Aligning interoperability architectures for digital agri-food platforms

Interoperability is a critical challenge in Agri-food digitalisation, aligning with European data strategies and fostering pan-European cooperation, innovation, cost reduction, and market competition. Within the last years, the European Commission funded several projects to address interoperability in digital agriculture. We compare the projects IoF2020, ATLAS, and DEMETER which address interoperability for Agri-food systems with varying architectures and approaches, supported by the OpenDEI project. Interoperability, defined as the ability of systems to exchange and use information, encompasses multiple dimensions, including legal, organisational, semantic, and technical aspects. The analysis in this comparison focuses on the semantic and technical interoperability aspects of each project, covering architectural approaches, contextualization, marketplace functionalities, and user management and security measures. The examined projects highlight a variety of solutions, including service-oriented, data-centric, and process-oriented approaches, with the optimal choice between them remaining open, and an emphasis on the need for data consistency and plausibility. Advancements in standards and technologies, such as NGSI-LD, OGC, GAIA-X, and DSBA's implementation-driven plan, indicate a shift toward open interoperability in the broader ecosystem.