Smart farming and main directions of the innovation policy

This article considers current status and development trends for the smart farming technologies in the context of urgency increasing of the efficiency of the agriculture under the scarcity of land and water resources and on-going climate change in Azerbaijan Republic. The current development of smart farming in the country have been analyzed by the reviewing of agriculture practices, including state measures, subsidy policies, investment promotions and institutional structures. Based on these analyses, recommendations for the enlargement of smart farming technologies applications in national agriculture have been elaborated. It is recommended that this policy is supported in four directions, including widespread use of innovative smart farming technologies, improvement of irrigation and land reclamation infrastructure; development and application of alternative energy sources in agriculture; application of precise farming solutions for high crop productivity in combination with land, water and energy-saving technologies and development of post-harvesting and food processing infrastructure.