The 4.0 revolution in agriculture: a multi-perspective definition

In the early 2010s, a new revolution in agriculture has been triggered by the introduction of digital technologies, such as cheap and improved sensors and actuators, low cost micro-processors, high bandwidth cellular communication, Cloud based ICT systems and Big Data analytics. As a result, a new phase in the agricultural evolution started: the so-called Agriculture 4.0. Since the novelty of the notion and the little attention demonstrated by the literature, a holistic definition of Agriculture 4.0 is not present yet. Indeed, different authors take different perspectives from which the Agriculture 4.0 concept is studied and explained: Precision Farming Evolution perspective, Industry 4.0 in agriculture perspective, Digital Technologies perspective, Informed Decision-Making perspective, Beyond the Farm Boundaries perspective and Ultimate Goal perspective. In the last years, different authors attempted to define the Agriculture 4.0 concept, anyway lacking in completeness: the analysis presented shows that Agriculture 4.0 cannot be fully appreciated and understood without taking a multi-perspective approach. Therefore, a systematic literature review has been performed with the objective to provide a clear and holistic definition of Agriculture 4.0 and the related boundaries.