USability of Environmentally sound and Reliable techniques in Precision Agriculture

Project information

USability of Environmentally sound and Reliable techniques in Precision Agriculture

Call: ICT and Automation for a Greener Agriculture

Id: 14308

Acronym: USER-PA

Duration: 
1 March, 2013 to 29 February, 2016

Consortium:
No Partner Contact Country Total
1000€
Funded
1000€
Funder
1 Coord.The Volcani Center
Gilat Research Center
Agricultural Research Organization
Victor AlchanatisIsrael128.098.0Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development
2Group Leader Sensor Development and Application
Leibniz Institute for Agricultural Engineering
Manuela ZudeGermany159.0129.0Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture
3Mechanical Engineering Department
Faculty of Engineering
Agricultural Engineering
Adnan Menderes University
Ismail BOGREKCITurkey93.093.0Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey
4Case Postale 1148
Route de Duillier 50
University of Applied Sciences: Western Switzerland
Dominique FleurySwitzerland100.0100.0Federal Office for Agriculture - Bundesamt für Landwirtschaft
5Laboratory of Machines and Automation
Division of Agricultural Structures and Agricultural Machinery
Department of Natural Resources Management and Agricultural Engineering
Agricultural University of Athens
Spyros FountasGreece119.0107.0Managing Authority of the Rural Development Plan
Ministry of Rural Development & Food
6Harper Adams University CollegeSimon BlackmoreUnited Kingdom102.8102.8Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
7Milan
Dipartimento di Fisica
Politecnico di Milano
Alessandro TorricelliItaly33.015.0Ministry of Agriculture Food, Forestry & Tourism Policies
8Department of Food and Resource Economics, University of Copenhagen
Faculty of Life Sciences
University of Copenhagen
Soren Marcus PedersenDenmark118.0103.0Danish Agency for Science and Higher Education
Ministry of Higher Education and Science
9Group Laser Sensors
Business Area Diode Lasers
Ferdinand-Braun-Institut, Leibniz Institut f
Bernd SumpfGermany129.0129.0Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture


Summary: 

The main objective of USER-PA is to develop and demonstrate an integrated and reliable Precision Agriculture solution for orchards and vineyards considering spatial information on irrigation and harvest management. 

USER-PA proposes a conceptual framework, an innovative technical architecture, and the enabling technologies that will allow to integrate canopy and fruit sensors with mobile and static data acquisition systems, and farm management information systems, targeting a system that will serve farmers.

Impact: 

The USER-PA project implements a technological architecture for precision agriculture (precision fruticulture and viticulture). Plant data is acquired from crown and fruit sensors that run by means of autonomous platforms and are connected by wireless sensor networks (WSNs). The acquisition of information is done in a spatially resolved farm management information system (FMIS). Economic evaluation was integrated into the project from the beginning. The expected outcome of an integrated system that incorporates a number of sensing techniques and a web-based FMIS that enables farmers to manage their crop was achieved with demonstration of the canopy–fruit sensor and FMIS. USER-PA showed the potential of providing farmers with quantitative information to decide upon optimal harvest timing and irrigation, while fruit quality and production remained effective. Partners’ comprehensive collaboration during field campaigns acted as a project interworkshop and led to integration and assimilation of sensor data into the FMIS. The robot prototype developed by the USER-PA project is the only autonomous tractor in the UK that meets all current health and safety standards and complies with the new ISO standards. The website developed can take data from the tractor into the cloud in real time (http://pafmis.com/).

Outputs: 

The system will integrate sensing methods, along with an appropriate platform that carries the sensors and gathers the data, and a system that analyses and presents the information prior to irrigation and harvesting during the growth season to the farmer.

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