Vision
OSTARA envisions a Mediterranean region where agroecological practices are effectively operationalized at farm level, supported by harmonized soil indicators, digital tools and participatory innovation. The project promotes sustainable soil management, climate resilience and long-term agricultural viability across diverse Mediterranean agroecosystems.
Mission
OSTARA aims to drive the transition toward sustainable and resilient Mediterranean farming systems by developing and validating an open, interoperable and energy-efficient framework for soil monitoring and agroecological data integration.
OSTARA contributes to the objectives of the EU Green Deal and the Horizon Europe Soil Mission by:
Supporting
Carbon sequestration and sustainable land management
Promoting
Mitigation of desertification and soil degradation
Enhancing
Climate resilience in arid and semi-arid Mediterranean regions
Enabling
Data-driven decision-making
Objectives
To analyze, catalogue and harmonize existing Mediterranean agroecosystem data sources and repositories, mapping research infrastructures and designing interoperable connectors.
To research and design a common ontology aimed at harmonizing agroecological soil data across countries, integrating geospatial, temporal and semantic datasets.
To ensure secure, traceable and low-consumption agronomic data management through energy-efficient Distributed Ledger Technologies.
To develop a Trustworthy AI framework based on Federated Learning to predict agroecosystem conditions in a lawful, ethical and robust manner.
To design open-source, low-cost and energy-efficient sensor kits capable of capturing physical, chemical and biological soil data, including edge computing capabilities.
To publish harmonized agroecosystem data, indicators and predictive models through an open-access portal, fostering research, policy innovation and stakeholder engagement.
To validate the OSTARA framework in relevant Mediterranean agroecosystems through Demonstration Sites and Living Labs, achieving TRL5 validation.
Innovation beyond State of the Art
OSTARA advances beyond current agroecological and digital farming initiatives by integrating real-time soil diagnostics, harmonized cross-border data structures and Explainable Federated Learning models within a cohesive and participatory framework.
Unlike fragmented monitoring approaches, OSTARA combines technological innovation with farmer-centred co-creation, ensuring ethical robustness, transparency, energy efficiency and practical applicability in smallholder and Mediterranean contexts.
Digital Twins
State of the Art
Virtual representations of physical systems used for monitoring and optimization.
Ostara
Application of Digital Twins to simulate agroecological practices, supporting irrigation optimization, soil health management and sustainable crop planning.
Trustworthy AI
State of the Art
AI systems often prioritize performance over transparency and contextual adaptation.
Ostara
Domain-specific Trustworthy AI framework aligned with EU Ethics Guidelines, embedding data sovereignty, environmental ethics and participatory validation.
Explainable AI
State of the Art
Black-box AI models with limited usability for farmers.
Ostara
Transparent models using interpretable logic and visual explanations to bridge digital tools and real-world agroecological decision-making.
Prediction of Soil Carbon Sequestration
State of the Art
Traditional SOC models (e.g., RothC) combined with limited AI support.
Ostara
Explainable AI-based predictive models for soil carbon sequestration under different agricultural and forestry practices.
Green Distributed Ledger Technologies
State of the Art
Blockchain-based traceability with high energy consumption.
Ostara
Low-power Distributed Ledger Technologies ensuring data integrity and traceability with reduced environmental footprint.
Federated Learning and Farming Systems
State of the Art
Centralized model training with data-sharing constraints.
Ostara
Federated Learning for distributed, privacy-preserving predictive model training across Mediterranean environments.
Internet of Things and Edge Computing
State of the Art
Cloud-dependent IoT systems with connectivity challenges.
Ostara
Low-cost Edge-IoT framework enabling local processing, reduced energy consumption and resilience in low-connectivity rural areas.