CA25121 - Harnessing AI for Responsive, Valuable, and Efficient Sustainable Technologies (HARVEST)

The HARVEST COST Action will support AI-driven agricultural innovation across Europe by addressing the urgent challenge of climate change and its impact on crop productivity. The Action brings together a critical mass of researchers, farmers, data scientists, and industry stakeholders to standardise and integrate fragmented crop data (starting with barley) to enable predictive modelling and automated decision-making. By developing best-practice guidelines, open-access platforms, and community resources, HARVEST will build research capacity, foster cross-disciplinary collaboration, and support the development of AI recommender systems tailored to local climate conditions.

Climate unpredictability threatens food security and farmer livelihoods. To counter this, HARVEST will promote resilient data stewardship and FAIR-compliant standards to ensure agricultural data is accessible, interoperable, and AI-ready. The Action aligns with EU priorities including the Farm to Fork Strategy and Digital Europe Programme, contributing directly to sustainable farming and digital transformation goals.

HARVEST will organise workshops, training schools, short-term scientific missions, and collaborative events across five Working Groups focused on omics, phenomics, AI tools, dissemination, and coordination. These efforts will empower stakeholders to co-design solutions, unlock new funding opportunities, and build a future-proof agricultural data ecosystem.