Context
Current policy measures to promote sustain-ability of agriculture are based on the will to maintain rural heritage, to protect natural en-vironment used for production and to guaran-tee the long term viability of the countryside. For the farmer, all of these challenges mean to redirect practices towards sustainable produc-tion techniques. In this framework, there is an urgent need for an improved and more regular monitoring of the status of agriculture, not only to study the evolution of its impact on the environment but also to check its ability to pur-sue its production task in a competitive way. Policy relevant agri-environmental indicators (AEI) are considered as promising tools to achieve these goals.
The SAGRIWATEL I project aimed at setting up an expert and information system for the public partner (DGA or “Direction Générale de l’Agriculture” of the Ministry of the Walloon Region) bringing together knowledge and information from a variety of scattered sources for the evaluation of the crop and agri-environmental status in nearly real time at plot level. For reasons of data accessibility and temporal/spatial resolution, a special attention was paid on the operational use of information derived from multi-sensor optical remote sensing (RS) and on the integration of this information with those derived from the already existing geographical information systems of the DGA (IACS) and of the scientific partners (B-CGMS). All the agricultural and agro-environmental indicators developed in this project use RS-derived information.
If, at the end of the SAGRIWATEL I project, some indicators were still in a conceptual development stage, others reached a semi-operational one. The new project (SAGRIWATEL II) involves scientific and information technology aspects. Therefore, finding a synergy between these both fields appears as a fundamental approach.
Objectives
To put into production, within the Agricultural Administration, the indicator developed in the SAGRIWATEL I project for the control of the « soil winter cover » AEM. To extend the yield forecasting system (Agrometeorological bulletin) to energy crops and non food crops on fallows.Contribution
- Improvement, extensions and operational applications of the Belgian Crop Growth Monitoring System (B-CGMS)
- Conception and calculation of agro-environmental indicators (AEI)
- Procedure for the Extension of the crop yield forecasting system to rape seed and flax
- Maintenance of Internet, Intranet and FTP sites.
Partners
- Centre wallon de Recherches agronomiques, CRA-W
- Université Catholique de Louvain, UCL
- Université de Liège, ULG
- Direction Générale de l’Agriculture, DGA (Ministry of the Walloon Region)
Funding
- DGARNE
