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ABSTRACT
With the rapid development of digital technologies agricultural productions have been faced with new opportunities. The efficient use of land resources and optimization of the fertiliser usage have been some of the key issues for which technological solutions have been provided. Artificial intelligence (AI) has the capabilities to transform agriculture through automation of these optimisations and thus achieving societies' goal of better use of our limited resources. The goal of the study is to analyse the ways AI technologies are shaping Bulgarian crop production. This study is part of a larger research framework focused on the issues of competitiveness of agricultural productions in Bulgaria and its increase through the use of digital technologies. Current events have also raised the question of food security and in the future the optimal production levels may be the key benchmark for farmers. In such circumstances the implementation of AI technologies alongside other digital solution for information collecting will prove vital for achieving society's evolving goals.
Keywords: Competitiveness, Digitalization, Smart agriculture
1.INTRODUCTION
Bulgarian agriculture has undergone a series of transformations after the transition form planned economy in the last 30 years. The accession to the European union has greatly impacted the evolution of productive models of Bulgarian farms (Beluhova-Uzunova, et al. 2018). This transition was marked by a general concentration and specialization of productions with smaller farms struggling to be profitable (Van Herck and Swinnen, 2015). The saturation of larger farms in Bulgaria has led in term to the specialization of production and introduction of new, more productive technologies. Information technologies has changed every productive sector of Bulgarian economy, and agriculture is no different (Ahmedova, 2021). The introduction of smart productive technologies in Bulgarian farms is an ongoing process with widespread data collection and monitoring stations, GPS solutions being practically used by most farmers and social networks providing for an extensive knowledge sharing and cooperation among farmers. The automation of the production process is more common among crop producers, while simple monitoring systems are more common among animal husbandry farms. The main goal of this study is to discover the ways in which AI technologies are or can be used by Bulgarian farmers as well as the way these technologies can improve productions by reducing costs or minimizing...