An ambitious project funded by the European Space Agency (ESA)
SaveCrops4EU, an innovative component of ESA's Destination Earth initiative, aims to transform agricultural decision-making. By developing detailed digital representations of crop ecosystems, this project aims to act as a catalyst for sustainable agricultural practices, in line with the objectives of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and the European Green Deal.
A multifaceted decision-making tool
The SaveCrops4EU digital twin is structured around three technical pillars, to address the challenges posed by climate variability, while enhancing agricultural resource management. These three pillars allow to:
- monitor crop/field development in near-real time;
- forecast final yields during the season;
- try different scenarios out such as the impact of weather events (e.g. a drought or a long period of rain) or the impact of differentiated input management (e.g. nitrogen inputs) on final yields as well as on different flows (e.g. potentially leachable nitrogen).
Considering its expertise, the CRA-W is responsible for a use case focused on crop nitrogen stress.
An agricultural tool developed with its end-users
To develop tools meeting their needs and expectations, end users are involved in the design process using an "agile" approach. We would already like to thank them for their involvement!
A network of European partners
This project is being carried out by a group of partners from all over Europe: Thales Alenia Space – Luxembourg (coordinator), LIST – Luxembourg, Universitait de Valencia – Spain, Forschungszentrum Juelich GmbH – Germany, CropOM – Hungary and the CRA-W – Belgium.
Funding:
ESA, agreement no. 4000146527/24/I-KE
