Due to a lack of a holistic approach combining physical and digital assets for optimal field performance and minimum environmental impact, AI models, data and autonomous robotic systems in crop care tasks have not reached a mature technological level. The conventional spraying methods result in excessive pesticide and fertilizer use, posing severe environmental impact - being responsible for soil, water and air pollution, and harming non-target plants, insects, animals and humans. Smart Droplets’ main objective is to advance both hardware and software capabilities to deliver a holistic system capable of translating large amounts of data into meaningful information and impactful spraying commands on the field. To demonstrate substantial impact on the Green Deal, Smart Droplets will implement Autonomous retrofit tractors with Direct Injection System (DIS) for intelligent spraying - avoiding exposure of farmers to hazardous chemicals. Through the combination of high-level technologies (>TRL 7), Smart Droplets adopts a hybrid approach for spraying operations, combining Data/AI/Digital Farm Twin technologies designed to translate data into actionable information, and real-time data collected from Field demonstrators evaluating and demonstrating optimised technologies in the real environments. Smart Droplets will exploit synergies with relevant stakeholders, and intensify Community & Capacity building through dedicated training programs designed for non-expert users of AI, data and robotics systems. The Smart Droplets Consortium consists of all agricultural AI, data and robotics value chain actors, and is well balanced in terms of expertise, entity type, and geographical distribution necessary to meet its objectives. Smart Droplets will demonstrate how autonomous robotic platforms, innovative spraying, digital twin and AI models, can deliver environmental, economic, regulatory, business, scientific, and societal benefits, assisting in the achievement of Green Deal goals.

ICAERUS proposes an “application-oriented” approach, through the selection of five (5) specific drone applications, to explore the multi-purpose application potential of drones in agricultural production, forestry and rural communities. The selected drone applications represent the most important sectoral and societal drone usage purposes in Europe and cover multiple applications that are interconnected within the complex rural European landscape. The ICAERUS vision is to explore opportunities and provide a more complete and interconnected account of the potential and impact of drones as multi-purpose vehicles in EU agriculture, forestry and rural areas. The aim is to showcase and support, through application, the effective, efficient and safe deployment of drones as well as, identify the risks and added values associated with their use. “Taking off” from the current state-of-the-art in the drone ecosystem, ICAERUS will “rise up” by advancing existing software technology, platform components and knowledge in regard to drones, to exploit the potential of drones and strengthen capacities to reduce their risks, achieve better informed decision-making, enhance sustainability performance and competitiveness in agriculture, forestry and rural areas. This will be showcased in two directions: fundamental applications representing an “eye-in-the-sky”, using the drone as a positioning system for optical observation and recording, and a “hand-in-the-sky” applications, for spraying and goods delivery. ICAERUS plans to scale-up through research, technology optimisation, demonstration and education about drones to create an efficient, trusted and safe enabling environment for the EU drone services market to achieve the EU’s decarbonisation, digitalisation and resilience ambitions. ICAERUS consists of a balanced, multi-actor, cross sectoral and well-experienced consortium, including research organisations, SME technology providers, associations and non-profit organisations.

PRIMARY aims to develop and pilot local solutions for the production of food, feed, bio-based materials, bioenergy, and fertilizers by valorizing agricultural biomass feedstocks, including grass, greenhouse and cotton by-products, and olive tree pruning that are currently underutilized and exist in substantial amounts in Europe. The project focuses on North-East Europe (Finland) and South-East Europe (Greece), providing business models and demonstrations in rural areas where pilot and demo plants are rare. PRIMARY works with primary producers and local actors, and pilots six process concepts: 1) separation of protein and fibre rich fractions from grass to produce food/feed and biobased materials, respectively; 2) submerged and 3) solid-state fermentation processes to upcycle the feedstocks to protein rich food and feed ingredients; 4) fibre forming technology to enable production of packaging and construction materials; 5) pelletizing process to solid biofuel for gasification to bioenergy from olive-tree pruning and cotton byproducts; 6) pyrolysis of cotton and olive byproducts to biochar for fertilizer and material applications. The solutions piloted in the project are selected based on cascading use of the feedstocks to find the highest possible value, considering the regional conditions. Sustainability of the new value chains is broadly assessed. To maximise project outcomes and impact, other partners and regions are engaged through an open innovation call to promote the ecosystem for valorizing agricultural biomass, and to show replicability of the project solutions. PRIMARY outcomes, including new processes, products and service concepts, will be communicated via various channels, including a stakeholder platform, to ensure wide exploitation of the solutions. A multi-actor approach is used in the development of processes and replicable business models, and for delivering guidance to farmers and SMEs, and advice to policymakers at national and EU level.

4Growth aims to contribute to the uptake of digital and data-driven solutions in agriculture and forestry by (i) documenting the current state-of-play and projecting the future evolution (forecasting and foresight) of the sector, (ii) making insights available to the wider community of decision makers and value chain actors – through the 4Growth Visualisation Platform, (iii) collecting a wide range of ground truth data and identifying key factors or constraints for uptake, and (iv) producing sets of key policy recommendations and best practices to encourage/facilitate further uptake. To successfully fulfill its ambition and carry out the proposed activities, 4Growth brings together a highly-motivated team of 13 partners from 9 EU Member States, with strong proposition and extensive involvement in digital agriculture and forestry activities.

STELLA will develop a real time pest surveillance system. The system will consist of 3 subsystems: 1) an early warning system using novel forecasting models and IoT sensors, 2) a pest detection system using drones, satellites, and a smartphone application, and 3) a pest response system providing data-driven recommendations for containment and counteractive measures. The system will be tested in 6 Use Case Pilots across 5 countries, covering 8 various diseases of importance to the EU. Capacity building activities will be developed with a focus on providing training, education, and resources to farmers, agronomists, and other stakeholders involved in crop protection. These activities will aim to equip stakeholders with the skills and knowledge necessary to effectively use the STELLA system and implement environmentally friendly crop protection alternatives. Policy recommendations generated by the project will aim to support the European Commission's goals of reducing pesticide use and managing priority plant pest outbreaks. The recommendations will be based on the data and insights gathered through the early warning, detection, and response system. A networking strategy will be developed to leverage existing knowledge and enable links with relevant organisations, networks, projects, and initiatives. Collaborating with stakeholders as well as other projects will provide opportunities to exchange ideas and learn from others' experiences.