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.
