Periodic Report Summary 2 - FIGARO (Flexible and PrecIse IrriGation PlAtform to Improve FaRm Scale Water PrOductivity)
Project Context and Objectives:
Irrigated agriculture is indeed an advanced sector with respect to technology, know-how and management criteria. Nevertheless, there is still a significant gap between the everyday irrigation management and the possibilities offered by the existing know-how. The steadily increasing complexity of the agro-eco and cropping systems requires a strong multidisciplinary approach and multi-source information fluxes to be effectively managed. This large amount of data and information needs to be cross-checked, analysed and interpreted in order to provide farmers with useful and applicable irrigation schedule at daily step. Moreover, monitoring and sensing schemes
can help assessing physical state indicators but without any model interface, outcomes will be not reliable enough to significantly change irrigation management impact on water uses and governance at basin scale. Furthermore, irrigation management resulting from model optimization processes still needs to be corrected considering other immaterial constraints such as, regulations, economy at farm scale, market and retailer pressure. Moreover, reconciling irrigated agriculture and environmental considerations requires in depth changes of paradigms and scale, in order to remove existing bottlenecks which now hinder sustainable irrigation management and the broad application of knowledge-based management criteria and tools.
FIGARO (Flexible and Precise Irrigation Platform to Improve Farm Scale Water Productivity) is an EU-funded project, focused on significantly reducing the use of fresh water on farm level through implementing in a cost-effective precision irrigation management platform using newly developed precision technologies. Likewise the project aims to increase water productivity in major
water-demanding crops and improve irrigation management on farm level. The precision irrigation platform test has begun simultaneously in Bulgaria, Denmark, Greece, Israel, Italy, Portugal, Spain, and the UK.
The project will also contribute to the sustainable use of natural resources and adaptation of agriculture to climate change.
FIGARO's overall approach is an industry driven application of oriented research. The goal is to convert research and development results into industrial products developed with significant input from stakeholders, including calibration, validation and demonstration at multiple end-user sites across Europe
Project Results:
The first period from 10/2012-09/2013 (M1-12) of the project implementation focused on setting up the Figaro platform, mapping the development and integration of its components while defining and maximizing the potential borders of its impact for use in the real world. Implementation of the first year of field testing began using state of the art technologies. Tools for assessment were developed and dissemination activities ensued. The second period from 10/2013-09/2015 (M13-30), was mainly dedicated to development of the technologies, creating upgraded components for expanding the Figaro platform beyond the state of the art and field testing the first version of the Figaro platform at 9 sites across Europe. WP1, Management activities were implemented as planned and detailed below. WP2 designed the basic Figaro platform and was finished in period one. In WP3, crop models were optimized, hydraulic and energy models scaled down to suit farm level use. Additionally the Figaro decision support system was built based on integrated knowledge collected from modelling simulation tools, real time data from the field collected from sensors and data from remote sensors and systems such as satellite imaging and weather forecast data. Interfaces were developed to connect the models and other data sources with the decision support system. Extra work on optimization of the models has been done with remarkable results. This extremely complex and ambitious work package experienced slight delay which was predicted in the first report. At this stage, objectives have been achieved. In WP 4 development and integration of a control and monitoring interface and communication system was implemented by the key ICT partners, each bringing on board their existing technologies. A new solar powered sensor for measuring nitrate, phosphate and potassium has been developed. Like all sensors in the Figaro platform, the new sensor will upload data at defined intervals which will be used for decision making. Likewise a tractor mounted imaging tool for measuring leaf area index and nitrogen in crops at intervals of growth has been further developed and tested. WP5 effort involved implementation of irrigation strategies into the Figaro system. During this phase it was determined that a new tool would further enhance accessibility and feasibility of implementing the most appropriate irrigation strategy on farm level. In response to this need, the irrigation strategy selection tool WISeUp was developed and made available at http://servizi.consorziocer.it/FIGARO/ in order to better interconnect it with the Figaro platform and support WP3 activities. The irrigation strategies have been tested in all crops at the field testing sites and data analysed for use in the next round of field testing. WP6 activities centre on integration of the tools and systems developed in WP2, 3, 4 and 5. Likewise the interface with end users is part of WP6 activities. The optimisation activities have enhanced the system but its inclusion into the Aquasafe module has caused a slight delay. The automatic uploading of data from off the shelf sensors is still not operational as it requires agreement with the vendors. The consortium is in the process of collecting, where possible, the sensors connection plugins in the Platform. Additionally the new WISeUp tool which was unforeseen is being integrated into the Figaro platform. The WP7 activities relate to assessment. The planned definition of KPI, benchmarks and indicators of success were published during the first period. The tools to be used include Life Cycle Assessment, Cost Benefit Analysis, Water Footprint Assessment and HuraGIS, a spatial assessment tool of the hydraulic irrigation supply network. The collection of data was delayed but is now in its final stages. WP8 directed field testing. All results have been reported with details on individual sites included as separate annexes to this report. WP9 will see the final season of testing. Based on consensus of the consortium, additional data collection will continue during the demonstration phase to enable further testing of the Figaro Platform in scientific and commercial field settings. WP10 focuses on dissemination, training and exploitation activities. A significant amount of publicity has been generated by the project and this is envisaged to increase with further stakeholder engagement and open field days.
Potential Impact:
FIGARO's platform integrates a number of existing software and hardware tools to provide a farm level decision support system for growers, technicians and water managers. The prototype platform components include: UManage, a sophisticated decision support program developed by Netafim, Aquasafe a software ‘plugin’ layer for directing data sources into the system, AquaCrop, a crop-growth model developed by the FAO, plant and soil sensors, data from satellite image analysis, weather stations and tractor-mounted cameras as well as specialized forecasting algorithms, fertigation DSSs and hydraulic network management optimisation (intra and extra farm). The platform structure is designed to integrate any type of sensing method and management model, allowing it to expand its functionalities and to profit from locally calibrated models, DSS and sensing systems and networks already in place. Also forthcoming technologies like robotic and mechatronic sensors will be integrated into the platform thanks to its flexible design. The system collects environmental and crop-growth data, feeds that data into state-of-the-art agronomic models, performs a cross-check of data, auditing and re-aligning of multi-source information and provides accurate, precise and reliable recommendations for how and when farmers should irrigate.
The flexibility, cost-effectiveness, ease of use, minimal maintenance of the system and often, increases in crop yield, will boost its acceptance and up-take by the end-users. The system will enable reduction of water and fertilizer use, while optimising on farm and district distribution network energy consumption, supporting sustainable use of natural resources, adaptation of agricultural practice to climate change and farmers efforts fulfilling national, EU and international regulations and standards.
The major beneficiaries of the FIGARO platform include:
1. The environment due to the overall reduction in use of fresh water for irrigation and the consequent reduction in the water footprint;
2. The individual farmers who by employing the platform, fulfils his obligation to save water in compliance to the growing trend of European regulation forcing the use of managed irrigation;
3. The food industry companies buying agricultural products that were grown with the FIGARO Platform will benefit twice: once by they better compliance with regulation forcing them to lower the environmental impact of their businesses and by promoting themselves as environmentally friendly business by achieving the label “environmentally friendly farming practices used in our products lowered water footprint.”
4. Policy and Decision makers will gain tools for monitoring and management of agricultural practices including irrigation, fertigation, and use of saline/brackish water. With the use of the
FIGARO Platform they can more effectively and accurately administer natural resources such as water and energy.
5. Consumers of Europe and beyond will benefit from healthier and higher quality food products which have been produced with more sustainable practices e.g. Use of less fertilizers and using minimal amount of water.
List of Websites:
http://www.figaro-irrigation.net
Irrigated agriculture is indeed an advanced sector with respect to technology, know-how and management criteria. Nevertheless, there is still a significant gap between the everyday irrigation management and the possibilities offered by the existing know-how. The steadily increasing complexity of the agro-eco and cropping systems requires a strong multidisciplinary approach and multi-source information fluxes to be effectively managed. This large amount of data and information needs to be cross-checked, analysed and interpreted in order to provide farmers with useful and applicable irrigation schedule at daily step. Moreover, monitoring and sensing schemes
can help assessing physical state indicators but without any model interface, outcomes will be not reliable enough to significantly change irrigation management impact on water uses and governance at basin scale. Furthermore, irrigation management resulting from model optimization processes still needs to be corrected considering other immaterial constraints such as, regulations, economy at farm scale, market and retailer pressure. Moreover, reconciling irrigated agriculture and environmental considerations requires in depth changes of paradigms and scale, in order to remove existing bottlenecks which now hinder sustainable irrigation management and the broad application of knowledge-based management criteria and tools.
FIGARO (Flexible and Precise Irrigation Platform to Improve Farm Scale Water Productivity) is an EU-funded project, focused on significantly reducing the use of fresh water on farm level through implementing in a cost-effective precision irrigation management platform using newly developed precision technologies. Likewise the project aims to increase water productivity in major
water-demanding crops and improve irrigation management on farm level. The precision irrigation platform test has begun simultaneously in Bulgaria, Denmark, Greece, Israel, Italy, Portugal, Spain, and the UK.
The project will also contribute to the sustainable use of natural resources and adaptation of agriculture to climate change.
FIGARO's overall approach is an industry driven application of oriented research. The goal is to convert research and development results into industrial products developed with significant input from stakeholders, including calibration, validation and demonstration at multiple end-user sites across Europe
Project Results:
The first period from 10/2012-09/2013 (M1-12) of the project implementation focused on setting up the Figaro platform, mapping the development and integration of its components while defining and maximizing the potential borders of its impact for use in the real world. Implementation of the first year of field testing began using state of the art technologies. Tools for assessment were developed and dissemination activities ensued. The second period from 10/2013-09/2015 (M13-30), was mainly dedicated to development of the technologies, creating upgraded components for expanding the Figaro platform beyond the state of the art and field testing the first version of the Figaro platform at 9 sites across Europe. WP1, Management activities were implemented as planned and detailed below. WP2 designed the basic Figaro platform and was finished in period one. In WP3, crop models were optimized, hydraulic and energy models scaled down to suit farm level use. Additionally the Figaro decision support system was built based on integrated knowledge collected from modelling simulation tools, real time data from the field collected from sensors and data from remote sensors and systems such as satellite imaging and weather forecast data. Interfaces were developed to connect the models and other data sources with the decision support system. Extra work on optimization of the models has been done with remarkable results. This extremely complex and ambitious work package experienced slight delay which was predicted in the first report. At this stage, objectives have been achieved. In WP 4 development and integration of a control and monitoring interface and communication system was implemented by the key ICT partners, each bringing on board their existing technologies. A new solar powered sensor for measuring nitrate, phosphate and potassium has been developed. Like all sensors in the Figaro platform, the new sensor will upload data at defined intervals which will be used for decision making. Likewise a tractor mounted imaging tool for measuring leaf area index and nitrogen in crops at intervals of growth has been further developed and tested. WP5 effort involved implementation of irrigation strategies into the Figaro system. During this phase it was determined that a new tool would further enhance accessibility and feasibility of implementing the most appropriate irrigation strategy on farm level. In response to this need, the irrigation strategy selection tool WISeUp was developed and made available at http://servizi.consorziocer.it/FIGARO/ in order to better interconnect it with the Figaro platform and support WP3 activities. The irrigation strategies have been tested in all crops at the field testing sites and data analysed for use in the next round of field testing. WP6 activities centre on integration of the tools and systems developed in WP2, 3, 4 and 5. Likewise the interface with end users is part of WP6 activities. The optimisation activities have enhanced the system but its inclusion into the Aquasafe module has caused a slight delay. The automatic uploading of data from off the shelf sensors is still not operational as it requires agreement with the vendors. The consortium is in the process of collecting, where possible, the sensors connection plugins in the Platform. Additionally the new WISeUp tool which was unforeseen is being integrated into the Figaro platform. The WP7 activities relate to assessment. The planned definition of KPI, benchmarks and indicators of success were published during the first period. The tools to be used include Life Cycle Assessment, Cost Benefit Analysis, Water Footprint Assessment and HuraGIS, a spatial assessment tool of the hydraulic irrigation supply network. The collection of data was delayed but is now in its final stages. WP8 directed field testing. All results have been reported with details on individual sites included as separate annexes to this report. WP9 will see the final season of testing. Based on consensus of the consortium, additional data collection will continue during the demonstration phase to enable further testing of the Figaro Platform in scientific and commercial field settings. WP10 focuses on dissemination, training and exploitation activities. A significant amount of publicity has been generated by the project and this is envisaged to increase with further stakeholder engagement and open field days.
Potential Impact:
FIGARO's platform integrates a number of existing software and hardware tools to provide a farm level decision support system for growers, technicians and water managers. The prototype platform components include: UManage, a sophisticated decision support program developed by Netafim, Aquasafe a software ‘plugin’ layer for directing data sources into the system, AquaCrop, a crop-growth model developed by the FAO, plant and soil sensors, data from satellite image analysis, weather stations and tractor-mounted cameras as well as specialized forecasting algorithms, fertigation DSSs and hydraulic network management optimisation (intra and extra farm). The platform structure is designed to integrate any type of sensing method and management model, allowing it to expand its functionalities and to profit from locally calibrated models, DSS and sensing systems and networks already in place. Also forthcoming technologies like robotic and mechatronic sensors will be integrated into the platform thanks to its flexible design. The system collects environmental and crop-growth data, feeds that data into state-of-the-art agronomic models, performs a cross-check of data, auditing and re-aligning of multi-source information and provides accurate, precise and reliable recommendations for how and when farmers should irrigate.
The flexibility, cost-effectiveness, ease of use, minimal maintenance of the system and often, increases in crop yield, will boost its acceptance and up-take by the end-users. The system will enable reduction of water and fertilizer use, while optimising on farm and district distribution network energy consumption, supporting sustainable use of natural resources, adaptation of agricultural practice to climate change and farmers efforts fulfilling national, EU and international regulations and standards.
The major beneficiaries of the FIGARO platform include:
1. The environment due to the overall reduction in use of fresh water for irrigation and the consequent reduction in the water footprint;
2. The individual farmers who by employing the platform, fulfils his obligation to save water in compliance to the growing trend of European regulation forcing the use of managed irrigation;
3. The food industry companies buying agricultural products that were grown with the FIGARO Platform will benefit twice: once by they better compliance with regulation forcing them to lower the environmental impact of their businesses and by promoting themselves as environmentally friendly business by achieving the label “environmentally friendly farming practices used in our products lowered water footprint.”
4. Policy and Decision makers will gain tools for monitoring and management of agricultural practices including irrigation, fertigation, and use of saline/brackish water. With the use of the
FIGARO Platform they can more effectively and accurately administer natural resources such as water and energy.
5. Consumers of Europe and beyond will benefit from healthier and higher quality food products which have been produced with more sustainable practices e.g. Use of less fertilizers and using minimal amount of water.
List of Websites:
http://www.figaro-irrigation.net
