Funding: European Commission, European Horizon Programme
Coordinating body: Wageningen University (WU)
Duration: 1 September 2023 – 31 August 2028
Consortium partners: Alerce Environmental, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iasi A ssociação dos Produtores em Proteção Integrada de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Cambisol, Consorzio di bonifica Delta del Po Cooperativas Agroalimentares Valenciana, Corepage, ÖMKi, LVV-Bonaire, Qendra E Transferimit Te Teknologjive Bujqesore Fushe Kruje, Quadraat Global, SmartFarming, The International Soil Reference and Information Centre, United Farmers Aruba, Università degli Studi di Padova, Wageningen University
Farming innovation for all!
The PHITO platform is a community channel for agri-digitalisation, providing equal access to digital technologies and data to help small and medium sized farms enter the now essential field of precision farming.
The use of technology is key to sustainable agriculture. From site-specific farming to smart irrigation and data-driven decision making, technology is paving the way to increase productivity, optimise resource use and thereby protecting the environment.
In an ever-changing world, farmers’ needs are diverse and dynamically adapting to new challenges. PHITO’s team set out to develop an application to meet the needs of farmers in this changing world, especially small and medium sized farmers. It is unique in that it is developed with the involvement of participants from ten food systems (in our country, arable production) to ensure that it addresses the needs of the user. The aim of the development is to create a simple, user-challenging, inclusive and affordable application that brings together often difficult-to-access geospatial and other data in one place and transforms it into usable agricultural advice. It will inspire a shift to more sustainable production, create a virtual environment for community building, help connect market actors and move towards a future of experience-sharing-based, sustainable and economical production.
The platform has three main components:
Data-driven farmer advice – Raw data, often available for free, does not make farmers’ lives any easier, and the expertise required to process it adds to a sense of complexity that quickly leads to a loss of patience and trust. PHITO is a unified platform that harmonises multiple data sources and generates information from the data, taking a heavy burden off the farmer’s shoulders and helping them to compete with large farms that can easily harness the power of information through services.
Market and community – Local conditions each create unique needs and opportunities for farmers. Sharing experiences not only helps new small and medium sized farms to develop, but also plays a major role in preparing for and responding to climate change. PHITO’s community function also supports the development and functioning of local markets, helping actors to meet each other, while enabling both general information and cooperation.
Transition pathways to more sustainable production – Environmental protection has become a key issue in agriculture and is increasingly recognised. With the extreme – and sometimes unpredictable – weather conditions caused by climate change, production is increasingly challenging. The PHITO platform offers a collection of market and production best practices tailored to the location, circumstances and conditions of the producer. The pathways chosen at different stages of the transition then create new experiences that increase the production efficiency of the community and provide useful information for participants considering adaptation and transition.
Aims of the project
The main objective of the project is to create a smartphone application to harmonise and complement previous experiences and existing databases by involving users. This platform will support the agri-digitalisation process of small and medium sized farms and increase their competitiveness.
ÖMKi is involved in the following tasks:
ÖMKi is involved in two key tasks. As the leader of the “Transition Pathways” (Work Package 6), we are responsible for the design of this module of the application, leading the tasks of mapping pathways to sustainable management. To this end, as one of the ten “Food System Partners” (representing the arable crop production and specificities of our country), we are involved in the analysis of sustainable farming best practices, transition experiences and business opportunities, collected together with the participants, which vary from area to area and from food system to food system.
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