ONDO completing AgroDigiRise project, welcomes AgroDigiRise 2.0

We are proud to announce yet another completed project where ONDO played one of the major roles and significantly contributed to the large-scale success and impact.

AgroDigiRise – a project of the European Digital Innovation Hub AgroHub.bg, part of which is ONDO – started in October 2022, with the joint effort of 13 consortium members, ONDO among them. The project is co-funded by the Digital Europe Programme and by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) through the Programme for Research, Innovation and Digitalization for Intelligent Transformation 2021–2027.

The main objective of AgroDigiRise is to support farmers, SMEs, and the entire agri-ecosystem in the process of digital and “green” transformation by providing an integrated portfolio of services. The comprehensive services are tailored to the specific needs of users and are provided free of charge.
Through these services, the full cycle of support required for the transition to “smart” agriculture is covered — raising awareness about the potential of technologies, “test before invest” activities demonstrating their capabilities and benefits, improving digital skills, facilitating access to investment for technological modernization, and offering strategic planning for the development of a sustainable and competitive business.

As one of the 3 technology partners in AgroDigiRise – along with Technologica and Bevine – ONDO was in charge of building 11 demonstration points in region South Central Bulgaria, showcasing the advantages and results from using precision farming technologies. 3 of these demo points are scientific centers and 8 are farmer’s demo points – 2 greenhouse and 6 open field farms, all growing different crops – vegetables, orchards, vines, nuts, etc. (see a map of all demo points). 

ONDO automation solutions have been integrated in all 11 demo points. For the National Demo Center IZK Maritsa, ONDO also modernized the irrigation system in the greenhouse complex (see more in the video).

Following the setup and opening of all demonstration points, all consortium partners had the opportunity to organize demonstration days and trainings inside the demo points. We were happy to see also many international delegations – farmers, scientists, representatives of public institutions or the commercial sector – coming to visit the demonstration points.

39 months after the start, we can recap the results delivered by ONDO, achieved with the active support of AgroHub coordination team and all consortium partners:

• 11 demo points equipped with ONDO automation
• 6 ONDO technology webinars focusing on precision farming automation
• 3 trainings facilitated by ONDO and focused on technologies for growing specific crops as well as agromarketing
• 25+ demonstration events in the demo points, with hundreds of visitors coming to see the technologies integrated in the 11 science centers and farms, in action

All other consortium partners had their agendas full of training, information dissemination and more demo events, and it was great to see the active collaboration and involvement of everyone.

For us as a partner in AgroDigiRise, however, the major result was not the numbers. It was the satisfaction and sparkle in the eyes of the farmers, of public and private institutions joining our events, who were getting valuable practical information shared with them, who were content to see technology advancements available to them to try, test, acknowledge their results in practice, and who saw commitment and responsibility from AgroDigiRise partners to assist with applying this knowledge in practice – in their own farms, in their institutions, in further collaborations.

And, since a long-term effect cannot be achieved within a short period of time, we are happy to announce that AgroDigiRise project continues for another 3 years, starting February 2026! AgroDigiRise 2.0 as we call it will continue with delivering demonstrations at the demo network as well as trainings, but this time also showcasing the practical application and significance of new technologies like Artificial Intelligence in the agricultural sector.

Stay tuned for the announcement of the first events in the new project! As before, the participation of all events will be free of charge for farmers, SMEs, public institutions (with some formal documentation required).