About the project

Object and Objectives

The reduction of production costs in peach cultivation is carried out through representative pilot applications. This will be achieved by the analysis and adaptation of intelligent agriculture (IA) models/services in the first cropping season, as well as the effectiveness of the advice in the second cropping season. The new research infrastructure (telemetry stations/analyses/sampling) will be installed in order to highlight the comparative advantages of reducing costs and the environmental footprint of production is necessary. Specifically, the results aim to:

1. Provision of IA services for peach production, adapted to the microclimatic conditions, irrigation and soil systems of each region.

2. Dynamic offer of services to a network of 290 producers, members of cooperatives and potentially to ~17,000 Greek producers.

3. Reduction in use of fertilizers by ~30%, pesticides ~20% and water ~20%, with a total reduction of 25% in production costs.

4. Application of post-harvest lubrication with the aim of improving the existing lubrication practice.

5. Control of soil moisture which creates favorable conditions for the development of diseases.

6. Improving product quality through reduced pesticide residue, increasing its value by ~10% on average gross value.

7. Reduction of nutrient leaching due to over-irrigation and excess fertilizers in the soil, which have an economic and environmental impact.

Methodology

The methodology is based on the multifactorial involvement of partners, ensuring the necessary interactions between researchers, businesses, producers, etc., related to peach cultivation. The implementation of the project follows 3 separate steps:

1. Preparation, with the analysis of soil and climate zones, the optimal positioning of the equipment and the collection of requirements
2. The installation of the equipment, the collection and analysis of heterogeneous data, as well as the adaptation of the models and the development of the IA advisory system.
3. The implementation of IA services with the necessary user training and feedback for the optimization of services. Throughout, the results of the project will be evaluated, disseminated and exploited.

Expected results:

Objective Description	KPIs
Improving efficiency and reducing fertilizer use losses	30%
Reducing the use of pesticides in orchards	20%
Reduction of water consumption	20%
Reduction of total cost of production per acre	25%
Increase product value	10%

Joint venture

NEUROPUBLIC is the coordinator of the project as well as responsible for the installation of the special equipment, the analysis of all the heterogeneous data and the adaptation of the IA models (irrigation/plant protection), as well as the availability for use of cultivation work recording systems and training for the producer and the agronomist of cooperatives.

ELGO contributes to the development of a specialized fertilization model, to the study of its effect, to the determination of the spatio-temporal variability of soil parameters, to the classification of soils according to nutrients, to the identification of possible pathogenic and problematic areas, as well as to the necessary synergies with NEUROPUBLIC for the sharing of terrestrial data/analyses and the development of the unified IA system.

The Agricultural Cooperatives (A.C. Episkopis & Velventos “Dimitra”) contribute to the organization of the two events (training/results dissemination day), to the use of the tools that will be available (recording/execution of actions in the pilot), as well as to the purchase of equipment and consumables.

GAIA EPICHEREIN will be the responsible agency for promotion and diffusion actions, having the role of innovation mediator and facilitating communication between partners.