Decision support tool reduces pesticides, boosts crop performance and yields economic gains A crop protection approach called integrated pest management (IPM) is complex, and farmers require decision support systems to assist them in making the best choices about plant protection measures. An EU initiative has designed a decision support tool that provides accurate, farm-specific information to farmers on plant protection actions to be performed based on farm conditions. Climate Change and Environment Food and Natural Resources Health © Fotokostic, Shutterstock The continuously growing need for agricultural production is paradoxically combined with limited soil and natural resource availability and unfavourable climatic conditions. Crop farmers struggle against this reality. On the one hand, they are being driven to shift towards greater sustainability, especially by reducing the use of pesticides, fertilisers and water. On the other, global markets demand an increase in production. The EU-funded DESSA project “provides real-time and accurate information to support farmers’ decisions concerning the correct timing in pesticide use in order to reduce the number of applications without compromising crop quality and yield,” says coordinator Giuseppe Mazzoli, CEO of coordinating company 3CiME. A 2009 EU directive on achieving the sustainable use of pesticides incorporates IPM. This farming system has been compulsory in the EU since 2014. IPM is regarded as key to the sustainable intensification of crop production and pesticide risk reduction. In IPM, all plant protection measures are considered jointly with the necessary actions that prevent pest population growth. However, implementing this holistic approach to sustainable agriculture can be difficult to manage. Web-based decision support system for optimised crop protection measures Project partners developed a decision support system that’s based on the Internet of things and consists of sensors installed on a farm that measure key parameters such as pest/spore presence, humidity and moisture. These parameters are inputted into a cloud-based software built during the project that incorporates plant models. The software is comprised of algorithms that process the data. The exact measures that must be taken based on each farm’s circumstances are sent to farmers in real time via smart devices. “The system improves farmers’ decision-making in crop protection, reducing crop production costs and boosting crop sustainability and production quality,” explains Mazzoli. The decision support system is user-friendly and addresses the agricultural sector’s reluctance to incorporate digital solutions because it has been developed in close cooperation with farmers and cooperatives. It is also fully aligned with the EU directive since it engages farmers in practices with limited risk on human health and the environment, and gives priority to low pesticide input. Boosting crop yield and quality while reducing resource consumption In a 1-ha tomato field in Italy, the DESSA team installed and successfully validated the prototype. Results showed a crop yield increase of 15 %, a pesticide reduction of 30 % and an overall reduction in production costs by 16 %. In the 6 months following DESSA’s completion in mid-2019, the consortium has been extensively spreading technology knowledge to farmers. Smart farming, and especially precision crop farming that was a focus of the project, has wide-ranging applications. The precision crop farming market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 12 % between 2018 and 2026. Its value surpassed EUR 4 billion in 2018, and is expected to reach EUR 7 billion by 2026. “The DESSA decision support tool is the first system to integrate sensors in fields with cloud-based analytic software that uses advanced crop-specific plant models for a wide range of fruits and vegetables,” concludes Mazzoli. “Farmers will need less time to monitor diseases in the field, use pesticides in a more sustainable way and watch their profits increase.” Keywords DESSA, crop, farmers, pesticide, IPM, decision support system, plant protection, agriculture
