Periodic Reporting for period 1 - EO4AGRI (Bringing together the Knowledge for Better Agriculture Monitoring)
Reporting period: 2018-11-01 to 2020-10-31
The main target of the Copernicus evolution research project EO4AGRI is the preparation of the European capacity for improving operational agriculture monitoring from local to global levels. Thus, EO4AGRI enlarged and further systematized the identified gaps related to the utilisation of EO in AgriFood, related public services and needs of the financial sector, including international policy and coordination programmes.
The following related sectors were analysed in depth:
- The implementation of the EU Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) with special attention to the CAP2020 reform, to requirements of Paying Agencies, and for the Integrated Administration and Control System (IACS) processes.
- EO4AGRI works with farmers, farmer associations and agri-food industry on specifications of data-driven farming services with focus on increasing the utilization of EC investments into Copernicus Data and Information Services (DIAS).
- EO4AGRI addresses global food security challenges coordinated within the G20 Global Agricultural Monitoring initiative (GEOGLAM) capitalizing on Copernicus Open Data as input.
- EO4AGRI assesses information about land-use and agricultural service needs and offers to financial investors and insurances and the potential added value of fuelling those services with Copernicus information.
The EO4AGRI project methodology is a combination of community building; service gap analysis; technology watch and dissemination activities (including organization of hackathons).
The following related sectors were analysed in depth:
- The implementation of the EU Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) with special attention to the CAP2020 reform, to requirements of Paying Agencies, and for the Integrated Administration and Control System (IACS) processes.
- EO4AGRI works with farmers, farmer associations and agri-food industry on specifications of data-driven farming services with focus on increasing the utilization of EC investments into Copernicus Data and Information Services (DIAS).
- EO4AGRI addresses global food security challenges coordinated within the G20 Global Agricultural Monitoring initiative (GEOGLAM) capitalizing on Copernicus Open Data as input.
- EO4AGRI assesses information about land-use and agricultural service needs and offers to financial investors and insurances and the potential added value of fuelling those services with Copernicus information.
The EO4AGRI project methodology is a combination of community building; service gap analysis; technology watch and dissemination activities (including organization of hackathons).
1. User Requirements & GAP analysis
The process of obtaining information from stakeholders was carried out through the study of several sources, including past and present EU research projects, our own experience with the information market in the field of precision agriculture and, the organization of seminars, workshops and hackathons. The project has also carried out an assessment of existing requirements available from more than 100 ESA and EU H2020 projects concerning usage of EO in agriculture (i.e. EUXDAT, NIVA, DEMETER, DIONE, PREMIA, etc.).
2. Scientific & Technical support actions to improve Copernicus' ability for Agriculture
Based on the user requirements and gap analysis, EO4AGRI synthesized and detailed ways to improve Copernicus’ ability to support different domains:
• precision agriculture
• the monitoring of crop extension and composition
• the monitoring of hydrological stress and water needs for irrigation
• the forecast of agricultural yields from local and national up to global scale
• the assessment of crop diseases and nutrient deficiency in the light of different scenarios regarding the availability of additional complementary data from space (e.g. meteorological data), along required accompanying scientific and technical support measures.
An in-depth literature research was conducted for more than a dozen individual use cases. These reflect the state-of-the art assessment of published literature, ongoing projects and initiatives and most recent developments in specific conferences. Various technical recommendations include but are not limited to the need for provision of field in-situ, better data fusion techniques and easier access to meteorological data.
From an ICT point of view, the following tasks were performed:
• Deep understanding from comparative assessment of the DIAS offerings and of the state of the underlying cloud infrastructure
• Over 50 interviews conducted with Start-up initiatives in agricultural sector regarding business cases and the role/importance of technology for the expected success
• Study and assessment of service technology as offered by the five Copernicus DIAS
From a sensors/data point of view, the current and future EO missions relevant for the agriculture applications were analysed and recommendations were extracted.
3. End-to-end Operational System Assessment for Future Operational ICT Systems using Copernicus Products in Support of Agriculture
• Elaboration of a Common Architecture for the entire end-to-end operational systems including the overall Copernicus System Components (space and service components) and the different and specific agriculture applications, analysing the different system viewpoints detailed in the GIGAS methodology.
• A “System Watch and Catalogue”, to reference EO and Agriservice systems and related components, developed as part of the DIAS Mundi framework.
• Provision of specific guidelines for software architects, software analysts and software developers interested in developing applications and solutions focused on agriculture domain to achieve a more uniform style across system design, code bases and interfaces.
4. Recommendations
Based on the EO4AGRI project’s findings, two key reports were produced at the end of the project, providing final recommendations with respect to future analysis and research and policy review with special focus on CAP.
The process of obtaining information from stakeholders was carried out through the study of several sources, including past and present EU research projects, our own experience with the information market in the field of precision agriculture and, the organization of seminars, workshops and hackathons. The project has also carried out an assessment of existing requirements available from more than 100 ESA and EU H2020 projects concerning usage of EO in agriculture (i.e. EUXDAT, NIVA, DEMETER, DIONE, PREMIA, etc.).
2. Scientific & Technical support actions to improve Copernicus' ability for Agriculture
Based on the user requirements and gap analysis, EO4AGRI synthesized and detailed ways to improve Copernicus’ ability to support different domains:
• precision agriculture
• the monitoring of crop extension and composition
• the monitoring of hydrological stress and water needs for irrigation
• the forecast of agricultural yields from local and national up to global scale
• the assessment of crop diseases and nutrient deficiency in the light of different scenarios regarding the availability of additional complementary data from space (e.g. meteorological data), along required accompanying scientific and technical support measures.
An in-depth literature research was conducted for more than a dozen individual use cases. These reflect the state-of-the art assessment of published literature, ongoing projects and initiatives and most recent developments in specific conferences. Various technical recommendations include but are not limited to the need for provision of field in-situ, better data fusion techniques and easier access to meteorological data.
From an ICT point of view, the following tasks were performed:
• Deep understanding from comparative assessment of the DIAS offerings and of the state of the underlying cloud infrastructure
• Over 50 interviews conducted with Start-up initiatives in agricultural sector regarding business cases and the role/importance of technology for the expected success
• Study and assessment of service technology as offered by the five Copernicus DIAS
From a sensors/data point of view, the current and future EO missions relevant for the agriculture applications were analysed and recommendations were extracted.
3. End-to-end Operational System Assessment for Future Operational ICT Systems using Copernicus Products in Support of Agriculture
• Elaboration of a Common Architecture for the entire end-to-end operational systems including the overall Copernicus System Components (space and service components) and the different and specific agriculture applications, analysing the different system viewpoints detailed in the GIGAS methodology.
• A “System Watch and Catalogue”, to reference EO and Agriservice systems and related components, developed as part of the DIAS Mundi framework.
• Provision of specific guidelines for software architects, software analysts and software developers interested in developing applications and solutions focused on agriculture domain to achieve a more uniform style across system design, code bases and interfaces.
4. Recommendations
Based on the EO4AGRI project’s findings, two key reports were produced at the end of the project, providing final recommendations with respect to future analysis and research and policy review with special focus on CAP.
The outputs of the four communities considered by EO4AGRI, together with the insights gathered by the project across its multiple activities are integrated into a set of key documents that represent the main outcomes of the project:
1. The white paper presents the vision of the EO4Agri consortium about the role of Earth observations in agriculture. The increasing economic, social, and environmental needs of agriculture pose many challenges for the upcoming years. This topic is closely related to the strategies of the United Nations (17 Sustainable Development Goals in 2015 as part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development) and the European Union (European Green Deal - a roadmap to make the European economy sustainable).This white paper aims to stress the importance of knowledge management for agriculture to address these challenges. The white paper focuses on the definition of key problems, analysis data gaps, delivery platforms, analytical platforms, and final recommendations for future policies and financing.
2. The policy roadmap serves aims at boosting the usage of Copernicus data at EU and country levels. This document comprises main three parts:
• Identification of currently existing issues and gaps related to stakeholders concerns, political disagreement and value conflicts: analysis of legislative gaps in the existing related EU acquis from the perspective of different stakeholders, based also on the outputs from the User requirements & gap analysis and the Community building & Networking.
• Defining actions and solutions how Copernicus could improve CAP, i.e. defining synergies between technical and political actions and solutions contributing to further improvement of CAP by utilizing advantages of Copernicus programme instruments.
• Providing recommendations on how the Copernicus programme could affect and improve the future CAP development by identifying, analyzing and evaluating the research gaps regarding integration/assimilation/utilization of space-based data for agriculture monitoring at European, Member State and farmer levels.
3. The EO4Agri Strategic Research Agenda (SRA) is a set of recommendations for future research activities in the area of Earth observation for agriculture. The core of the document includes a list of recommendations for future activities in the Group on Earth Observations (GEO), Horizon Europe (Annex 4 and Annex 6) and the Digital Europe programmes. The recommendations are based on the findings of the project - which are important to consider in updating the future programmes.
1. The white paper presents the vision of the EO4Agri consortium about the role of Earth observations in agriculture. The increasing economic, social, and environmental needs of agriculture pose many challenges for the upcoming years. This topic is closely related to the strategies of the United Nations (17 Sustainable Development Goals in 2015 as part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development) and the European Union (European Green Deal - a roadmap to make the European economy sustainable).This white paper aims to stress the importance of knowledge management for agriculture to address these challenges. The white paper focuses on the definition of key problems, analysis data gaps, delivery platforms, analytical platforms, and final recommendations for future policies and financing.
2. The policy roadmap serves aims at boosting the usage of Copernicus data at EU and country levels. This document comprises main three parts:
• Identification of currently existing issues and gaps related to stakeholders concerns, political disagreement and value conflicts: analysis of legislative gaps in the existing related EU acquis from the perspective of different stakeholders, based also on the outputs from the User requirements & gap analysis and the Community building & Networking.
• Defining actions and solutions how Copernicus could improve CAP, i.e. defining synergies between technical and political actions and solutions contributing to further improvement of CAP by utilizing advantages of Copernicus programme instruments.
• Providing recommendations on how the Copernicus programme could affect and improve the future CAP development by identifying, analyzing and evaluating the research gaps regarding integration/assimilation/utilization of space-based data for agriculture monitoring at European, Member State and farmer levels.
3. The EO4Agri Strategic Research Agenda (SRA) is a set of recommendations for future research activities in the area of Earth observation for agriculture. The core of the document includes a list of recommendations for future activities in the Group on Earth Observations (GEO), Horizon Europe (Annex 4 and Annex 6) and the Digital Europe programmes. The recommendations are based on the findings of the project - which are important to consider in updating the future programmes.