Nostradamus: Harnessing Data Cubes and Multiple Sources of Data for Sustainable Agriculture and Food Security

Kurzfassung

Nostradamus focuses on addressing the critical challenges of food security, sustainability, and agricultural resilience in the European Union (EU) by leveraging digital solutions for resilient agriculture and independence from agrochemical inputs. This Horizon Europe project aligns with the EU Green Deal, Common Agricultural Policy, forthcoming Soil Monitoring Law, and EU Data Strategy, among others, promoting open-source data ecosystems and tools to enhance agricultural resilience and sustainability. Central to the project is developing a Data Ecosystem comprising five national Data Cubes spanning Cyprus, Germany, Serbia, Slovenia, and Switzerland and a Catalog for geospatial and non-geospatial datasets. Interconnectedly, the Data Ecosystem serves as a one-stop-shop for data aggregation by integrating Earth Observation, IoT, socio-economic, and other relevant datasets, establishing robust pipelines for collecting, processing, and analysing data from multiple sources. By providing farmers, policymakers, researchers, and industry with comprehensive, accessible, and interoperable digital solutions, the Nostradamus project will empower informed decision-making and policy-shaping to enhance the agricultural sector's competitiveness and productivity while minimizing environmental impact. The project’s overarching objectives are: (1) to serve as a data-driven backbone for the EU’s food security and independence, and (2) to enable the development of scalable, open-source digital applications through Open Calls tailored to address the complexities of modern agriculture. These applications will tackle pressing challenges such as drought monitoring, crop yield prediction, soil fertility management, and sustainable pest control. By employing machine learning, these tools support stakeholders in optimizing farming practices and resource allocation, reducing dependency on agrochemical inputs, and ensuring resilience against disruptions. Nostradamus adopts a gender-sensitive multi-actor approach, fostering collaboration among diverse stakeholders. This inclusive strategy ensures solutions are co-created and validated across various biogeographical and socio-economic contexts. The project’s five demonstration sites, located in the distinct biogeoclimatic regions, act as hubs for testing and showcasing innovations, enabling the transfer of knowledge and best practices across the EU. Recognizing the challenges posed by digital inequity, particularly in regions with limited connectivity, Nostradamus integrates cloud, edge, and mixed solutions to ensure accessibility and scalability. Additionally, the project provides a suite of ready-to-use templates that facilitate the seamless development and integration of modular digital applications for solving specific challenges while benefiting from standardized, interoperable foundations. Through tailored capacity-building, the project empowers end-users to utilize digital tools and fully adopt data-driven decision-making practices. The project also emphasizes the importance of data interoperability, switchability, and transparency, laying the foundation for the future evolution of agriculture in the EU. Beyond its technical contributions and support for EU policy frameworks and engaged actors, including AKIS platforms, Nostradamus actively supports upscaling the impact of ongoing EU projects by addressing critical gaps in data requirements and consolidation. By bridging technological innovation with stakeholder-driven development, Nostradamus represents a paradigm shift in the EU's agricultural digital transformation. Its outputs ensure that the sector remains resilient, competitive, and aligned with long-term sustainability goals. The project exemplifies how data-driven solutions can create a more secure, sustainable, and equitable future for the EU agricultural sector, setting a benchmark for global initiatives in agricultural innovation.