Expertise: CERETETH is currently participating in 32 FP7 projects in different fields. The most relevant to the proposed project is an FP7 project coordinating by CERETETH (Future Farm) dealing with the development and adoption of ICT technologies in the agriculture sector (www.futurefarm.eu). CERETETH is also coordinating another EU project under the FP7 – PEOPLE – Marie Curie actions dealing with staff exchanges in the area of smart controlled environment structures (greenhouses and livestock buildings). CERETETH is currently participates in 3 other RTD projects related to sustainability and precision agriculture. One FP7 (Sirrimed) and two national all of them dealing with rational use of water resources and the assessment of precision agricultural technologies for water saving purposes in agriculture. It has also been funded an ICT-Agri Project called “RoboFarm”. In the short time form its establishment (2006) the members of CERETETH have been published 330 papers in peer reviewed journals, have 25 participation in book chapters and 700 in conference proceedings, and 1 patent.
Facility: The relevant facilities are an RTK- GPS to produce elevation maps; EM38 for ECa mapping; CropCircle for NDVI mapping during the growing season, a multispectral and a thermal camera for crop monitoring scanning; leaf water potential instrument; soil water content measurmement probes; soil pepnetrometer; wireless water mesurment system; software for GIS analysis and geostatistical analysis, as well as two yield monitoring systems for cereals and cotton.
Priority: (1) The application of precision agriculture technology and management strategies for high value crops, mainly vineyards, apples, pears and olive oil trees.
(2) The analysis and design of sound farm management information systems for information intensive agricultural practices, such as precision agriculture and robotics.