Increasing the resilience of agriculture in water and nutrient-scarce environments through digital innovations

Overview

Supports the development and testing of digital innovations to enhance agricultural resilience in water- and nutrient-scarce environments, targeting farmers, researchers, technology providers, and advisors across diverse farming systems, including organic farming.

Who Can Apply

Consortia of farmers, researchers, advisors, technology providers, and business partners. Proposals must implement a multi-actor approach, ensuring balanced participation and complementary expertise, including social sciences and humanities (SSH) disciplines.

Funding Details

Maximum funding per project: 11,000,000 EUR. Funding is provided as a lump sum.

What Is Funded

• Development and testing of monitoring devices and AI-enabled decision support systems for water and nutrient management in agriculture.
• Research on interactions between plant, soil, water, air, and nutrients under climate change across different pedoclimatic regions.
• Creation of high-quality AI training datasets for decision support systems, made publicly available with transparent documentation.
• Identification of barriers and enablers for adoption of digital tools by end-users, including accessibility for persons with disabilities.
• Activities must align with EU policies on sustainable agriculture, digital transformation, climate adaptation, and biodiversity.

Technology / Maturity Requirements

Projects must achieve Technology Readiness Levels (TRL) 4-5 by the end of the project.

Key Dates

• Open date: 2027-04-19
• Deadline: 2027-09-22

Application Process (High-Level)

Single-stage application process. Proposals must be submitted via the Funding & Tenders Portal.

Geographic Scope & Language

Eligible countries: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Norway, Iceland, United Kingdom, Switzerland. Application language: English.

Notes

• Proposals must address organic farming as one of the farming systems.
• Projects should leverage existing EU infrastructures (e.g., Digital Europe Program, EURO HPC, EU AI Factory) and comply with the Common European Agricultural Data Space (CEADS).
• International cooperation and collaboration with ongoing EU-funded projects (e.g., PRIMA, Agriculture of Data) are encouraged.
• Accessibility and affordability for farmers, including those in low-connectivity areas, must be considered.