital literacy, making them well-suited to manage and resolve complex challenges in agricultural management issues.
While similar studies have been conducted in in India
There are several indicators that Eurostat measure every two years. Among agricultural workers the level of digital literacy is quite high (Figure 2), however if we examine other digital skills, we can conclude that there are fundamental differences among nations. The level of safety, problem-solving, collaboration and online ICT skills of these individuals are very low in some cases. It needs to be highlighted here that in most cases the EU member countries have no available data to analyze, making it harder to compare and define best practices. Based on the analysed results, northern and western European countries can be considered high performers, central and southern member countries are moderate performers, and eastern countries lag behind these countries.
After summarizing the filled occupations of the working agricultural engineer graduates, we found that while most of their jobs were closely aligned with their academic trainings, some pursued roles outside their specific field. We believe these positions are attracting more graduates, often leading them to shift into new sectors or industries (Figure 3). Although, these roles may not be directly tied to their academic programs, they often require the digital skills and specialized knowledge gained during their studies, offering graduates new and diverse career paths.
Our findings reveal a growing number of graduates in the agricultural fields, with the exception of a decline during the pandemic. However a significant portion of these graduates are employed outside the agricultural sector, which presents a challenge. Higher education graduates often possess the digital skills emphasized in the Agriculture 5.0 framework, yet there are notable deficiencies in these skills among the current agricultural workforce. It would be advantageous to retain digitally skilled graduates in agriculture-related positions after graduation, as this could help mitigate the shortage of skilled labour in the sector. The level of digital skills of agricultural workers is generally acceptable, but if we look at the more specific competencies, there are already shortcomings. At both the agricultural sector and supply chain levels, as well as across the entire agri-food industry, the presence of digital skills will play an increasingly crucial role in achieving the latest sustainability goals. Complex digital knowledge is required to select and use the appropriate technologies in the field, and to apply digital solutions that complement them.
The author(s) have not employed any Generative AI tools.