Project description
Online advice for citrus fruit growers
Growing oranges and lemons are big business. In terms of international trade, citrus fruits are the highest-value. About 70 % of total citrus production is in the Northern Hemisphere, particularly in countries around the Mediterranean and the United States, while Brazil is the largest producer. From bloom to harvesting, however, citrus fruit crops are threatened by pathogens. The EU-funded CITRUS-PORT project is developing the first global digital advisory platform for citrus fruit. It will produce personalised advice on when and how to treat orchards against disease and pests to decrease the use of pesticides. Unique causal algorithms have been developed, and CITRUS-PORT seeks to become a globally disruptive innovation, universally applicable thanks to cloud-based software as a service (SaaS).
Objective
European commercial fruit orchards are faced with critical issue: 20-25 chemical sprays performed every season only against fungal pathogens translate into 200-250 kg of toxic chemicals per hectare, polluting the environment and financially burdening producers. EU Member States seek to reduce reliance on pesticides while ensuring the competitiveness of this sector. There is a high demand for IPM innovations and Decision Support Systems that would aid producers in protecting their crops.
Drawbacks of currently available solutions create immense business opportunity for our project, which aims to revolutionize the field of IPM with its disruptive innovation - advisory platform CITRUS-PORT. It will become the first global digital advisory platform for citrus fruit segment, as market is currently missing any comprehensive solution for this crop. It will provide citrus growers with personalized advice on when and how to treat their orchards against diseases and pests, in order to increase efficiency and decrease pesticide use by 30-40%. Enabling our customers to conserve resources, while minimizing negative environmental consequences, significantly contributes to sustainable agriculture. The quality of produced fruits increases, as the toxic residues are reduced by 60%, contributing to safety of the EU food chain.
CITRUS-PORT has potential to be global disruptive innovation as it is universally applicable not only within the whole EU, but worldwide, thanks to state-of-art technical solution (Cloud Software as a service - SaaS application) and unique causal algorithms developed during more than 20 years research work. Our solution is unparalleled as its algorithms are based on novel approach to understanding development cycles. That is why our customers can take measures at specific time, before disease symptoms become visible, at which point treatments becomes more costly and complicated.
Fields of science
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
SME-1 - SME instrument phase 1Coordinator
811 02 BRATISLAVA
Slovakia
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.