Virtual farming will soon get even more serious, as Farming Simulator 22 receives a variety of precision farming technologies – bundled in a free DLC. Initiated in 2020 by John Deere and funded by EIT Food, Europe’s leading Food Innovation Initiative, publisher and developer GIANTS Software will release the Precision Farming Free DLC for PC and consoles on 19th April. It introduces crop sensors, an environmental scoring system and other new gameplay-deepening features.

New Mechanics & Feature Improvements

Emphasising the reduction of environmental impact in agriculture, the Precision Farming Free DLC will add crop sensors and variable seeding and drilling, variable weed control, as well as the variable rate application of organic fertiliser. The new environmental score helps players to increase the sustainability of farms and the yield of crops by choosing smart technology made available with the DLC.

This comes in addition to the features of the initial version released for Farming Simulator 19 which laid the foundation by introducing soil types, soil sampling, variable rate fertilisation and economic analysis. Existing features will return and be improved on: For example, players will get the chance to acquire soil maps by a service provider in exchange for a fee, saving time on taking soil samples themselves.

EU-funded Project to Spread Awareness

Downloaded more than one million times, the first version of the Precision Farming DLC for Farming Simulator 19 proved a great success. The EIT Food funded project aims to provide knowledge regarding sustainable farming technology. Implementing Precision Farming in the global video game phenomenon Farming Simulator is one of EITs multiple steps to increase awareness.

“We’re proud to be an active part of this important project”, says Thomas Frey, Creative Director at GIANTS Software. “With Farming Simulator 22 marking the most extensive agricultural simulation to date and being sold more than three million times since launch, we aim not only to effectively promote the sustainable technology behind precision farming, but also deliver more depth of gameplay to our engaged and dedicated fan base.”

Various other partners from the European Union are part of the project: The University of Hohenheim (Germany), the University of Reading (Great Britain), Grupo AN (the largest cereal cooperative in Spain) and the Institute of Animal Reproduction and Food Research from the Polish Academy of Sciences cooperate to promote the technology.

Farming Simulator 22 is available for PC, Mac, PlayStation®5 (PS5™), Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation®4, and Xbox One.