SMART CARBON FARMING

Objective of the project

The EU agricultural sector (8.7M jobs) is under threat (62% farms closed by 2040) and needs to innovate to stay competitive and reach net zero by 2050.

Carbon Farming rewards farmers that store carbon or reduce emissions and is key to achieving an economically resilient farming ecosystem in NWE (48% of EU farmed land). To attract and justify payments, a new EU regulation requires reliable certification of carbon performance, but measuring is complex and expensive (20-40% of farming profits). Smart solutions that use promising existing technologies are needed to make it economically viable and scalable. Additionally, farmers lack clarity on practical solutions and the implications of the new policies.

Smart Carbon Farming (SCF) transnationally customises accurate, cost-effective carbon monitoring solutions for mineral and peat soils, unlocking carbon farming as a business model and boosting the NWE competitiveness. SCF tests and deploys solutions on 15 pilot farms in 5 NWE countries that obtain accurate results at farm level and cover various regional contexts. SCF conducts training programmes with 50 farmers, positions carbon farming in agri-innovation ecosystems via existing Digital Innovation Hubs (e.g. EDIH Boost Robotics EastNL) and connects to regional & national policies.

SCF has 11 partners from 5 NWE countries (BE, NL, FR, DE, IE): 3 technological, 2 knowledge and 6 regional impact organisations for training and dissemination. Partners complement each other in regional contexts (soil type, tech savviness, farm size) and expertise (ISP on business models, GRI on whole-farm monitoring), enabling uptake of solutions across NWE geographies.

SCF has a unique holistic measurement approach of in-field testing, combining the most promising technologies at a transnational level. SCF deploys a proven innovative farmer engagement approach for the practical uptake of advanced solutions that enable carbon farming.

Contribution of Multitel

Multitel is the lead partner of the project, leader of WP2 and one of the technological providers of the project.

Multitel’s main activities in SCF consist in identifying existing technologies and gaps related to the carbon farming domain, the development of monitoring photonics devices and the development of AI models for the estimate of the soil carbon content based on the fusion of complementary sensors, soil mapping data and models.

Multitel is a key partner for the transnationality of the activities, contributing to the demonstration and pilot activities in the different regions, in close collaboration with the farming associations.

Coordinator

• Multitel (Belgium)

Partners

• Boerenbond (Belgium)
• Constellr GmbH (Germany)
• Oost NL (Netherlands)
• GRI - Green Restoration Ireland Cooperative Society Ltd (Ireland)
• 3N - Lower Saxony Network Renewable Resources and Bioeconomy e. V. (Germany)
• ILVO - Flanders Research Institute for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (Belgium)
• ZLTO (Netherlands)
• Teagasc (Ireland)
• TGO (Germany)
• Ver de Terre ( France)