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Project title

Consolidated virtual living lab platform for knowledge sharing and adaption in regenerative agriculture

Primary Funding Agency

Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine

Co-Funding Organisation(s)

Lead Organisation

Technological University of the Shannon (TUS)

Lead Applicant

Not listed

Project Abstract

By 2030, the mission �A Soil Deal for Europe� plans to establish 100 living labs and lighthouses to prompt healthy soils. These labs, along with farmers practicing regenerative agriculture, hold valuable knowledge and experiences. However, their isolation hinders the sharing and replication of best practices. Moreover, regenerative agriculture practices like intercropping and cover cropping are highly location-specific, influenced by soil types, climate, ecological factors, making them difficult to generalise or transfer without significant adaptations. To address these challenges, the CAgriLab project will establish a consolidated virtual living lab leveraging digital twin, dataspace, blockchain, and AI technologies. This platform will facilitate real-time data sharing and collaboration among isolated farmers and labs, enable the exchange of regenerative agriculture practices across diverse agroecological contexts, and provide farm-specific recommendations. The project objectives include: 1) Developing a decentralised digital twin platform to allow living labs and farmers to create and manage digital replicas of their labs and farms, store current and historical field data and practices, monetise the digital twin usage, trace the usage trajectories and patterns, and support trusted and autonomous collaboration between different entities. 2) Developing low-cost AI tools using affordable sensors like smartphones and spectral cameras to measure soil health and biodiversity indicators. These tools will tailor regenerative agriculture practices to specific agroecological contexts, facilitate the discovery and replication of best practices across various soil living labs, and promote the evidence-based adoption of regenerative agriculture. 3) Developing a standardised interoperable framework to improve knowledge exchange and reusability of e?ective regenerative agricultural practices, including establishing standardised vocabularies, data formats, and protocols, customising existing data integration and harmonisation tools, and develop Robust APIs aligned with standards. 4) Engaging farmers and implementing pilots by creating digital twins of farms and living labs in the project partner counties in Poland, Finland and Ireland.

Grant Approved

�499,910.60

Research Hub

Climate Change

Research Theme

2. Ireland's Future Climate, its Impacts, and Adaptation Options

Start Date

02/01/2025

Initial Projected Completion Date

1/31/2028