THE PILOT

The EU Pilot 3 consists of 2 sub‐pilots, one in Belgium (3 farms – pilot 3a) and one in Spain (2 farms – pilot 3b). The three farms in Belgium occupy an area of 32 ha and the main challenge addressed is that farmers do not utilize precision agricultural technologies and in particular variable rate applications including variable‐rate fertilization and site‐specific tillage. Sub-Pilot 3b consists of two main farms in Spain covering an area of 72 ha. The challenge for this pilot is to establish precision agriculture as the regular use in farms in order to optimize inputs. The innovation of both sub-pilots lies in the use of advanced sensing, modelling and data mining, and control technology for site specific N, P, and K fertilization to increase crop yield at reduced input cost and reduced environmental impact. The innovation will also include the use of a novel multi‐sensor data fusion-based soil compaction sensor for site‐specific tillage. The sensor can measure bulk density across the field.

  THE LEADERS

Ghent University (UGent) was founded in 1817 by King William I of Orange and over the years has employed many eminent scientists and Nobel Prize winners. UGhent is one of the major Universities in the Dutch speaking regions of Europe, offering high- quality courses in all scientific disciplines, each inspired by innovative research. The faculty of Bioscience Engineering (FBE) offers academic education, fundamental and applied research and services based on knowledge, production.
AgriSat Iberia s.l. (AgriSat) is an SME based in Albacete (Spain) and operating globally as a spin-off of a series of EU and national projects dedicated to the development and demonstration of the operational use of Earth observation (EO) and webGIS for water and nutrient management and farm advisory. The mission of AgriSat is to make this knowledge and the corresponding easy-to-use tools widely available to the water and agriculture sectors in an overall context of sustainable agriculture.