The Nordic region faces unique agricultural challenges due to diverse climates and geographies where many crops grow at the edge of their cultivation zones. The changing climate with increasingly fluctuating weather events calls for a more effective breeding of adapted crop varieties. The production systems have to adapt to the European Commission Green Deal with reductions in fertilizer and pesticide use and goals to increase organic farming land by 2030 (F2F strategy, 2020). High throughput plant phenotyping needs to be coupled with predictive modeling to accelerate the genomic selection of resilient and adapted varieties. There exists, however, a gap in knowledge and skills between plant biology/agriculture scientists and computer scientists/mathematicians. Artificial Intelligence (AI) offers new and unique possibilities for data interpretation. To enable effective AI applications in the high throughput phenotyping (HTP) data analysis and crop modeling, these interdisciplinary gaps must be bridged.
Nordic countries lead in sustainable agriculture and computer science but lack the interdisciplinary skilled workforce, shared infrastructures, and knowledge to digitalize and automate plant sciences and agricultural practices. NordPheno establishes an interdisciplinary Nordic Research Infrastructure (RI) Hub consisting of eight partners from four Nordic countries representing different climate zones and complementary disciplines. The RI Hub will strengthen knowledge exchange, facility sharing, research training and networking, thereby enhancing excellence and significance of collaboration in digitalization of plant phenomics and breeding.
NordPheno will facilitate the more effective utilization of both new and existing data in plant research and production in the Nordic region. The approach will actively integrate AI as a valuable tool in plant phenomics and directly benefit future plant breeding and the Nordic agricultural sector. Through shared infrastructure, joint training programs, and coordinated research efforts, NordPheno strengthens the Nordic scientific community and supports sustainable crop breeding. This collaboration ensures that advances in digital phenotyping, AI, edge computing and IoT technologies are effectively integrated and accessible throughout the region. Ultimately, NordPheno positions the Nordic countries as leaders in cutting-edge plant research and sustainable agricultural solutions.
