GUARDIANS | LINKS - AI, Data & Space

Project Description

GUARDIANS focuses on understanding the challenges faced by small- and medium-sized farms in rural areas and empowering them with a set of cost-effective, human-centric digital innovative solutions that help bridge the current technological gap between small and large farms.

The project puts in place a suite of tailor-made digital solutions to support and empower the penetration, sustainability and resilience of more agroecological farming models — including regenerative agriculture, natural grazing, alternative managed grazing strategies, and the promotion of pollinators. Nine technologies combining software and hardware (drones, sensors, AI platforms) are customised to farmers’ needs and validated across 22 small- and medium-sized farms in six pilot cases across Spain, Italy, Sweden and Czechia. A multi-actor co-creation methodology and cascade funding mechanism ensure wide adoption and replication, targeting up to 95 farms across Europe by the end of the project.

LINKS Foundation Activities

LINKS Foundation acts as pilot leader and technology provider for Pilot Case 2 (PC2) — the Piedmont pilot in Italy — and develops Technology #4, the core AI-based crop monitoring platform.

AI-Based Crop Monitoring & Management Platform

Challenge: Due to climate change effects (higher temperatures, droughts), small- and medium-sized farms need novel, affordable solutions to support crop production while ensuring sustainability.

Solution: LINKS developed and extends a web-based, data-driven Decision Support System integrating multiple data sources including:

in-field sensor observations and weather data (in-situ stations + forecasts)
Earth Observation data from Copernicus (Sentinel-2 and Sentinel-3)
AI-based crop monitoring models

The platform — built on experience from H2020 VISCA and VITIGEOSS projects — is adapted and extended in GUARDIANS to monitor arable crops and orchards, providing:

irrigation forecasts and water management guidance
disease risk forecasts
growth anomaly detection via satellite data

Exploitation strategy: licensing the solution to agritech companies (fixed licence or revenue share), direct consultancy contracts, and further evolution with national/EU funding.

Pilot Case — Piedmont, Italy (Leader)

LINKS leads Pilot Case in the Province of Cuneo, Piedmont — a UNESCO World Heritage agricultural and wine district — working with 7 end-user farms from the Coldiretti agricultural association (NEXO Agrifood Hub - previouly M.I.A.C. - Scpa’s shareholders) across two use cases:

UC2.1 Woody crops / orchards (strawberries, raspberries, blueberries): 1–5 ha plots
UC2.2 Arable crops (maize, beans, potatoes): 1–5 ha irrigated and dry land plots

Expected outcome: resilience against climate change for small- and medium-sized fruit, vegetable and legume growers through AI-powered irrigation and disease treatment decision support.

Funding & Dates

Parameter	Value
Project Acronym	GUARDIANS
Proposal ID	101084468
Programme	Horizon Europe — HORIZON-IA (Innovation Action)
Call	HORIZON-CL6-2022-FARM2FORK-02-04 (two-stage)
Topic	Smart digital solutions for small- and medium-sized farms
Start Date	01 June 2023
End Date	31 May 2027
Duration	48 months
LINKS Contribution	€ 247,750.00

SDGs — Sustainable Development Goals

🌿 Goal 15 — Life on Land

🌍 Goal 13 — Climate Action

Key Technologies

🛰️ AI-Based Crop Monitoring & Management Platform (LINKS)

Web-based Decision Support System integrating Copernicus EO data, weather forecasts, and in-situ sensors with AI models for irrigation forecasting, disease risk assessment, and growth anomaly detection for arable crops and orchards.

🌱 CAP-Support Tool for Crop Management — SATIVUM (ITACyL)

Free integrated app providing crop nutrition, irrigation and pest management advice based on soil, climate and satellite data, simplifying farmer-administration interactions for CAP compliance.

📊 Environmental Progress, Profitability & Provenance Tool (ODOS, previously CARBON)

Carbon and biodiversity monitoring platform using certified models to monetise sustainable farming practices and enable the transaction of carbon and biodiversity credits.

🚁 Drones for Grassland Care — GrassGuard (CZU)

Semi-autonomous flying and land drones powered by solar energy to remove weeds from pastures, reducing labour costs and chemical use in grassland management.

🐝 Beehive Protection & Monitoring System (ART21)

IoT multi-sensor system with AI analytics for real-time hive monitoring (temperature, humidity, acoustics), reducing hive maintenance costs by 25% and increasing production.

🦌 Drones for Field Protection & Wildlife Management (FLOX)

Fully autonomous drone system using computer vision and adaptive ultrasound for zero-touch detection and deterrence of wild animals damaging crops.

💨 GHG Monitoring Platform for Stables (CTIC)

Low-cost sensor platform measuring CO₂, methane and nitrous oxide in livestock spaces, integrating W3C interoperability standards for data analysis and farmer reporting.

🧬 Biodiversity Assessment Service (IVL)

Environmental DNA (eDNA) technology providing cost-effective farm-level soil and grassland biodiversity analysis, enabling certification and proof of compliance.

⛓️ Blockchain-Based Environmental Valorisation System (CTIC)

Blockchain traceability system to certify sustainable actions (carbon sequestration, regenerative agriculture, manure use) and grant sustainability seals to farm products.

Project Partners