The second FAIRagro Use Case call was a complete success – with a total of 16 proposals submitted, not only in terms of quantity, but above all in terms of quality: many of the proposals were characterized by high scientific quality and relevance to central challenges of research data management (RDM) in agricultural research.
Focus on key RDM challenges
The submitted use cases address important needs that are central to the processing of urgent agricultural science issues – especially with regard to
- FAIRification and AI-readiness of image-based data
- Cross-domain harmonization of heterogeneous data
- Automated FAIR data workflows.
- FAIR annotation and reusability of spatial modeling products
- Standardization of data and metadata in livestock research
RDM challenges from neighboring disciplines such as forestry and animal sciences were also identified – a significant impetus for the further development of FAIRagro.
Two new Use Cases with a strong interdisciplinary focus
It was not easy for the decision-making committee – ultimately, two use cases with a strong inter-consortial and interdisciplinary focus will be funded in this round:
“Agri-Gaia meets DataHUB: Connecting Technologies & Communities via a Potato Virus Dataset FAIRification” – Osnabrück University of Applied Sciences (HSOS)
This use case promotes cooperation with the NFDI consortia DataPLANT and NFDI4Biodiversity and links FAIRagro with other initiatives such as Agri-Gaia and AgriDataSpace.
“Unlocking Multifunctional Insights with Near-Surface Geophysical Data Harmonization in Agriculture” – Umweltforschungszentrum (UFZ)
An interdisciplinary showcase developed in close collaboration with NFDI4Objects and NFDI4Earth (LoI).
Perspective: Strengthening collaboration & expanding the community
Even if not all applications could be funded, it is a central concern of ours to intensify the exchange with other institutions – especially with regard to neighboring disciplines and domains such as animal and forest sciences.
We hope to gain some of the applicants as FAIRagro Associated Partners in order to integrate their needs and expertise into the further development of our infrastructures and services in the long term. The goal remains to jointly shape the cultural change towards an open, cooperative and FAIR data practice for the entire agricultural science community.
We look forward to working with our two new use cases – welcome!