Project description
Artificial intelligence and Earth observation for Romania’s agriculture
Romania has significant agricultural potential and could play a significant role in the strategic autonomy, food security and sustainability of Europe. However, agricultural capacity is underexploited due to lack of technology and funds, soil fragmentation and erosion, and desertification. AI-based systems and applications, fostering Earth observation (EO) data (mainly the freely available data from the Copernicus EU programme), offer incredible possibilities. The EU-funded AI4AGRI project will create a dedicated research centre for AI on EO data for the agricultural sector by twinning with two research institutes in AI and EO from France and Italy. The research centre will provide training to young scientists and maps of vegetation status for farmers, and develop administrative and management skills for R&I.
Objective
The world population will increase from 7.5 to 9.7 billion by 2050, boosting agricultural demand and adding pressure on natural resources. Although agriculture remains the main activity in many countries, the decline in agriculture’s share of total production and employment is observed. Agricultural investments and technological innovations are needed to boost productivity. Romania, with an agricultural capacity of 14.7 million hectares from which 6.8 million hectares are not or under-exploited, could play a major role in the strategic autonomy and food security and sustainability of Europe. Romania’s agricultural capacity is heavily underexploited due to obsolete technology, soil fragmentation/erosion, desertification and difficulty in accessing funds. Artificial intelligence (AI)-based systems and applications have a significant potential for agriculture. The Copernicus EU Programme, offering free access to accurate Earth Observation (EO) data provided by the Sentinel satellites, opens incredible possibilities for future research and AI-based applications for the purpose of sustainable development of agriculture in Europe. The AI4AGRI project aims at creating a dedicated research center for AI in EO for the agricultural sector. The research excellence will be achieved through dense networking activities with two top research institutes in France and Italy in AI and EO. AI4AGRI research center will become a reference to train young scientists in the domain of AI for agriculture, providing maps of vegetation status for Romanian farmers based on EO data using AI. AI4AGRI will develop administrative and management skills for research and innovation. To achieve these goals, AI4AGRI twinning will enhance the networking activities between partners through a strategy comprising of joint research, short-term staff exchanges, expert visits and short-term training, joint summer schools and workshops, as well as conference attendance, dissemination and outreach activities.
Fields of science
- natural sciencescomputer and information sciencesartificial intelligence
- engineering and technologymechanical engineeringvehicle engineeringaerospace engineeringsatellite technology
- social scienceseconomics and businesseconomicsproduction economicsproductivity
- medical and health scienceshealth sciencesnutrition
- agricultural sciencesagriculture, forestry, and fisheriesagriculture
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
HORIZON-CSA - HORIZON Coordination and Support ActionsCoordinator
500036 Brasov
Romania