Expected results

The main purpose of this project is to increase farms competitiveness by providing a system consisting of hardware and software that is both a support for better farming. The integration of data on soil, crop cover, pest, yield, topography and weather will furnish the farmers with ground truth decisions on applications of chemical fertilisers (e.g. N, P & K) and agrochemicals. End users will be farmers and agronomists, who will have access to different layers of information and decisions via FMIS. Homogeneous application of fertilisers and agrochemicals is adopted by majority of farmers worldwide. VR applications are expected to result in increasing profitability while reducing environmental impact by reducing amount of chemicals applied into the environment. The integrated approach is expected to increase yield, since a previous study by Maleki et al., using the on-line soil sensor reported increase in maize grain yield of 334 kg/ha by only applying VR P2O5 fertilisation. It is hoped that the economical saving due to the lower amount of input applied together with the increased yield will overcome the cost of using the envisaged integrated solution. The reduced amount of fertilisers will also reduce greenhouse gas emission (GHG) global warming potential (GWP), which will have a positive impact on the environment, with reference to the EU framework directive for "A thematic strategy on the sustainable use of pesticides" (COM(2006)372, COM(2006)778). The results of the project will be exploited through commercial services to the farmers across Europe. Farmers will be provided with different products (e.g. maps of soil properties, NDVI and yield, and recommendations for N, P, and K fertilisation and agrochemicals), which will be charged per ha depending on the order size and type, and can be uploaded from within the FMIS.