Project progress

The objective of WP1 Stakeholder Community Building and Living Labs is to set up and maintain an engaged multi-actor stakeholder community for and around STARGATE Living Labs that actively participate in the processes of co-creation (design, development, validation, and uptake) of the proposed DSS. Early in the project, the framework for multi-actor Living Labs process was developed and a multi-actor stakeholder community was set up and operated. Currently, the blueprint for prosperous climate-resilient farming communities is being prepared. The blueprint will include updated information from pilot stakeholders for each pilot area and their connection with STARGATE. In these frames a workshop is being organised to exchange with participants on their “visions of prosperous farming communities”.

The main objective of WP2 Framework and Requirement Analysis, Policy Setting is to collect and analyse the data that will lead to a thorough review of the current situation in the agricultural production system, relative to rural policies, climate adaptation strategies, as well as the socio-economic, and socio-cultural aspects of climate smart agriculture. Significant progress has been achieved and following the analysis of current conditions and challenges and needs in pilot regions, partners are working towards the identification and evaluation of policies implemented in STARGATE pilot areas. Policies relative to CSA implemented in the pilot region will be evaluated policies and the main institutional, social, financial, economic and practical barriers that hinder the promotion of CSA will be identified, in order to design improved instruments.

The main objective of WP3, Data Management and Integration is to determine which data items (e.g., environmental measurements, historic datasets, regional statistics, land use parameters) should be monitored in order to support the STARGATE use cases and to conduct an analysis of existing datasets and data collection mechanisms that could be integrated into the STARGATE framework. In addition, WP3 aims at specifying a data collection protocol and establishing data acquisition/provision mechanisms, as well as designing and implementing data homogenisation mechanisms through the use of semantic technologies that will facilitate data interoperability. Partners have successfully defined the data collection protocol and relative parameters can effectively be monitored. Moreover, partners are presently working on the dataset management for climate-smart and resilient farming tools and services.

Climate Services Provision for Microclimate Management and Climate Smart-Farm Decisions are being elaborated in WP4. The goal of this WP is to develop and provide climate services for microclimate management that will be used directly by the pilot users or indirectly by supporting the operation of the climate smart decision tools that will be developed in the frames of the project. Partners have successfully completed the definition of the system’s architecture and the elaboration of Climate Risk Scenarios and Forecast. Currently effort is concentrated on the benchmarking of conventional and climate smart farming practices in the local and regional microclimate of the pilot cases in Spain, the Czech Republic and Israel. Next steps include verifying the results of the Operational Systems.

The overall objective of WP5, Methods and Tools for Climate Smart Decision Making in Agriculture is to develop a suite of climate smart decision tools that will support the CSA stakeholders in the decision-making procedure, concerning tactical decisions of planning the everyday farm cultivation activities and strategic tools for the seasonal weather/climate risk management, long-term adaptation to climate change, landscape design and policymaking.  The climate smart decision tools are based upon the land and crop suitability analysis methodology, along with data and services delivered provided by WP3 and WP4. As the tools DS Tools beta version is upcoming, partners will soon start testing the optimized version of the Climate Smart Decision Tools Suite.

The main outcomes of WP6 Enabling Validation with User Community are relative to the soil properties in the dynamics of Phosphorus in agricultural soils that have already been performed, and the selection for the Land Suitability Analysis tool and its use in pilots. In WP6 the initial implementation of the pilot‐scale DSS has been completed, and a prototype test version has been prepared. In addition, in all pilots’ cases collaboration has been established with key local stakeholders, farmers and agricultural authorities. The framework for multi‐actor process and validation has been established, and a detailed baseline description of all pilots has been compiled, including a simplified stakeholder analysis. All pilots have started the co‐creation process.

Communication, Dissemination and Exploitation activities in the frames of WP7 are going strong and the STARGATE community is constantly growing! Partners are working towards the final versions of the STARGATE Sustainability and exploitation plan and updating the Market Analysis of agroclimatic services and final products developed during the project. The next steps include the development of measures for the management of the foreground intellectual and ensuring the effective exploitation of the final products.

STARGATE reports

STARGATE publications series in peer-reviewed journals & international conferences continue strong! Check out the latest...

Charvát, Karel, Berzins, Raitis, Bergheim, Runar, Zadražil, František, Macura, Jan, Langovskis, Dailis, Šnevajs, Heřman, Kubíčková, Hana, Horáková, Šárka, & Charvát, Karel. (2022, June 29). Map Whiteboard As Collaboration Tool for Smart Farming Advisory Services. 15th International Conference on Precision Agriculture, Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. [Joint publication with other Horizon 2020 projects] ACCESS HERE

Charvát, Karel, Kepka, Michal, Berzins, Raitis, Zadražil, František, Langovskis, Dailis, & Musil, Marek. (2022, June 29). SmartAgriHubs FIE20 - Groundwater and Meteo Sensors and Earth Observation for Precision Agriculture. 15th International Conference on Precision Agriculture, Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States.  ACCESS HERE

Asher, A.; Brosh, A. Decision Support System (DSS) for Managing a Beef Herd and Its Grazing Habitat’s Sustainability: Biological/Agricultural Basis of the Technology and Its Validation. Agronomy 2022, 12, 288.  ACCESS HERE

What's new with STARGATE

The STARGATE Consortium latest General Meeting

On the 9th of September, the STARGATE Consortium met online for a productive meeting that focused on the project progress, Work Packages' status and the implementation plan for the next 6-months. Professor Dimitrios Moshou coordinated the proceedings and as always provided significant guidance to the Consortium.

Stargate EU Project presented to Czech Republic officials

On Monday, May 2, 2022, a working meeting entitled “Water in South Moravia II” took place at the Regional Office of the South Moravian Region, within the framework of the STARGATE project. Besides presenting the project, the aim of the meeting was to build on the discussion that will help take concrete steps and measures to fight drought or mitigate its effects and support the development of Living Labs. Read more...

Webinar on the utilisation of STARGATE’s MapWhiteBoard

STARGATE partner, Plan4all, hosted on the 24th of June 2022, an online webinar entitled “Asymmetric MapWhiteBoard as a Disruptive Technology for Agriculture Advisory Services with practical demo”. The MapWhiteBoard was presented, and a live demonstration followed. You can watch the recording of the webinar by clicking here...

Partners’ update meeting on STARGATE’s Spanish pilot case

AgriSat Iberia team met on the 9th of June 2022, with colleagues from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki team, to stay informed about the indicators that STARGATE can provide in the pilot cases for better decision-making at work on the farms. Find out more here...

STARGATE at the Digital Transformation Conference

Dr Jaroslav Šmejkal from LESPROJEKT-SLUŽBY LTD presented STARGATE at the Digital Transformation 2022 Conference that took place in Brno on the 31st of May 2022. The Conference focused on innovative solutions and the best practices that the Czech Republic has to offer in the field of digital innovation. The recording of the event is available through YouTube in the Czech language and the introduction of STARGATE starts at 2:24:28. Watch here...

Water productivity through open access
of remotely sensed derived data portal

Achieving Food Security in the future while using water resources in a sustainable manner is a major challenge today as well as for the next generations. Careful monitoring of water productivity in agriculture is needed, this sector being a key water user, and exploring opportunities to increase it are required. The FAO has developed a publicly accessible near real time database using satellite data that allows the monitoring of agricultural water productivity at different scales.

Water productivity in agriculture can be expressed
as the amount of product per unit of water consumed by the crop.

This database is the backbone of the WaPOR project that is by now in its second phase. It works with ten partner countries to build their capacity, using WaPOR data and its different applications, and to generate solutions to local challenges linked to water and land productivity as well as water management. WaPOR provides near real-time data that can be used for a range of applications in agriculture and water resources management.

Satellite data to optimise irrigation systems

The tool, processes satellite data that help provide information to farmers for optimising irrigation systems and achieving higher agricultural yields. It additionally provides evapotranspiration data, allowing the accurate assessment of how much water a crop consumes during any given period, such as a growing season. Relative to the biomass and harvestable crop yield, it offers a way to measure water productivity. The tool also produces water productivity maps which show biomass and its yield per cubic meter of water.

Currently, WaPOR offers data that covers Africa and the Middle East, whilst following an additional funding of $4.95 million from the Foreign Affairs Ministry of the Netherlands a global expansion of the database and the addition of two new partner-countries in Asia and Latin America will take place.

SOURCE: FAO

Conferences & Events 

International Conference on Smart Systems and Technologies

  October 19-21, 2022
    Osijek, Croatia    Info

International Conference on Smart Systems and Technologies (SST) is a conference organized and hosted by the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Computer Science and Information Technology Osijek, Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek. The conference will provide a platform for researchers and practitioners interested in the theory and practice of smart systems and technologies. A number of interdisciplinary topics will be investigated including amongst others Agriculture Automation, Artificial Intelligence, Big Data and Smart Control Systems, Robotics etc. A dedicated workshop on Smart technologies for sustainable agriculture will also be organised in the frames of the Conference.

1st International Conference on "Innovation for Resilient Agriculture

  October 19-21, 2022
   Chiang May, Thailand     Info

The 1st International Conference on "Innovation for Resilient Agriculture" will be held on October 19-21, 2022, at the Empress Convention Centre, Chiang May, Thailand and it is organised by the Faculty of Agriculture, Chiang Mai University. This conference aims to exchange knowledge, share ideas, and discuss possibilities towards a resilient future via agricultural information. The Conference’s subject areas include Innovation for agricultural production, products and safety, Innovation in Agricultural technology, Climate-resilient and sustainable agriculture and Rural management, as well as agricultural development.

Agribusiness Forum

  November 15-16, 2022
   Athens, Greece      Info

The 5th international AgriBusiness Forum – Food Safety, Security and Resilience ahead uncertainties will be held in Athens, Greece on November 15-16, 2022. The forum is committed to advancing knowledge for the digitization & digital transformation of the agrifood value chain from seed to fork; and pivotal platform for boosting innovation and integrating partnerships towards viable, sustainable, traceable and resilient agrifood systems. AgriBusiness Forum is addressed to leading businesses, farmers, policymakers, researchers and academia and focuses on EU policies, Food Security & Safety, Precision farming, Smart processing, Women in Agri, Climate change, AgriLogistics, New Technologies etc.

The VISION Conference

  January 17-18, 2023
   Glendale, Arizona, USA    Info

The “Vision” Conference – Agriculture in focus will be held on January 17-18, 2023, in Glendale, Arizona, USA.  Agribusiness technology is fast evolving, and the rate of development and adoption is driving unmatched transformation in the food value chain. Now in its 6th year, the VISION Conference is the only event that brings global ag tech leadership and aligned partners from across industry sectors together to shape a forward-looking, strategic roadmap for integrating innovations.  VISION is the premium strategic conference for senior-level agriculture and technology thought leaders, allied executives, and industry partners.

News to read 

USDA Announces an unprecedented investment in American agriculture

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) welcomed the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, which will deliver $19.5 billion in new conservation funding to support climate-smart agriculture. This historic funding will bolster the new steps that USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) announced to improve opportunities for nutrient management. NRCS will target funding, by increasing program flexibilities and launching a new outreach campaign to promote nutrient management’s economic benefits, in addition to expanding partnerships to develop nutrient management plans. This is part of the USDA’s broader effort to address future fertilizer availability and cost challenges for U.S. producers. Read more here...

Smart farming in India becomes a game changer

India is adopting smart farming methods through technology and innovation in the agriculture sector and this may prove to be a game changer by substantially raising farmers' income. In a unique move, the Indian government is implementing a Digital Agriculture Mission (DAM), which includes India Digital Ecosystem of Agriculture (IDEA), Farmers' Database, Unified Farmers Service Interface (UFSI), funding to the states for the new technology (NeGPA), revamping Mahalanobis National Crop Forecast Centre (MNCFC), Soil Health, Fertility and profile mapping. In 2019, there were more than 450 argi-based tech-driven startups in India, whilst in the last two years following significant investment and funding this number skyrocketed. For details read here...

Smart Farming Market Report

The latest market analysis report titled Smart Farming Market by Product, Application, and Geography - Forecast and Analysis 2022-2026 has been published by Technavio. The report predicts the market to witness an accelerating growth momentum at a CAGR of 13.65%. The analysts at Technavio categorized the global smart farming market as a part of the global agricultural products market. This smart farming market analysis report also provides detailed information on other upcoming trends and challenges that will have a far-reaching effect on the market growth. The actionable insights on the trends and challenges will help companies evaluate and develop growth strategies for 2022-2026. Access the report here...

State of Climate in Africa

According to a new report from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) “The State of the Climate in Africa 2021” extreme weather and climate change are undermining human health and safety, food and water security and socio-economic development. Africa only accounts for about 2% to 3% of global greenhouse gas emissions but suffers disproportionately from the results. Increased temperature contributed to a 34% reduction in agricultural productivity growth in Africa since 1961 - more than any other region in the world. This trend is expected to continue in the future, increasing the risk of acute food insecurity and malnutrition. Find out more here...

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PROJECT COORDINATOR: Professor Dimitrios Moshou
THE CENTRE FOR RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY-HELLAS (CERTH)
dmoshou@auth.gr, d.moshou@certh.gr