Peru’s challenging and complex climatic conditions pose problems for agriculture, a mainstay of the nation’s economy. French company WeatherForce, in conjunction with the European Space Agency (ESA) and Météo-France, is hoping to make life simpler for farmers and crop managers with its new WiForCrop dashboard, bringing together all the weather information they need in one place.

Agriculture is a cornerstone of the Peruvian economy, both domestically and for export. Avocados, grapes, asparagus, and blueberries all provide essential income from overseas. Yet the country’s geography, which takes in the Andes Mountains, the Atacama and Sechura deserts, fertile plains, and coastal zones, means that Peru’s weather varies dramatically from region to region making weather forecasting problematic. With heavy rainfall in some areas but, conversely, 75 per cent of land area at risk of drought, accurate information for farmers and crop managers is vital, but has proven difficult to assimilate and systemise.

French company WeatherForce, in collaboration with the French national meteorological service Météo-France, hopes to overcome this logistical disadvantage. WeatherForce was founded in 2016 to provide accurate and useful weather information for people whose livelihoods depend on it. With backing from ESA Space Solutions and working in conjunction with Peruvian agricultural company Agrícola Cerro Prieto (ACP), WeatherForce has developed WiForCrop, an all-in-one dashboard where weather information can be quickly accessed and acted upon.

WiForCrop carries daily weather forecasts using data from the global Integrated Forecasting System (IFS). It creates high-resolution maps of weather and temperature using information from AROME (Météo-France’s short-range forecasting model which predicts severe weather events, accurate to 1 kilometre) and adds in vital details from local weather station sensors in the field. It also uses all this information to estimate pest and disease risks in each crop.

Initial field trials were conducted in August and November last year after interviews with crop managers, ACP decision-makers and other stakeholders identified what information from a weather-intelligent service was required to help them make swift, correct decisions on the spot. The dashboard designers also asked them how that information could be best displayed on WiForCrop. 

The 2021 trials, initially covering the country’s important avocado crop, helped WeatherForce hone the dashboard so that it was providing on-the-ground information for crop managers in timely fashion. During the trials more local weather stations were added wherever necessary to fill any gaps in the grid.

WeatherForce’s Chief Operating Officer and Co-Founder, Pascal Venzac says “The first trial, in August 2021, allowed us to install the first station in the pilot user's fields and to meet with agro companies in the north of Peru. During the second trial, held in November the same year, we installed four more stations, began training programmes and the process of attracting customers and demonstrating what WiForCrop can do for them.”

Due to Peru’s constantly and rapidly changing weather conditions, geographical accuracy is the key to WiForCrop’s success. Both WeatherForce and ACP considered the trials highly successful in this regard, with the dashboard providing the precise forecasting that had been lacking in the past.

Of the future, Venzac adds: “We are also already operating in Ivory Coast and aim to deploy in Vietnam during 2022, adapting the WiForCrop solution to new crops such as cocoa, bananas, rubber trees, mangoes and rice.”

On 12 January 2022 (10:00 - 12:45 CET), hear the final presentations from projects submitted to an ESA call related to the COVID-19 pandemic

The European Space Agency (ESA), together with the Italian Space Agency (ASI), the Ministry for Technological Innovation and Digital Transition and Ministry of Education have demonstrated to be able to effectively support both citizens and industries in addressing the unprecedented challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and alleviating their impacts on the daily life in the healthcare and education sectors. 

At the start of the pandemic, on 31st March 2020, ESA launched an Announcement of Opportunity (AO) "Space in Response to COVID-19 Outbreak in Italy", inviting companies to submit their ideas for deploying and demonstrating services to respond to the emergency that Europe, and especially Italy, is facing because of the spread of the coronavirus. Hear the final presentations of some of the projects on 12 January 2022 during an online webinar

Final presentation of "Space in Response to COVID-19 Outbreak In Italy"

Despite a short deadline, more than 120 outline proposals were received in response to the ESA call "Space in Response to COVID-19 Outbreak in Italy" released in March 2020. Twenty-four projects were implemented. In total, companies from sixteen countries responded to the call. ASI offered a funding envelope of €10 million to support the best projects. Many of the implemented projects have been able to develop in a short timeline innovative space-based solutions that have been integrated in the user’s operational systems contributing to alleviate the negative impacts caused by the COVID-19 during the crisis. They were also conceived for improving preparedness for future outbreaks.

The projects have showcased solutions based on satellite connectivity and other space and digital technologies which could be used for remote medical diagnosis and treatment, sanitation, pandemic management, social care, virtual collaboration and e-learning. Proposed services have been rapidly developed and deployed in pilot trials in Italy with local users (e.g., hospital, general practitioners, schools). The collaboration with national government authorities and space agencies has allowed to effectively respond to the needs of health and education user communities, demonstrating the added value that space can bring.

The main objectives of this AO were:

• Help citizens and health or educational professionals living in Italy to deal with the challenges of the coronavirus outbreak;
• Support the development and the adoption of services in healthcare and education to sustain the Italian community in reacting to the coronavirus outbreak;
• Demonstrate the benefit provided to users by the utilisation of space-assets integrated with other innovative technologies in these extraordinary circumstances;
• Offer the opportunity to businesses and other organisations to deploy and demonstrate solutions based on space for the benefit of citizens, local authorities and enterprises.

Further information and registration here (in Italian).

Agenda

12 January 2022

10:00 CET - ASI Welcome – G. Saccoccia

Setting the scene - Session Moderator ASI

• Italian Ministry of Technological Innovation and Digital Transition – D. Malerba
• Italian Ministry of Education
• ESA - E. Viau

Health related project - Session Moderators: M. Musmeci (ASI), A. Runge (ESA)

• EPICO-19
• CODE-19
• SATWORK

Education related project - Session Moderators: ESA, ASI

• Space for Children
• DreamCoder 2.0
• Space Edu Park

Wrap up and conclusions - A. Tuozzi (ASI), R. Rinaldo (ESA)

12:45 CET: END