Cognitive Cloud Computing for Sustainable Almond Farming, or GAIA, has started its 12-month implementation journey in Salamanca, Spain.
The project brings together XILBI as technology provider and almond producer Gregorio García Sánchez as pilot farmer. The objective is to test how digital technologies can support more efficient and sustainable almond production, with particular attention to irrigation, field monitoring and data-driven decision support.
Almond farming faces increasing pressure from water availability, rising production costs and the need to improve environmental performance. At farm level, decisions are often based on fragmented information: soil probes, weather services, field knowledge, satellite images and manual records. GAIA addresses this fragmentation by creating a single decision-support workflow.
The solution combines IoT telemetry, weather data, Copernicus Earth Observation, AI-based recommendations, cognitive cloud computing and a geospatial digital twin. It is also designed to align with Farmtopia reusable software components, including the Digital Field Book, Data Integration and Data Exchange services.
During the first project cycle, the team will refine the system architecture, map the farm’s sensor infrastructure, prepare Farmtopia-compatible data flows and develop the first user-facing prototype. The aim is to prepare GAIA for operational deployment at the GGS almond plantation.
GAIA is not intended to replace farmer judgement. Its purpose is to support the farmer with clearer information, more transparent recommendations and better access to relevant field data.
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under project Farmtopia (grant agreement No 101083541).
Views and opinions expressed are those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the Farmtopia consortium.