What is NFDI4Agri?
NFDI4Agri sets up a flexible, interoperable and scalable data infrastructure by connecting available disciplinary repositories, thereby making publicly funded yet isolated research data interdisciplinarily and sustainably available for the long term. Educational responsibilities are assumed by transferring RDM knowledge to the next generation of agricultural scientists. Research data quality is ensured via domain-specific measures of data quality control and curation systems. The evaluation of the data fitness-for-use is an important quality feature for promoting future data reuse. Privacy and ethical standards will be developed, for balancing the interests of authors and users of agricultural data, including guidelines for handling sensi-tive spatial data.
FAIRagro - FAIR Datainfrastructure for Agrosystems
In NFDI4Agri, an initiative has been founded that aims to establish a corresponding research data infrastructure (RDI) for the field of agrosystems research. Many partners of NFDI4Agri have come together here and are working together on an NFDI application. The goal is to initially establish an RDI for the area of agrosystems research. However, building on the experience and services gained in FAIRagro, mechanisms will be established in FAIRagro to integrate other areas as well.
Our objectives are ...
... to develop a networked, flexible, interoperable and scalable research data infrastructure by networking existing subject-specific infrastructures taking into account the Research Data Commons.
... to establish of participatory processes to involve agricultural scientists in the development of infrastructure services and to promote their acceptance and thus their use.
... to ensure the quality of research data through domain-specific quality control measures and the establishment of a quality feedback and curation system.
... to develop privacy and ethical standards and guidelines for handling sensitive data to protect the interests of landowners, authors, and downstream users of data.
NFDI4Agri aims to meet the needs of the agricultural research community by networking discipline-specific, agricultural and soil science repositories in order to make research data available and reusable across disciplines.
Priorities of Agricultural Sciences
Agriculture is central to all people. One focus of agricultural research is on ensuring food security through resource-efficient, sustainable food production (bioeconomy). As agricultural land is finite and competition with feed, bioenergy and raw material production becomes more important, food production per unit area must continue to increase in the future. Agricultural research develops and investigates strategies to increase production while preserving the ecosystem services of the soil as well as the accompanying landscape compartments water, biodiversity and climate in the long term ('sustainable land-use intensification').
Agricultural science covers a broad and heterogeneous field of research disciplines relevant for the 'NFDI4Agri' consortium such as soil science, plant and animal production, agricultural economics and -sociology, and plant physiology. Current research questions deal with the impact of land use change and intensification on soil functions, plant development and production, the development of resistant seeds, the accurate application of fertilizers and pesticides (precision farming), the protection of biodiversity in agricultural landscapes, the development of adaptation strategies to climate change, studies of nutrient cycles, and improvement of animal welfare.