Objectives of the service
Precision Farming tries to increase productivity of cultivation of fields by a more efficient utilisation of different agricultural resources (land, seeds, fertilisers and water mainly). Up to now, available systems and tools concentrate on a specific area of precision farming, requiring an enormous investment by farmers. The objective of the activity is to demonstrate that technology is mature enough to provide cost-effective end-to-end Precision Farming services while showing farmers what space technology can do to help their business.
Users and their needs
Targeted users are arable farms. Traditionally, farming was an activity dedicated to the production of food for human and animal purposes. Nevertheless, in the last years Energy Industry has also become an active player in the field of agriculture due mainly to bio-combustibles. Precision Farming requires an open mind regarding new technologies and their applications, and here is where the Energy Industry is taking some advantage. Also, younger farmers are starting to be aware of the advantages to their business derived of this concept.
TalkingFields is addressed mainly to these two types of users, and target demonstrations could take place in Germany.
Service/ system concept
The proposed concept is the following: the farmer requests a service of the catalogue for a particular area that has to be located using Navigation Technologies. The service provider, based on the Navigation information and Earth Observation data, together with a model, prepares the specific products to help the farmer decide what to do. The farmer, based on the products, his experience, and also Navigation information, performs the necessary actions in the specific location. In this way, every piece of field receives particular treatment, saving costs and improving the final yield.
Space Added Value
Precision farming cannot exist without Satellite Navigation. Earth Observation provides a global overview of the fields and their characteristics in one single snapshot, saving time and money. Satellite Communications link all the issues together in those areas where no terrestrial links are available. However, the combination of all space assets opens the door to integrated services in which the measures and actions taken from EO imagery can be precisely taken in.
Current Status
Feasibility study finished.
