The EURAKNOS project (www.euraknos.eu) is a H2020-funded thematic network project which aims to strengthen the EU agricultural knowledge base by co-creating “the network to connect all thematic networks” and exploring the feasibility of creating a modular database of useful findings from various thematic network projects. They believe that the future of innovation in European agriculture and forestry is based on the improved (digital) exchange of best practices between farmers, researchers and advisors from different sectors and member states.  
 
EURAKNOS recently published a vision paper: Developing High Impact: The Future EU-wide Open Source Knowledge Reservoir for Agriculture and Forestry. In it, they present an aspirational 5-year vision for a common digital data platform for agriculture and forestry actors to access information based on outputs of H2020 thematic networks. They discuss achieving high impact, the needs of target users in terms of both interactivity and content, and ways to secure the longevity of such a system. The vision was developed together with the project’s Strategic Innovation Board which includes members from FAO, NAIK, EUFRAS, ENRD, GODAN, CEJA, EC DG AGRI, and COPA COGECA 
 
The proposed system functions as a living structure, constantly being updated and enhanced. Target users and thematic networks are involved in co-creation throughout the development process, and experiences of the system are personalised according to analytics and feedback systems. The information content is classified by sector and organised around a decision support framework which targets the knowledge needs of farmers, foresters, educators and advisors as key end-users. Networking facilities are also key: a searchable and comprehensive list of events offered by various institutions and projects so that users can find and attend those which are most local and relevant to them, and the ability to access contact details of registered users to facilitate peer-to peer and farmer-to-advisor communications as part of an interactive community experience. 
 
These features culminate in a user-friendly interface with useful, practice-oriented content tailored to agriculture and forestry practitioners to become a ‘one stop shop’ for their knowledge needs. Furthermore, the facilitation of networking activities both online and in person will provide opportunities for improved learning, cross-exchanges and collaborations. Ultimately, such a system would help to foster an interactive EU-wide agriculture and forestry community, providing substantial added-value by initiating and supporting knowledge flows across Europe and beyond.

The ICT-AGRI ERA-NET project iFAROS (Decision Support for Optimized Site-Specific Fertilization based on Multi-source Data and Standardized Tools) officially started in September 2018. The project aims at increasing agronomic productivity and environmental performance in winter wheat for small European farmers by combining data from the remote sensing and agricultural data from the whole-field operations. The iFAROS envisages field experiments in four participating countries: Germany, Spain, Belgium, and Switzerland.  

The consortium is working towards reaching several objectives: development of a novel cloud-based application that would act as an intelligent middleware with data analytic capabilities; creation of application maps for VRA of fertilizers and yield prediction; development of an easy-to-understand advanced FMS; and development of dedicated hardware to achieve an automated application of a site-specific management fertilizer application map by utilizing ISOBUS. 

The project is working with several data types: machine data, remote-sensing data produced by UAVs, and soil data that are obtained from wireless sensor networks installed in the field. Operating with multi-source data involves the necessity to consider the challenges of data ownership and privacy in agriculture. Questions around data ownership, access and control raise many concerns among scientists, industry, governments, NGOs as well as among farmers who often put themselves in a big risk by providing access to their farm data. Therefore, besides the technological developments and implementation, the iFAROS project aims at providing a clear framework of the data value chain for all actors involved. An important step was done in this direction in November 2019 at Hannover Agritechnica fair. A workshop ‘Modern Technologies in Agriculture: Adoption on Farms and Problems of Data Sharing’ was organized and gathered several different stakeholders, including farmers. As a result of productive discussions, the main problems regarding data sharing were identified and the next steps towards the project’s realization in this direction were set. 

At the moment (spring 2020), the second fertilization of winter wheat is taking place. The application maps were designed and are currently in use. Also, manual biomass measurements took place as ground truth. This information will allow calibrating the drone images to improve the quality of the application maps. At the end of the project, a complete solution, including onboard hardware, online FMS and analytical tools will be developed.  

Visit our website www.ifaros-ictagri.com