Bringing the benefits of precision agriculture to smallholder farmers in Europe

APOLLO is an EU-funded innovation project aiming to develop a market-ready platform of agricultural advisory services focused primarily, but not exclusively, at smallholder farmers in Europe.

 

The APOLLO project aims to bring the benefits of precision agriculture to farmers through affordable information services, making extensive use of free and open Earth Observation data, such as those provided by the European Union’s Copernicus programme. These services will help farmers to make better decisions by monitoring the growth and health of crops, providing advice on when to irrigate and till their fields and estimating the size of their harvest. Ultimately, these interventions should lead to less farm (or agricultural) inputs and higher yields – and therefore increased profitability and competitiveness.

The APOLLO Services

The six APOLLO services support farmers at all stages of the growing cycle. The services are available on the APOLLO platform over the internet through the desktop, or via the dedicated APOLLO mobile/tablet application.

Tillage Scheduling

Know when to till for best results, avoiding soil degradation and saving energy.

Irrigation Scheduling

Find out when and how much to water your crops, reduce waste and avoid over-irrigating.

Crop Growth Monitoring

Keep an eye on the state and health of crops from emergence to harvest

Crop Yield Estimation

Analyse field productivity and make better-informed decisions on whether to sell or store.

Weather Forecast and Alerts

Weather forecasts and major weather events alerts.

Farm Management Zoning

Analyse the field’s past to better understand its future.

The APOLLO Pilots

APOLLO services were piloted during the project in three countries of continental Europe: Greece, Serbia and Spain. The pilots were be user-driven, and implemented with the direct participation of two farmers’ associations – the Agricultural Cooperative of Pella (ACP) in Greece and the Association of Farmers of the Municipality of Ruma (UPOR) in Serbia – and an SME providing farm management services (Agrisat in Spain).

Pella, Greece

The fertile Giannitsa valley in Pella Municipality, Central Macedonia Prefecture in northern Greece, is the largest in the region.

La Mancha Oriental, Spain

The Mancha Oriental area is a large, flat semi-arid area South-East of the Iberian Peninsula containing 500K ha of agricultural land.

Ruma, Serbia

The Ruma region in Vojvodina province, northern Serbia, relies heavily on its agricultural sector, thanks in part to its fertile soil and acquiescent topography.

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APOLLO has launched its initial services in April 2017. Sign up to try out the services!