The main focus of the GUARDIANS initiative “Smart Solutions To Empower Smal and Medium Sized Farms as a GUARDIANS of the territory” is on the understanding the challenges faced by small and medium sized farms in their daily activities and proposes. By using innovative digital solutions, the project aspires to overcome them and bridge the technological gap between small and large farms.

Solutions to be proposed during the project implementation will help new farming approaches to become more sustainable. Not only from the monetary perspective, but also environmentally and socially. By the time the GUARDIANS initiative will have finished, the farms will be more productive and resilient to eventual close downs.

A set of nine digital innovative solutions clustered in three categories will be tested in four testbeds. Moreover, they will be also piloted in at least 22 small and medium sized farms, reaching the total of 95 farmers through the rollout and replication phase.

Project objectives:

• provision of a tailored set of digital innovative solutions;
• demonstration of a methodological framework to increase the acceptance rates of digital technologies and digital maturity of farmers;
• definition of clear pathways towards more sustainable, productive and resilient agricultural business.
• set-up of governance models targeting at the adoption of environmentally friendly farming approaches to leverage the use of innovative digital technologies by farmers;
• implementation of the concept “one stop shop” under the umbrella of existing farming cooperatives, communities or associations to foster technological innovation for small and medium – sized farms;
• valorization of the environmental and social impact of new farming approaches; certificates of sustainable actions increasing the positive environmental impact of the small and medium – sized farms
• fostering a cascading grant mechanism.

The project is coordinated by Fundacion CTIC Centro Tecnologico Para el Desarrollo Asturias de las Tecnologias de la Informacion (CTIC). The project consortium consists of PEDAL Consulting and 21 partners from Spain, Lithuania, Norway, Italy, Sweden, Portugal, Czechia, Ireland.