Periodic Reporting for period 1 - CITRUS-PORT (Global advisory DSS platform for citrus fruit growers)
Periodo di rendicontazione: 2019-08-01 al 2020-01-31
EU agricultural sector is faced with critical issues: enormous costs of protecting crops against diseases and pests, permanent pesticide pollution of soil and groundwater, toxic residues in fruit sold for direct consumption, toxicological risks for people working in orchards. In commercial orchards it is a common practice to perform 20-25 phytosanitary sprays every season only against fungal pathogens. Each year this translates into a heavy environmental burden, with over 200-250 kg of toxic chemicals per hectare and heavy economic burden for producers, starting at approx. 1550 EUR per hectare. In face of these challenges, there is a growing demand for advisory platforms and decision support systems (DSS) to aid producers in regard to chemical protection of crops.
CITRUS-PORT is a disruptive innovation project for crop protection sector - digital tool for citrus growers that calculates and signals the right time to apply treatments to protect orchards against pests and diseases. It has potential to 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 cca. 30-40%.
Enabling our customers to conserve resources, while minimizing negative environmental consequences, significantly contributes to sustainability. Decrease in pesticide use goes hand in hand with lower toxicological and health risks for farmers as well as public. The quality of produced fruits increases, as the toxic chemical residues are reduced by cca. 60%, contributing to safety of food we all consume.
The overall target of the Innovation Project is to finalize CITRUS-PORT platform by 2022 and its launch to the global market of intelligent agriculture solutions.
CITRUS-PORT is a disruptive innovation project for crop protection sector - digital tool for citrus growers that calculates and signals the right time to apply treatments to protect orchards against pests and diseases. It has potential to 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 cca. 30-40%.
Enabling our customers to conserve resources, while minimizing negative environmental consequences, significantly contributes to sustainability. Decrease in pesticide use goes hand in hand with lower toxicological and health risks for farmers as well as public. The quality of produced fruits increases, as the toxic chemical residues are reduced by cca. 60%, contributing to safety of food we all consume.
The overall target of the Innovation Project is to finalize CITRUS-PORT platform by 2022 and its launch to the global market of intelligent agriculture solutions.
Company’s overall plan for CITRUS-PORT project has 3 phases – FS, Innovation Project and Rapid Expansion phase. During 6 months of Feasibility study our aim was to assess the technical and economic feasibility for development of digital platform CITRUS-PORT and its expansion to the global market.
The following activities were performed:
A) Extended market survey and analysis
• Task completion of information and validation of the stakeholders' needs: definition of Value chain, mapping of ecosystem, definition of stakeholders, main challenges, needs and wants of target group
• Legislation, IPR, freedom to operate
• Research of the global market and competition
B) Analysis of technological aspects for implementation
• Analysis of technical, technological, operating and other requirements for Project implementation
C) Specifying Business Model, creating detailed Business Plan and Implementation Plan for Phase 2
D) Pilot trials
• Data & feedback collection in different geographic zones for internal purposes of our R&D team
Results of Feasibility Study confirmed attractiveness of our innovation among the target groups. As result of work undertaken, the company has decided to continue in CITRUS-PORT project and has created detailed plan for Implementation with activities needed to get done to bring proposed digital tool to the market
The following activities were performed:
A) Extended market survey and analysis
• Task completion of information and validation of the stakeholders' needs: definition of Value chain, mapping of ecosystem, definition of stakeholders, main challenges, needs and wants of target group
• Legislation, IPR, freedom to operate
• Research of the global market and competition
B) Analysis of technological aspects for implementation
• Analysis of technical, technological, operating and other requirements for Project implementation
C) Specifying Business Model, creating detailed Business Plan and Implementation Plan for Phase 2
D) Pilot trials
• Data & feedback collection in different geographic zones for internal purposes of our R&D team
Results of Feasibility Study confirmed attractiveness of our innovation among the target groups. As result of work undertaken, the company has decided to continue in CITRUS-PORT project and has created detailed plan for Implementation with activities needed to get done to bring proposed digital tool to the market
Project has evolved significantly both strategic planning and in level of detail. Our objective is to launch new platform & mobile app to live operations and have a robust platform ready for global operations. To implement the plan, we estimate span of 22 months to get from TRL 7 to TRL8
Use of the platform has potential to lift heavy toxicological burden in agriculture, consequently having an extraordinary impact on the environment. By bringing growers an easy-to-use, affordable smart tool, they will be able to optimize timing of spraying and therefore radically reduce the number of treatments (by approx. 30-40%). Pesticide reduction reflects in protection of soil and lowering risk chemical leakages into underground waters which are of strong public interest and benefit to general public. Also the quality of produced fruits increases, as the toxic chemical residues are reduced by cca. 60%, contributing to safety of consumed food.
Use of the platform has potential to lift heavy toxicological burden in agriculture, consequently having an extraordinary impact on the environment. By bringing growers an easy-to-use, affordable smart tool, they will be able to optimize timing of spraying and therefore radically reduce the number of treatments (by approx. 30-40%). Pesticide reduction reflects in protection of soil and lowering risk chemical leakages into underground waters which are of strong public interest and benefit to general public. Also the quality of produced fruits increases, as the toxic chemical residues are reduced by cca. 60%, contributing to safety of consumed food.