GAIA has completed its first development cycle and has moved into the deployment phase at the GGS almond plantation in Salamanca.
The first three months focused on building the technical foundation. The project refined the system architecture, analysed the pilot farm environment, mapped the existing sensor infrastructure and prepared the integration approach with Farmtopia reusable components. This work created the basis for moving from a prototype into real farm operation.
The deployment phase now focuses on making GAIA usable in the farmer’s daily decision context. The system is being configured to bring together soil and environmental sensor data, weather information, Earth Observation layers, field visualisation and AI-based recommendations.
The first operational priority is irrigation-related decision support. This was selected because irrigation is one of the most relevant controllable factors in almond farming, especially under variable weather and water-availability conditions. The GAIA workflow is designed to help the farmer review field status, understand the recommendation, check the data behind it and decide whether to act, adjust or override the recommendation.
The project is also maintaining a human-in-the-loop approach. AI outputs are presented as decision support, not as autonomous control. This is important for trust, transparency and practical adoption by small and medium-sized farms.
During the next months, GAIA will be reviewed with the farmer, refined through feedback and demonstrated in the operational pilot context.
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.