ECIF Conference 2026: From soil to binary cloud – Protecting Agriculture on the Digital Frontier
The Role of Digital Transformation in Understanding the Threat Landscape for Agriculture Due to Climate Change and Cyber Risks.
Technology-driven modernisation is improving agricultural productivity, resilience, and sustainability. But it’s not just about land and yield; it’s about data, connectivity, cybersecurity, AI-driven forecasting, and climate intelligence. Understanding how digital tools monitor climate threats, protect critical infrastructure from cyber risks, and enable smarter decision-making is key to the future of agriculture.
With real-life examples of agriculture businesses being hit by cyber criminals, this topic is increidbly timely - but we've come a long way from ensuring passwords are not written on post-it notes. Who can forget the month of lost time for M&S last year? Salad producer G's Fresh have transformed their digital infrastructure following a pre-pandemic hit.
Those early in their career have a real opportunity to get ahead of the curve and understand the potential threats and risks to operations on a digital platform, and learn how to mitigate against these risks.
Join this ECIF Conference to hear from digital experts through an agriculture lens. We’ll be learning about these invisible threats, how we can become aware of them, and what we can do to mitigate them going forward.
Who is this event for?
We welcome early-career individuals from a variety of backgrounds including research, agronomy, engineering, consultancy, farming and tech development.
Whether you’ve recently graduated, are at the beginning of your professional career, are embarking on graduate/further education studies, or are new to agriculture, come and learn about agricultural innovations.
ECIF activities are aimed at those just starting out in their career (up to ten years after further or higher education studies) in research, farming or other associated professions in agriculture and horticulture. Is this you?! If not, you are of course welcome at our other Agri-TechE events, but please ensure you are eligible for ECIF events before progressing your registration. We reserve the right to cancel your place.
Why should I attend?
- Farmers will gain insight into how digital systems, precision tools and connected equipment can introduce both opportunities and vulnerabilities on farm — and how to manage them confidently from the outset.
- Researchers will better understand how data integrity, security and digital infrastructure shape the impact and scalability of their work.
- Consultants & agronomists will learn how digital awareness strengthens advisory services, helping clients protect operations while adopting new technologies.
- Tech developers & engineers will explore how agricultural systems are uniquely exposed to cyber and climate risks — and how to design solutions that are secure, resilient and future-proof.
Scroll down at the bottom of the page to see the event agenda.
Get involved
This event is open to all Early-Career individuals. Or, did you know, you can earn five ECIF points for participating! Through participating in our ECIF point-based programme, you can work towards certificates of participation to showcase your newly gained knowledge and skills to the wider industry. Visit ECIF page to find out more and join the Programme.
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This event is organised in partnership with DIGIT-Lab Project. Digital Innovation for Growth, Impact, and Transformation (DIGIT) is an innovative project, funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and others, and co-led by the University of East Anglia, is aiming to understand the challenges facing agri-businesses posed by digital transformation.
