Upscaling agricultural sensor data for improved monitoring of agri-environmental conditions - SCALEAGDATA -
Clear targets have been defined by the EU for a more competitive and sustainable agriculture (Green Deal). This requires data-driven decision making for farmers, governments and other policy makers, yet there is a severe reference-data gap when observations are needed at the local level.
An underexploited source of data is generated by sensors used in agriculture, as they capture crucial information on the crops and the surrounding agrienvironmental conditions. Tapping into this source and upscaling them the integration with other data (e.g. satellite) could result in enhanced capacities for regional agri-environmental monitoring. This would require a paradigm shift on how the monitoring systems work, and on the issues of data ownership and governance.
The vision of ScaleAgData is thus to gain insight in:
(i) how the complex data streams should be governed to the benefit of all stakeholders, especially the farmers,
(ii) and how these data can be integrated in the regional agri-environmental monitoring datasets.
Through this upscaling, this wealth of information can be shared with a larger farmer community, thus shrinking the technological inequality in the sector. Specific attention will be paid to innovations in sensor technology, edge computing, data analytics, and novel EO-based products.
These innovations will be co-designed and showcased in 6 Research and Innovation Labs (RILabs) will develop, test and showcase how integrating near real-time (NRT) sensor data can provide improved monitoring capabilities. These RILabs will drive innovation, covering:
- the 4 dimensions of environment: soil, water, air, living organisms (crops & livestock).
- different biogeographical zones of Europe.
- available sensor data & products.
This will enable the assessment of the proposed innovations and data governance frameworks, and demonstrating added values of the improved monitoring capabilities for a range of users, including small-scale and agroecological farmers, the financial sector, and policy makers.
With these outcomes, ScaleAgData aims at contributing to the overall competitiveness and sustainability performance of the European agricultural sector, and to the work of the HE candidate partnership “Agriculture of Data” and the Soil Mission.