Democratising digital farming through tailored open source and open hardware solutions

Project Information

OpenAgri

Grant agreement ID: 101134083

DOI

10.3030/101134083

EC signature date 17 November 2023

Start date 1 January 2024

End date 31 December 2026

Funded under

• Food, Bioeconomy Natural Resources, Agriculture and Environment

Total cost

€ 4 999 987,50

EU contribution

€ 4 999 987,50

Coordinated by

UNIVERSITEIT MAASTRICHT
Netherlands

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - OpenAgri (Democratising digital farming through tailored open source and open hardware solutions)

Reporting period: 2024-01-01 to 2025-06-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The last decade has seen an explosion of interest and investment in the use of data and digital technologies in agriculture. The use of Agricultural Digital Solutions (ADSs) is seen as an immense opportunity to improve the sustainability performance and competitiveness of the agricultural sector, by a) increasing food production, b) reducing costs, and c) reducing the environmental footprint of production, among others potential benefits. Despite great efforts and resources spent, there is still a significant “gap” between the portfolio of ADSs offered in the market and the actual uptake and use by farmers in the EU. Some of the factors identified include a) ADSs are in many cases too expensive and economic benefits are doubtful, especially for small farmers, while most of the business models of ADS providers focus on large farms and large-scale crops; b) Farmers have low trust in ADSs and data sharing; c) Farms in remote areas experience problems with weak network connectivity that affect the performance of the ADS. The creation of Open-Source (OS) software and open hardware can address these issues, as it can lead to reduced prices for ADSs and enhance transparency, also thereby increasing trust. The adoption of edge computing solutions could help overcome problems with weak connectivity, allowing the use of ADSs in remote areas. There is a need for tailored OS ADSs, functioning in the cloud or on the edge, that will also be appropriate for different biogeographic and socio-economic contexts at farm and farm community level and at regional and national scale.

OpenAgri will democratise digital farming through the development of OS software and open hardware-based ADSs that can operate at a high performance even in remote areas with weak connectivity. The project will ensure the co-creation of OS ADSs by engaging farmers and farm advisors in participatory activities to solve real problems; and provide new reusable OS software services designed to support the edge and mixed computing mode. Using a multi-actor approach, OpenAgri will involve farmers, ADSs providers, farm advisors, scientists and other AKIS actors in 14 Sustainable Innovation Pilots (SIPs) which will be guided in co-creating and piloting edge, cloud and mixed ADSs addressing important challenges of crop production and livestock management. In addition, OpenAgri will create a tool that will allow Policy Makers, Public Authorities, Farmers and Farm Advisors to select the best possible cloud, edge or mixed ADSs for any given set of conditions.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

During the first 18 months of the project, OpenAgri has carried out the following activities:
- Designed, developed and deployed 7 OS software services based on a microservices architecture, specifically the OpenAgri Common Semantic Model (OCSM), the OpenAgri Gatekeeper, the OpenAgri Reporting Service, the OpenAgri Digital Farm Calendar, the OpenAgri Pest and Disease Management Service, the OpenAgri Irrigation Management Service, and the OpenAgri Weather Data Service, all designed for integration with third party software.
- The OpenAgri OS services are available on GitHub (https://github.com/openagri-eu/) and were embedded in the AgStack open-source community for wider adoption and long-term exploitation.
- A comprehensive analysis of agri-data interoperability, EU regulations, and the requirements specifications was carried out in view of the need for “switchability” of services and this resulted in the OpenAgri Common Semantic Model.
- 5 Sustainable Innovation Pilots (SIPs) in 5 countries, each co-created with farmers and advisors to address real crop and livestock challenges, developing both cloud and edge/mixed ADS versions to enable real-time energy and performance comparisons.
- A comprehensive methodology was designed to measure the performance of the cloud vs. edge versions of ADS and their efficiency in using computing resources.
- The consortium launched an open call for the funding of a further 9 SIPs which received 106 applications from 25 countries of which 9 were selected for funding. These involve 5 new countries, 8 new crops and corresponding digital technologies.
- Foundational steps towards creating the Decision Support Tool were made including the architectural and system design as well as developed the dependent datasets
- An analysis of the biogeographic and socio-economic framing conditions and infrastructure available for the application of ADSs including the creation of a set of Indexes including ones for Rural Connectivity, Natural Characteristics, Socioeconomic Similarity.
- A Catalogue of OS solutions, currently consisting of 170 separate solutions (including both software and hardware) with associated metadata specifying technology readiness level, licensing, and connectivity requirements.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

OpenAgri will deliver the following results:
- A set of community integration and co-creation protocols, leading to ≥ 15 open co-creation events, with ≥50 co-creators and ≥5 community-driven ADSs
- ≥ 7 reusable OS services integrated into SIPs and added to AgStack, together with guidelines, allowing ADSs to be built quickly and reused in different contexts across Europe and beyond.
- A Catalogue of ≥ 170 existing OS solutions, providing a thorough view of open-source agricultural tools in Europe.
- 28 Co-created OS ADSs under development, targeting ≥15 crops/animals, in 8 agricultural sectors, applied in farms across 10 countries, creating an innovative EU-wide farmer-led pool of digital solutions.
- A dual comparison/assessment methodology for comparing cloud-based against edge or mixed model-based version of ADSs, together with evaluation results and 28 validated ADSs (TRL7).
- ≥20 Open Days (demonstration events) and webinars, with ≥300 participants
- Comprehensive datasets harmonised across 27 countries and 11 biogeographical regions, provide the evidence base for identifying where digital farming can be most effectively implemented
- A Decision Support Tool with results on ≥60 OS ADSs for ≥15 crops/animals, applied in ≥20 countries across ≥9 European regions, will help policymakers to understand adoption barriers and design better policies.