Work package 4

Efficient low input

M6-M48

Objectives

Design of zero and new inputs for cereals, vegetables and grapevines, respectively by means of robotized (new) mechanical practices and new precision agriculture practices that optimize resource use (water, fertilizers, pesticides etc.). These practices will at the same time guarantee quality and productivity

Task 4.1 Zero and new input

This task is responsible for providing new robotized sustainable practices that use zero and new inputs, while ensuring quality and productivity. In particular, intercropping wheat practices will be designed using robots to perform mechanical tasks such as weeding and conservation tillage. The usage of new inputs such as biostimulants in the context of vegetables will be tested by means of new spraying actuators on robots associated with crop status, soil and microclimate sensors. The quality and the productivity of those crops will be assessed in order to evaluate the performance of such new sustainable agricultural practices

Task 4.2 Precision agriculture

Precision agriculture in IoRT equipped fields will be investigated in this task. The usage of sensors and data analysis to optimize irrigation, applying water only where and when crops need it, for cereals will be studied. For reducing the usage of pesticides, precision agriculture methods based on early disease detection in vineyards is also addressed in this task

Task 4.3 Reporting and Experiments

Proposals are tested with real data and end-users provided by the field Pilots. Based on the data engineering solutions of WPs 1-3, reporting systems for end-users will be proposed.