A LIFE program
The largest sensor data-driven farming project ever undertaken
Co-funded by the European Union
Goal of this LIFE "The Future of Farming" project:

To help the European farming industry mitigate and adapt to the effects of climate change

Increased water scarcity and droughts

Water scarcity and droughts are an increasingly frequent and widespread phenomenon across the world and are becoming more common in the European Union (EU). 80% of the global population deals with (permanent) water scarcity.

High dependency on irrigation

Globally, 70% of water resources are used for farming purposes. In the EU, farming uses 31% of total water supply and this number is expected to grow in the next years. The European farming industry is becoming more dependent on irrigation to farm their cultivations.

Threats to the European Farming sector

Water scarcity challenges are expected to increase with continued global warming. Water is the most important productivity driver in farming and water scarcity therefore negatively impacts farmers' yield and threatens the EU's access to food in the future.

Co-funded by the European Union

Objective 1

In this project the EU’s farming sector will be prepared for the effects of climate change by showcasing the benefits of precision farming technology.

Objective 2

After the demonstration focus is on stimulating the adoption of precision farming technology across farmers in the European Union.

How it works

450
sensors
As part of this project 450 Agurotech sensors will be installed in farming fields in the European Union. Sensors will be continuously measuring Volumetric Water Content (VWC), Electrical Conductivity (EC) and temperature. This will be the largest sensor-driven farming project ever undertaken.
300
farmers
300 farmers will participate in the project; 50 farmers per country. 150 of these farmers will use sensor technology and data for their irrigation decisions and the other half will use traditional ways to irrigate. During the project irrigation practices and KPIs will be compared.
6
countries
More than 90% of the EU's water supply for farming purposes is used in Spain, Italy, Portugal, France, Romania, and Greece. During the project participating farmers will be advised on the optimal time, location and amount of irrigation according to their soil type and cultivation.

What we will track

Water usage
Applied irrigation
Yield
Pesticides
Fertilizer
Greenhouse emissions

When the demonstration has ended focus is on stimulating the adoption of the precision farming technology solution as used in this project. This way substantial contributions can be made to smarter water management for farming in the EU.

Who is involved

1. Farming Organizations

Key European farming organizations represent the project in each country and help to select, onboard and support participating farmers throughout the project.

2. Research Institutes

Several research institutes are involved to study the data that will be generated by this project, which is of unprecedented scale, and to assess the results of the project.

3. Agurotech

Agurotech is an Agri-Tech company that delivers the technology that will be used throughout this project, consisting of sensor technology and software.

4. Local Governments

Local governments will be involved in order to assess whether stimulation of technology use can be realized through new policies.

In each country we work with one or more agricultural organizations who are responsible for selecting, onboarding and supporting the farmers who participate in this process.

  • France:
  • Greece:
  • Spain:
  • Portugal:
  • Romania:
  • Italy:
  • Agriland
  • CRES, Inaso-Paseges
  • CSIC, Ifapa
  • Anpromis, ISA
  • APPR
  • Confagricoltura