myEOrganics

Combined GNSS and Copernicus datato secure environmental agricultural systems

Project objectives

Within the project myEOrganics, a mobile application shall be developed, that uses satellite data to support certification of organic farming. Earth observation data will allow better efficiency in certification of organic farming and increase public awareness and quality of organic farming in Europe. 

The large scale demonstrator is geared towards a working mobile application to be used by certification bodies. myEOrganics aims at verifying the feasibility of this service and provide a blueprint for similar applications. This shall in the long term lower risks for investors in this area and pave the way for an innovative industry, making use of EO data and mobile technology in the agricultural sector.

Supporting organic certification contributes to the societal challenges of sustainable agriculture, food security and consumer’s safety. myEOrganics focuses on EU’s Common Agricultural Policy: promoting a safe, clean, environmentally friendly, competitive and sustainable agriculture in Europe

Accordingly, the key objectives of the project are to:

• Demonstrate the potential of mobile technologies and GMES in the organic food sector.
• Explore further potential for scalability and adaptation to more European regions and more globally in the field of certification and advisory services.
• Support emerging industries with an innovative GMES and mobility-based concept.
• Address the key societal challenges of food safety and sustainable agriculture.

Activities in myEOrganics

The aim of the project is to develop a mobile application as support for certifiers. Focus is set on organic farming in the regions of Bavaria and Wallonia. The service shall allow certifiers to work more efficiently myEOrganics therefore:

Creates a prototype for a mobile certification service combining mobile internet access to regional databanks, earth observation & GNSS data and therefore provides regional specific information to users like certification bodies active in certifying organic farmers in the Bavarian region.
Starts and sustains a dialogue with key stakeholders. In this context, the consortium organizes stakeholder workshops and user forums and analyses requirements, marketing strategies and collects user-feedback.
Analyzes the legal & political framework in effect for the certification process of organic food, in particular in connection to satellite data. Also already existent support structures for this industry will be analyzed and evaluated accordingly.
Investigate in further use and applications for services building on the basics of myEOrganics.
The challenge will be to define the interface between existing databases for farmland management and the Copernicus dataset. It is also essential to sustain the capability to interface with typical software and methods, certifiers and other stakeholders recently use. These requirements will drive the technical design and the implementation of the service. 

Actors involved

An integrative approach for mobile services using Copernicus and GNSS data is developed by analyzing legal / political framework conditions, communicating with and involving key stakeholders in organic food, scrutinizing regional support structures and thus facilitating transfer and scalability to new regions. For dissemination, regional, national and European stakeholders in policies and agriculture will be addressed via information and marketing activities, stakeholder workshops in Bavaria and Wallonia and user application forums for demand creation in this new technology field. The bundling and coordination of already existing (support) structures together with future oriented policy recommendations for set-up of joint SME programs of the two regions will pave the road for this new emerging industry in Europe. For example, the service outline might be extended to insurance companies or forest management

Expected outcomes and impacts

Three countries (Germany, France, Belgium) are involved and will demonstrate the feasibility and usability of this kind of mobile service in Europe. It is therefore also the aim to analyze possibilities to scale the application for broader use in Europe and provide a blueprint for similar applications in agriculture and forest management. 

It is expected to address a variety of stakeholders, like certifiers, insurances, farmers, public agencies etc. 

myEOrganics partners

	Website	Name of organisation	Region / Country
	http://www.bavairia.net/	bavAIRia	Germany
Short description of key activities	Regional cluster organisation in space applications mandated by Bavarian Ministry of Economic Affairs, Infrastructure, Transport and Technology Contact person: Moritz Fontaine, Fontaine@bavAIRia.net
	http://www.vista-geo.de/	Vista	Germany
Short description of key activities	A private company (SME) specialized in earth observation methods for agriculture and hydrology Contact person: Heike Bach, bach@vista-geo.de
	http://www.pc-agrar.de/	PCAgrar	Germany
Short description of key activities	A private company specialized in IT solutions for agriculture with strong partnerships to farmers association & agricultural engineering Contact person: Wolfgang Angermair, Angermair@eurosoft.de
	http://www.infopole.be/	Infopole	Belgium
Short description of key activities	Regional cluster organisation in ICT supported by the Walloon government Contact person: Frederic Jourdain, Frederic.jourdain@infopole.be
	http://www.ecocert.com/	Ecocert	France
Short description of key activities	A private company specialized in certification of environmental qualities primarily in the food, fibre, cosmetics and household sectors, in the private and regulated sector  Contact person: Pierre Ott, Pierre.Ott@ecocert.com

Quotation

"myEOrganics will have a great impact on field audits to check the proper implementation of environmental measure in agriculture. This will influence the way organic farming is certified, in particular with the history of the crop prior to the on-site inspections. Copernicus and GNSS data in connection with a mobile application will generate innovative services towards an environmentally sound agriculture. The underlining architecture of the application may be adapted to other agricultural management measures."

Dr. Pierre Ott
Senior Adviser R&D
Ecocert SA

Project coordinator

Moritz Fontaine

bavAIRia e.V.
Fontaine@bavAIRia.net