Project partners convened in a two-day hybrid meeting to discuss key project matters and review ongoing progress. The meeting was hosted by Sinergise on 25–26 November 2025 in Ljubljana, Slovenia.
Over the course of two days, the plenary included several technical sessions from all active work packages. These sessions facilitated productive discussions among consortium members, enabling them to assess the current status of the project and address development challenges. Partners presented the results achieved to date and outlined the next steps toward the successful completion and delivery of the AgriDataValue project.
Almaviva presented the AgriDataValue in this significant Agri-food Festival. The event, held online from 10 to 13 November, was organized by Food Hub Srl Società Benefit and brought together over 50 speakers for more than 30 hours of content focused on innovation in the agri-food sector. The event explored key themes such as digitalization, sustainability, new production and processing technologies, and nutrition, offering participants access to live sessions and recorded materials within virtual rooms. Supported by institutions like CNR and Banco Alimentare, the festival aimed to bridge research and industry while fostering networking and technology transfer across the agro-food community.
Oliver Sitar, Director of the European Commission’s (EC) Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development (DG Agri), accompanied by representatives of the EC agricultural and rural development policy sector, and of the Ministry of Agriculture, visited the National Paying Agency (NPA) in Lithuania, on November 10, 2025.
The purpose of the visit to the NPA was to familiarise with the institution’s key processes, the principles of EU support administration and monitoring. In his presentation, NPA Deputy Director Tomas Orlickas explained how the agency’s knowledge and experience have been accumulated, applied and improved on a regular basis, thus shaping the unique history of the NPA’s activities. He also outlined the innovative tools that are actively implemented and used, as well as their benefits and future prospects. The NPA Deputy Director also highlighted the role of international projects with the participation of the NPA. These initiatives play a significant role in further development, testing and introduction of innovations in the daily activities of the institution.
Among the highlighted projects – Horizon Europe AgriDataValue project,with its purpose to advance the digital transformation and agri-environmental monitoring of agriculture by creating a distributed (not centralized) smart-farming data platform. As a result a pan-European, open-source data space will be created for agriculture, fostering smart farming and agri-environmental monitoring through an innovative “platform of platforms”. Key results include a functional, federated platform for data sharing and interoperability, the development of new business models for data monetization, innovative AI and federated machine learning tools for increased trust in AI adoption with a possibility to test these solutions in real-world conditions.
The guest was especially impressed by the advanced remote monitoring tools that are used and continuously developed by the NPA and expressed his positive view on their further elaboration. This area attracted significant interest and numerous questions from the visitors regarding both the current benefits of these tools – ensuring the quality, efficiency, convenience and reliability of inspections – and their future perspectives.
EC representative Oliver Sitar noted that the NPA’s operations and certain processes, particularly inspections, deserve attention across Europe, and that innovative technologies, such as satellite-assisted optimisation of monitoring, should serve as an example for institutions working in the agricultural sectors of other EU Member States. He expressed a firm position that the dialogue between the NPA and EC representatives should continue.
Oliver Sitar’s visit to the NPA was an important part of his broader mission to gain first-hand insight into Lithuania’s agricultural sector, with the aim of ensuring a fair and robust future for the EU Common Agricultural Policy and support conditions in the 2028–2034 financial perspective. The visit was organised by the EC Representation in Lithuania, in cooperation with the Ministry of Agriculture.
The State of the Climate in Europe 2022 report, issued by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), found that Europe is warming twice as fast as the global average due to climate change (WMO 2023). In particular, the Mediterranean has been identified as a “hotspot” particularly sensitive to the effects of global climate change due to rising temperatures and decreasing precipitation (Giorgi 2006; Giorgi and Lionello 2008; Lionello et al. 2012). As Europe’s agriculture faces escalating climate shocks, through prolonged droughts and heatwaves to erratic rainfall and soil degradation: decision-makers must transition from reactive crisis management to anticipatory, data-driven resilience.
Leveraging EO, climate indicators, and federated agricultural data spaces such as those developed under AgriDataValue offers a transformative opportunity to modernize agricultural planning and climate adaptation. This blog post intends to elaborate the reasons to establish an EU-wide policy framework enabling the operational integration of EO-based climate intelligence into agricultural risk management (RM), the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), and National Adaptation Strategies.
Context and strategic imperative
Agriculture accounts for over 10% of EU CO2 emissions. Yet, it remains one of the most climate-vulnerable sectors (EEA, 2024). Between 1980 and 2023, extreme weather events cost Europe’s agriculture over €487 billion in losses (European Parliament, 2023).
These challenges are expected to intensify: the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 6th Assessment Report (AR6 WGII, 2023) notes that “Risk of water scarcity will become high at 1.5°C and very high at 3°C GWL in Southern Europe (high confidence).” Therefore, Southern Europe is a climate hotspot where water stress, heatwaves, and land degradation will threaten productivity and food security.
Figure 1: Consecutive dry days and annual harvested rain-fed area
EO and data-driven models already demonstrate their potential. Projects such as AgriDataValue, DestinE, and EO4AGRI have shown that integrating climate indicators (temperature anomalies, evapotranspiration, soil moisture, drought indices) into agricultural planning can support early warning, adaptive irrigation, and yield prediction. However, these innovations remain fragmented due to lack of standardization, governance frameworks, and incentives for data sharing.
The opportunity: from datasets to decision support systems (DSS)
Europe has made strategic investments in digital and space infrastructures, such as Copernicus, GALILEO, and the upcoming European Green Deal Data Space.
AgriDataValue builds upon this momentum through its federated Agri-Environmental Data Space, connecting satellite, the Internet of Things (IoT), and in-situ data without centralizing ownership. This model aligns with the EU Data Strategy (COM/2020/66), Data Act (Reg. 2023/2854), and the Data Governance Act (Reg. 2022/868), all promoting trustworthy, interoperable data ecosystems that preserve data sovereignty.
By operationalizing climate and EO data through the AgriDataValue framework, policymakers can:
– Enable evidence-based CAP implementation, particularly for eco-schemes and drought monitoring.
– Support climate-informed insurance and credit instruments, reducing fiscal pressure from disaster compensations.
– Strengthen multi-hazard early warning systems, as urged by the UNDRR Sendai Framework (2015–2030) and the United Nations Early Warnings for All Initiative (2023).
1.Governance fragmentation: Data ownership remains unclear across EO providers, private platforms, and farmers. National adaptation and CAP agencies often lack coherent governance mechanisms for integrating climate intelligence.
2. Uneven access and incentives: Smallholders and cooperatives rarely have access to tailored EO analytics. Without clear economic incentives, many refrain from sharing or using data (OECD, Data Governance in Agri-Food, 2022).
3. Lack of harmonized climate indicators: The absence of an EU-wide taxonomy for agri-climate indicators limits interoperability and comparability across regions. FAO’s Agro-Environmental Indicators and Eurostat’s Agri-Environmental Data Framework remain underutilized for operational planning.
Policy recommendations
A. Establish an EU framework for climate-informed agriculture: Create a dedicated “EU Climate Intelligence for Agriculture” initiative under the Green Deal Data Space and the Common European Agricultural Data Space (CEADS).
It should provide:
– A standardized set of climate indicators for agricultural decision-making, aligned with FAO, WMO, and EEA methodologies.
– Open-access geospatial tools derived from Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) and AgriDataValue platforms.
– Integration of climate services into CAP Strategic Plans and National Adaptation Plans.
B. Incentivize data sharing and use through CAP instruments: Use eco-schemes and conditionality payments to reward farms that integrate EO-based risk assessments or adopt predictive drought management tools. Encourage data cooperatives and public–private partnerships (PPPs) to ensure equitable access to analytics and training (OECD, Enhancing Resilience in Agriculture, 2021).
C. Embed governance and ethics-by-design: Adopt governance models inspired by AgriDataValue’s federated architecture, ensuring trust, traceability, and consent management under the EU AI Act (2024) and GDPR. Encourage Member States to establish national climate data coordinators to ensure local interoperability within CEADS.
D. Link climate intelligence with disaster risk reduction and finance: Integrate AgriDataValue’s outputs into the EU Civil Protection Mechanism and European Drought Observatory.
Support parametric insurance models and climate-linked financing tools through the European Investment Bank (EIB) and European Innovation Council (EIC). Promote synergies with the United Nations Framework Convention for Climate Change (UNFCCC) Koronivia Joint Work on Agriculture (2022) and OECD-FAO Joint Working Party on Agriculture and Climate (2023-2032).
Implementation Roadmap (2025–2030)
Conclusion
The transition to a climate-informed agricultural system is not merely technical: it is institutional, economic, and political. Initiatives like AgriDataValue demonstrate that federated data architectures and EO-based indicators can form the backbone of a resilient, equitableagricultural future. Nevertheless, realizing this potential requires policy alignment, governance innovation, and targeted incentives. By acting now, Europe can turn data into foresight. Foresight into prevention. And prevention into sustainable resilience. In doing so, the European Union would ensure its farmers not only survive climate change but thrive through it.
Giorgi, F., & Lionello, P. (2008). Climate change projections for the Mediterranean region. Global and Planetary Change, 63(2–3), 90–104. Link: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloplacha.2007.09.005
OECD. (2020). Strengthening Agricultural Resilience in the Face of Multiple Risks. Link
One of the biggest challenges in modern agriculture is data. Everyone has it, but it’s locked away in silos. Farmers are (rightfully) protective of it, and building one giant, central database for all of Europe is just not practical or secure. So, how do we build a connected, data-driven agricultural ecosystem without forcing everyone into a single “mothership”? And how do we convince farmers—the ones creating the most valuable data—to participate? This is exactly what we’ve tackled with the AgriDataValue (ADV) platform architecture. It’s built on two core ideas that change the game.
1. Growing Sideways: A “Platform of Platforms”
First, we knew a single, monolithic platform wouldn’t work. The ADV platform is designed as a multi-instance, “platform-of-platforms.” Instead of one big system, imagine a network of independent ones. A regional farmers’ co-op in France can run its own ADV platform instance. A national agricultural ministry in Greece can run another. Each instance is a complete, self-contained hub. But here’s the magic: they are all designed to securely talk to each other. This is what we call “horizontal expansion.” When a new organization wants to join, they just plug in their own instance. The whole ecosystem grows organically, region by region, without a single point of failure. It’s scalable, resilient, and respects that data is often best managed locally.
2. Solving the “Why Share?” Problem
Okay, so we can connect the platforms. But why would a farmer, who is busy running a business, want to share their data? This is the “data provider blocking problem,” and our answer is simple: incentives. The ADV platform isn’t just about storing data; it’s about valuing it. We’ve built in a Marketplace concept that directly addresses the “What’s in it for me?” question. A farmer or data provider can choose to upload a dataset (like soil moisture levels or drone imagery). They can then negotiate its value and set clear sharing policies. This turns data from a passive byproduct into a potential asset. By making this process transparent—using a secure, shared ledger to record agreements and transactions—we build trust. The farmer knows exactly who is using their data and that they are being compensated for it. This motivation is the key to unlocking the data silos and fueling a new generation of agricultural apps and insights. By combining a scalable, federated architecture with a fair and motivating marketplace, the AgriDataValue platform aims to create a data economy that truly benefits everyone.
Multi-instance concept – vision
From upload to the ADV Platform instance to publication
The concept of AgriDataValue project is shaped around CAP objectives, thereby enhancing farmers’ contribution to the implementation of the CAP itself.
The activities of ADV pilots are aligned with the CAP objectives in several fields like climate change mitigation, efficient resource management and animal welfare.
Focusing on ADV italian pilots, Pilot #15 and Pilot #17 managed by Ri.Nova in the region of Emilia-Romagna, it was implemented AI-powered disease prediction systems in order to favour a reduction in pesticide use, enabling optimisation of the use of resources and limitation of losses in agricultural products. Both pilots contribute to improving disease prediction, favouring data-driven decision-making for pest and disease management and reducing the use of pesticides.
The activities carried out under Pilot #15 and Pilot #17 comply with CAP objective 5 – Effective natural resource management, which aims at fostering sustainable development and efficient management of natural resources such as water, soil and air by reducing chemical dependency.
Specifically it complies with CAP result indicator R.24 – Sustainable and reduced use of pesticides which goal is increasing the share of utilised agricultural area (UAA) under supported specific commitments which lead to a sustainable use of pesticides, thereby reducing risks and environmental impacts such as pesticides leakage.
Within the Italian CAP Strategic Plan framework, the Region Emilia-Romagna has also activated the measure SRA 19 – Reduction in the use of plant protection products according to which farmers receive a subsidy per hectare when implementing one or more of the following actions:
Action 1 – 50% reduction in the drift of plant protection products
Action 2 – Reduction in the use of plant protection products containing active substances identified as the most dangerous
Action 3 – Adoption of advanced crop protection strategies based on biotechnological and biological methods
Pilot #15 and Pilot #17 are playing a pivotal role by steering agriculture towards more sustainable and productive practices, leveraging digital technologies for more efficient resource management and greater protection of the environment and soil.
We are pleased to share our latest publication, “Sustainability Challenges in the Bovine Sector and the Implementation of Waste Management Policies within the EU Framework.”
The paper examines the environmental impact of the bovine industry and explores how EU policies, circular economy strategies, and smart farming technologies can transform waste into valuable resources. It highlights the need to align science, policy, and practice to advance sustainable, low-impact livestock production and support Europe’s climate goals.
On 24–26 September 2025, the National Paying Agency (NPA), Lithuania, invited the paying agencies of the Baltic States and Poland to the conference “Innovations and Technologies – the Driving Force of the Strategic Plan for Agriculture and Rural Development 2023–2027”. Agricultural progress, good farming practices, and the use of artificial intelligence in the paying agency activities were the main topics discussed by the conference participants this year.
The conference was dedicated to discussing current issues in the agricultural sector, innovations and sharing experience in support administration.
NPA Director Fortunatas Dirginčius welcomed the conference participants and emphasized that today, in the field of agriculture, when implementing the Strategic Plan for Agriculture and Rural Development of Lithuania 2023–2027 (Strategic Plan), many tasks are being taken over by robots and automated systems: “Modern methods of plant fertilisation, automated processes, innovations that allow monitoring farm activities and performing their analysis are no longer the future. Farmers are already using such tools today.”
The presentations delivered during the conference included those by NPA’s Director Fortunatas Dirginčius presenting digital solutions in implementing the Strategic Plan, by the Control Department Director on ALNSIS 1.0 and 2.0 regarding control and administrative systems, followed by presentations of the Latvian paying agency representative about shared Earth Observation platforms, insights from private innovation providers (on image classification, Sentinel-2 image use). Representatives of agencies from Estonia and Poland held discussions on the digital and information technology solutions used in their activities and stressed their importance in administering support measures.
In addition, during the conference a cooperation agreement was signed with the Polish Paying Agency (ARMA). A particularly relevant topic was discussed too – the conclusion of the 2014–2020 Rural Development and Aghriculture programming period. Conference participants shared the challenges they are facing and looked for ways to overcome them.
Active and meaningful discussions with colleagues from the Latvian, Estonian, and Polish paying agencies were especially valuable in seeking joint solutions on how to improve the support administration process and ensure smooth and high-quality agency work.
The presentation delivered by the NPA Deputy Director Tomas Orlickas focused on the NPA’s international projects, the interplay of support measures under the Strategic Plan, and lessons learned through its implementation. The international projects were presented as elements integrated in an overall digital ecosystem that includes parcel delineation, crop classification, and remote sensing, supporting Lithuania’s CAP Strategic Plan and more biodiversity-sensitive agricultural policy. In his presentation the NPA Deputy Director also focused on the international projects as part of a wider area modeling and monitoring system being developed by the National Paying Agency, highlighting the Horizon Europe AgriDataValue project among them:
Horizon Europe AgriDataValue project – with its purpose to advance the digital transformation and agri-environmental monitoring of agriculture by creating a distributed (not centralized) smart-farming data platform. The project activities include:
– Use big data to optimize production, enhance environmental sustainability, and ensure fair income for farmers.
– Build systems for area monitoring, sensor networks, climate / area change monitoring (soil moisture, erosion, crop damage, yield forecasting), and crop & object auto-classification from geotagged photos.
– Integrate or align with existing satellite / remote sensing platforms (e.g. Sentinel data) and related projects under Horizon, etc.
As a result a pan-European, open-source data space will be created for agriculture, fostering smart farming and agri-environmental monitoring through an innovative “platform of platforms”. Key results include a functional, federated platform for data sharing and interoperability, the development of new business models for data monetization, innovative AI and federated machine learning tools for increased trust in AI adoption, and the implementation of large-scale pilot projects across 9 EU countries to test these solutions in real-world conditions. The results of the project will allow the farmers to get access to a much wider diversity of relevant data, that will facilitate a smoother and faster transition towards smart agriculture.
Representatives of agencies from Estonia and Poland held discussions on the digital and information technology solutions used in their activities and stressed their importance in administering support measures.
In addition, during the conference a cooperation agreement was signed with the Polish Paying Agency (ARMA). A particularly relevant topic was discussed too – the conclusion of the 2014–2020 Rural Development and Aghriculture programming period. Conference participants shared the challenges they are facing and looked for ways to overcome them.
Active and meaningful discussions with colleagues from the Latvian, Estonian, and Polish paying agencies were especially valuable in seeking joint solutions on how to improve the support administration process and ensure smooth and high-quality agency work.
On 9–11 September, 2025, the IACS Community Exchange (ICE) annual conference, organised by the Joint Research Centre (JRC) in collaboration with the EC DG AGRI and the French Paying Agency (ASP) took place in Reims, France. The event brought together representatives of the European Commission (EC), national authorities, research institutes, and industry to discuss the future of agricultural monitoring and data-driven policy in the EU.
The 3-day programme covered a broad range of topics dedicated to the implementation and evolution of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). Key sessions focused on: IACS quality assessment and upcoming reporting obligations; data sharing for evidence-based policymaking and farm-level services; advances in LPIS updates, including the use of AI; integration of space and Earth Observation (EO) technologies into CAP monitoring; experiences of Member States (MS) and candidate countries with Area Monitoring System (AMS) implementation; the role of industry and innovative solutions in supporting Paying Agencies.
At the ICE conference Lithuania was represented by Tomas Orlickas, the Deputy Director of the National Paying Agency (NPA). He familiarised the conference participants with the status and vision of the AMS in Lithuania, with the possibilities of developing smart, data-driven public services and with the respective Horizon 2020, Horizon Europe and LIFE projects.
Alongside the technical sessions, the conference also offered opportunities for EU MS, EU candidate countries and stakeholders to exchange best practices on agricultural monitoring, climate adaptation, biodiversity, and carbon accounting.
At the conference the Deputy Director of the NPA Tomas Orlickas delivered a presentation titled “What’s Next After AMS? Strategy of Lithuania.” The presentation outlined Lithuania’s forward-looking vision of the AMS and its evolution into a more integrated, data-driven approach to agricultural governance.
Alongside the projects funded under Horizon 2020, Horizon Europe and LIFE programmes, including Horizon 2020 ENVISION and EIFFEL, a key focus of Mr. Orlickas’s contribution at the ICE conference was on the Horizon Europe project AgriDataValue, which supports the development of an innovative, distributed platform for smart farming. By combining satellite data, on-the-ground sensors, and big data analytics, the project aims to:
Enhance farm-level insights for precision agriculture;
Strengthen environmental sustainability and monitoring;
Support evidence-based policymaking;
Ensure a fair income for farmers while improving the resilience of agricultural systems.
Within this framework, the NPA contributes to advancing the Area Monitoring & Sensors System, which will integrate EO data with sensor-based monitoring to improve the detection of crop conditions, soil health, and environmental pressures. This work will also help prepare Lithuania for the future of climate-smart agriculture, ensuring that monitoring tools not only support compliance but also provide added value to farmers and policymakers.
By engaging in projects such as AgriDataValue, and by actively contributing to EU-wide dialogue at the ICE conference, Lithuania demonstrates its commitment to modernising agricultural policy, supporting farmers with innovative tools, and aligning with Europe’s broader sustainability and digital transformation goals.
The Agency for Payments and Intervention in Agriculture (APIA) is honoured to contribute to a European research project dedicated to one of the greatest challenges of our time: the impact of climate change on agriculture and the transition towards sustainable farming practices.
As the Romanian authority responsible for implementing the European Agricultural Guarantee Fund (EAGF), the Common Agricultural Policy ‘s “first pillar”, APIA has extensive experience in supporting farmers and ensuring that EU agricultural policies translate into tangible benefits at the national level. Within this project, APIA has the opportunity to extend its expertise to the European scale.
Our contribution focuses on several key activities:
Macro-level CAP analysis at the EU level: looking at the overall framework, objectives, and instruments of the CAP, and evaluating how they support farmers in adapting to climate risks such as droughts, floods, soil degradation, or biodiversity loss.
Coordination of the CAP component: ensuring that the project outputs include a clear and consistent view of how CAP can foster resilience and sustainability across all Member States.
Technical contributions to climate impact projections: working alongside European partners to link Agri-climate indicators with farming practices, soil health, and biodiversity, and to benchmark potential adaptation measures.
This work is essential because agriculture is one of the sectors most vulnerable to climate change. At the same time, it is also part of the solution: through sustainable practices, innovation, and targeted policies, farming can adapt and even help mitigate the effects of a changing climate. The Common Agricultural Policy plays a central role in this process, providing financial support, incentives, and a common framework for all EU countries.
By engaging in this project, APIA contributes to a better understanding of how CAP functions at a European scale and how it can evolve to meet the challenges ahead. Our aim is to help shape recommendations that will make European agriculture more resilient, more sustainable, and better prepared for the future.
