Narrowing Farmland Biodiversity Knowledge Gaps with Digital Agriculture

Ruben Remelgado, Michael Beckmann, Vítězslav Moudrý, Elisa Padulosi, Michela Perrone, Petteri Vihervaara, Christopher Marrs, Anette Etner, Duccio Rocchini, Anna F. Cord

Digital Agriculture – broadly defined as the use of digital technologies and data to manage and optimize agricultural production systems – holds significant but largely untapped potential for biodiversity monitoring. Both fields share many (semi-)automated data collection technologies, analytical methods and workflows, but remain largely disconnected - and are sometimes even perceived as incompatible - in research, education and practice. Here, we explore how existing data streams from Digital Agriculture can directly contribute with primary biodiversity data required by policy-relevant applications, linking them to the Essential Biodiversity Variables framework. We discuss the benefits of this integration, its challenges, and outline pathways for its adoption with respect to ongoing advances in biodiversity science and policy. This integration could improve the precision of biodiversity conservation in farmland, and accelerate transitions to sustainable agriculture – an urgent priority to safeguard nature and its contribution to people.