Author: Mirek Brabec (CZU)
European farmers need digital solutions that are truly sustainable, meaning economically viable, environmentally sound, and socially acceptable. The CODECS project is developing tools to ensure agricultural sustainability, and 2025 has brought the biggest advances so far.
Environmental Footprint Calculator
The Environmental Footprint Calculator (EFC) made the largest leap forward. Real-time data from soil, leaf, and water sensors is now integrated with 20 % higher accuracy. The interface, rebuilt in React/Next.js, offers interactive dashboards, heatmaps, bar charts, and scenario comparisons that even non-experts can understand immediately.
In the Slovenian Doppler vineyards, the tool was rolled out to 15 producers (up from 10). Early calculations indicate an 18% overall footprint reduction in the digital scenario, with particularly strong gains in ozone depletion (−12%), marine acidification (−10%), and water use (−15%). These are promising indications, although fuel use and soil degradation remain challenges that require further attention.
Economic Cost Calculator
The Economic Cost Calculator (ECC) expanded its database with real cost figures from 20 Living Labs and received the same modern interface upgrade. Users can now adjust variables and view instant ROI projections, cash-flow graphs, and cost-breakdown charts.
Full precision still depends on collecting the remaining cost-benefit data from several Living Labs; however, the structure is now in place for reliable economic assessments as soon as the necessary inputs arrive.
Technology Assessment Tool
The Technology Assessment Tool (TAT) now contains 92 thoroughly evaluated digital solutions. The scoring system was refined with the Entropy Weight Method and TOPSIS, validated by additional experts, and tested with 50 farmers and advisors. An online platform lets users enter their own farm priorities and receive ranked technology recommendations within seconds.
Multicriteria Assessment Tool
The Multicriteria Assessment Tool (MAT) focused on stakeholder workshops in 2025. Ten concrete sustainability scenarios were defined, and criteria for economic, social, and environmental performance were agreed. The next step, weighting with Analytic Hierarchy Process and ranking with TOPSIS, is scheduled for early 2026.
Towards practical application
The four tools are now fully web-based, mobile-friendly, and run on the same modern React/Next.js stack. They have clearly progressed from early prototypes to advanced, functional versions that already produce useful outputs in the Living Labs.
However, they are not yet complete, validated, or publicly released. Important data gaps remain (especially in the Economic Cost Calculator), some algorithms still need final calibration, and full-scale field validation is ongoing.
The results achieved in 2025 nevertheless show strong potential: once the remaining work is completed, these tools will be able to provide farmers, advisors, and policymakers with reliable, evidence-based support for sustainable digitalization decisions.
