Research project Precision agriculture and efficient data use in fruit growing and arable farming

General introduction

The Interreg Vl-NL project ADaM&PreciLa, an acronym for ‘Agri-DataManagement & PrecisieLandbouw’ (agri-datamanagement and precision agriculture), aims at stimulating the use of precision agriculture techniques in fruit growing and arable farming. In the background are the major challenges of Flemish and Dutch agriculture, such as profitability, environmental and climate pressure, social pressure, growing farm sizes. These challenges make management more complex. More and more sensors and associated data collections are being deployed. The use of this as yet underutilized data can be more efficient, and broader - with the help from the right precision agriculture processes.

Research approach

In the first phase, using existing and newly developed sensors, data are generated. This raw data is then made applicable in the form of task maps and models. Based on this technological process, various cultivation measures in the field are intelligently translated into actions in the field through precision farming machines. Adequate data management is required for smooth processing of the collected data. This is why the project partners are working on expanding the existing platforms in fruit growing and arable farming, with functions necessary to optimize data interpretation and enable standardized data exchange. Finally, to put precision farming into practice, economic and technical analyses are carried out so that farmers can understand the associated investment and operating costs versus the potential additional yield and value of the data.

Relevance/Valorization

The ADaM&PreciLa project delivers improved data platforms from/for the project partners within fruit farming and arable farming in Flanders and the Netherlands. Additional data from new and improved sensors get transformed into new precision agriculture functionalities, resulting in more precise, tailored advice for the Flemish and Dutch fruit grower and arable farmer. The optimized data capture and pre-processing is combined with a sustainable and secure way of data exchange and use, using ILVO's data sharing platform DjustConnect. The administrative impact for farmers remains limited. The farmer enjoys combined advice through the smart(er) data links between the platforms.

Financing

Interreg Vlaanderen Nederland