Supporting transition to biodiversity-friendly farming
Biodiversity can improve soil health, reduce the need for external inputs and support climate adaptation. However, farmers often lack the tools and information needed to manage these complex systems effectively. PATH2DEA(opens in new window) aims to tackle this gap directly. The EU-funded project explores how digital technologies can make agroecology more practical, helping farmers understand ecosystem dynamics, monitor biodiversity and make informed decisions in real time. As project coordinator Stefan Pfeiffer from the Austrian Institute of Technology(opens in new window) explains: “Agroecology is a truly sustainable way of farming because it works with entire ecosystems. But that also makes it far more complex, and farmers need support tools that help them understand and manage it.”
Identifying obstacles to adoption of nature-based solutions
PATH2DEA began by examining what prevents farmers from adopting digital tools for agroecology. A nine-language survey gathered 533 responses across eight countries from farmers, advisors and farmers’ organisations already working with or transitioning towards agroecological or organic systems. The results showed a lack of accessible information, tools that are often too complex and concerns about data use and privacy. “There is not enough easily accessible knowledge about the digital tools that could support agroecology,” notes Pfeiffer. “And many are still too complicated for everyday use. Farmers need clarity, trust and tools that actually match their reality.”
Putting digital agroecology to the test
To understand how digital tools work in practice, PATH2DEA collaborated with six agroecological showcase farms across Europe, including greenhouse vegetable production and vineyard systems in Spain, vineyard systems in Catalonia, cooperative mixed farming in France, agroforestry in Belgium, smallholder olive farming in Tuscany Italy and organic grazing in Hungary. “We made sure to include very different types of farms in very different climatic regions so that we gained a complete picture,” says Pfeiffer. The pilots produced several positive outcomes for both biodiversity and climate. In Tuscany, a biodiversity-oriented decision support tool showed farmers how changes in management affected insects and pollinators, giving them ecological feedback they could act on. In Belgium, agroforestry modelling helped farmers understand shading and water needs in walnut-based systems, supporting more informed planning of tree–crop combinations. The diversity of the showcase sites demonstrated that digital tools must be adapted to specific climatic, soil and production contexts for agroecological approaches and nature-based solutions to be genuinely useful in practice.
A foundation for nature-based farming
One of PATH2DEA’s most notable deliverables is its Open Source Repository of digital tools and technologies, combining a searchable database, an evaluation framework co-developed with farmers and practical examples from the showcases. The repository uses an AI-assisted mechanism to gather up-to-date information from technology providers and will be maintained long term by the European AGROECOLOGY Partnership(opens in new window). As Pfeiffer explains: “We realised that a simple list of tools would not be enough, so we designed a platform that could actually support farmers and would not disappear when the project ends.” PATH2DEA is also finalising a 10-year roadmap that identifies priority areas for digital support to agroecology, including better access to technology, stronger knowledge exchange, farmer-controlled data governance and business models that make nature-based solutions in sustainable farming more viable. Together, these outputs show how digital tools can reinforce ecological knowledge, help farmers respond to biodiversity signals and make agroecological management more practical. In doing so, they help lay the groundwork for a nature-based resilient future for European agriculture.