Gen AI use case: Subsidy Assistant
Using the power of AI to help farmers navigate the complex landscape of subsidy programs
Providing farmers with a GPT powered chat solution to help identify and prioritize subsidy arrangements for sustainability improvements
Client issue
The Dutch agrarian sector finds itself in the midst of an important transition to a sustainable agricultural and food system. Subsidies from the Dutch government and the European Union play an important role in this as an incentive and financial support for farmers to take the step towards future-proof and sustainable agricultural practices. For example, by reducing greenhouse gas emissions, promoting biodiversity and improving soil quality.
However, for farmers, finding and obtaining appropriate subsidies to support these efforts is a challenging process. Due to the complexity, they often do not have an overview of all available subsidies, application procedures and eligibility criteria. This can lead to missing important opportunities to make their agricultural practices more sustainable.
Deloitte’s solution-based approach
Bringing the latest technologies in readymade solutions
In close collaboration with Deloitte, Food Hub and De Nieuwe Boerenfamilie this solution has been developed. The goal of this tool is to match farmers and their sustainability ambitions with the right governmental subsidies, ultimately speeding up the transition of their operations. To facilitate this a standalone solution design was made, so that it can run with minimal active involvement from Deloitte.
The tool makes use of a web front-end that is intuitive to use for farmers, requesting basic information about their firm, as well as a description of their plans to improve their sustainability. This data is subsequently fed to a Large Language Model, which compares these plans and firm information with existing subsidy programs in the Netherlands.
This comparison results in a ranking of different subsidy programs, which are shown in a prioritized order to the farmer. Following this initial overview, a suitability check can be executed per subsidy arrangement to check the exact fit between the firm, the sustainability plans and the subsidy.
Subsidy Assistant collects basic figures and investment plans of companies, before determining the content match with subsidy programs using ChatGPT. Prioritized findings are returned and undergo a suitability check.
Impact
Governments and finance institutions recognize that current levels of service delivery are lagging their digital and technological abilities. There is an outspoken ambition to leap to the forefront by leveraging the latest Generative AI technologies.
Farmers that were part of the two test rounds have indicated the tool gives them insight and energy to delve deeper into the world of subsidies to understand what can help them to achieve both their own and the governments sustainability targets.
We are currently exploring potential partnerships and pilots with: Rabobank, ABN Amro, the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture and RVO.
