Co-creating a data-driven smart farming sensor networks for digital twin integration in Irish tillage farming

Abstract

Smart farming, integrating real-time environmental monitoring of soil and weather parameters, plays a critical role in advancing sustainable agriculture, improving productivity, and enhancing food security. In Ireland, the tillage sector supports approximately 10,000 farms contributing significantly to the national economy through cereal production. However, the sector faces mounting pressure to align with environmental regulations aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and soil and water pollution. There is a lack of established frameworks for on-farm environmental indicators monitoring. This study presents a pilot implementation of sensor-based monitoring within a Living Lab approach, emphasizing co-creation with tillage farmers. Through farmer engagement during farm visits and agricultural exhibitions, critical user requirements were identified as access to weather (64.7 %) and soil data (51.0 %), with 73.2 % preferring digital access. An Internet of Things-enabled system was deployed, capturing air temperature, humidity, and soil parameters (temperature, moisture, nutrients, electrical conductivity, and pH). The system allows for continuous, real-time data collection, overcoming limitations of traditional data acquisition methods. Data were transmitted and visualized on a web-based dashboard. The initial mean values were air temperature (11.9 °C), soil temperature (13.4 °C), humidity (70.55 %), nitrogen (10 mg/kg), phosphorus (3 mg/kg), potassium (40 mg/kg), pH (6.99), and EC (0.61 dS/m) which were within expected ranges for Irish conditions. These real-time data streams provide a foundation for digital twin development to later enable advanced analytics, predictive modelling, and informed decision-making. This pilot underscores the feasibility and value of smart farming approaches to enhance environmental compliance, sustainability, and policy alignment in Ireland’s tillage sector.