OpenAgri Pest & Disease Management Service: Predicting Risks, Protecting Crops
Managing uncertainty in a changing climate
Few challenges in farming are as persistent, or as unpredictable, as pest and disease outbreaks. They can spread rapidly, reduce yields, and disrupt entire production cycles. As climate patterns shift and growing seasons lengthen, these risks are becoming harder to anticipate with traditional methods alone. Farmers increasingly need digital tools that help them move from reacting to problems toward preventing them.
That’s the purpose of the OpenAgri Pest & Disease Management Service. Designed as a modular, open-source decision-support tool, it helps farmers and advisors estimate the probability of pest or disease outbreaks based on real-time data and field observations. By combining environmental monitoring, crop-specific rules, and predictive logic, the service transforms scattered data into early warnings and actionable insights.
From field conditions to risk predictions
The Pest & Disease Management Service works by analysing a range of relevant variables such as weather conditions, crop type, growth stage, and scouting observations. These parameters are used to calculate the likelihood of infestation or infection. The system doesn’t rely on a single algorithm, instead, it provides a framework that can host different rule-based models tailored to local pests and diseases.
In its first implementation, the service focuses on environmental conditions such as temperature and humidity, factors that heavily influence pest behaviour and disease development. Farmers or advisors can define custom rules that reflect the specific thresholds known to trigger outbreaks. For instance, a combination of high humidity and moderate temperature over several days might indicate a favourable environment for fungal diseases.
When these defined conditions are met, the system automatically notifies the user, allowing them to take preventive action before the issue spreads.
Open, adaptable, and reusable
True to OpenAgri’s philosophy, the Pest & Disease Management Service is open, interoperable, and reusable. It provides access through a REST API and delivers data in linked-data format (JSON-LD) compliant with the OpenAgri Common Semantic Model (OCSM). This ensures that risk predictions can be integrated directly into other digital services within the OpenAgri ecosystem, such as the Farm Calendar or the Reporting Service.
Because the service is modular, it can be easily adapted to new crops, pests, or regions. Farmers and developers can define additional rules, share models, or combine multiple conditions to refine predictions. Over time, this creates a growing library of pest and disease profiles built collaboratively across Europe.
Practical benefits for farmers and advisors
Early detection and informed decision-making bring clear advantages on the ground. For farmers, being able to predict when and where pests are likely to appear means fewer unnecessary treatments and more targeted interventions. This not only reduces costs but also lowers the environmental impact of crop protection.
For advisors and cooperatives, the service offers a way to support multiple farms efficiently. By aggregating data and running localised risk analyses, they can issue tailored recommendations to farmers while building a broader picture of regional pest dynamics.
A step toward sustainable and data-driven plant protection
The OpenAgri Pest & Disease Management Service directly supports the EU’s push toward sustainable and precise use of plant protection products. By promoting preventive rather than reactive action, it aligns with the objectives of the European Green Deal and the Farm to Fork strategy to reduce pesticide use and environmental footprint.
At the same time, the service contributes to building trust in digital agriculture. Its open-source foundation ensures transparency in how data is used and how rules are applied, while interoperability allows users to remain in control of their systems and data.
Continuous evolution through collaboration
The service is not static, it evolves with the needs of the farming community. As more pilots test the tool across different crops and regions, new rule sets and pest models will be added. Researchers can contribute algorithms, and developers can extend the API, creating a living resource that grows through collaboration.
Ultimately, the goal is to make pest and disease management smarter, not harder. By combining openness, science, and farmer insight, the OpenAgri Pest & Disease Management Service helps transform scattered observations into shared knowledge, protecting crops, improving sustainability, and supporting a new generation of data-driven farming.