WatchITgrow, for the future of the Belgian potato chain

Transcription

1 WatchITgrow, for the future of the Belgian potato chain Romain Cools Belgapom Isabelle Piccard VITO Remote Sensing

2 The future of the Belgian potato chain starts now! The Belgian potato sector : a long history but facing new directions!

3 The future of the Belgian potato chain starts now! The Belgian potato sector : a long history but facing new directions! - Potato consumption in Belgium and the EU : potatoes remain the major staple food product in most of the EU countries : Fresh & home consumption : under pressure Processed & out of home consumption : increasing - Global demand for fresh potatoes (locally grown) and processed potato products (food service) in increasing : increased population and middle class in Asia, Africa & South America. - Processed potato products are produced in and close to the best growing areas (land, climate, knowledge, disease & pest controls) : EU-5 (BE/NL/DU/FR/UK) and Northern America (US/CA) highest average yield/ha. - Global exports are quality, price and logistics driven (EU-5, US, CA).

4 The future of the Belgian potato chain starts now! Belgian potato processing - potatoes as raw material POTATOES FRITES OTHERS tons Source : Belgapom

5 The future of the Belgian potato chain starts now! Investments Belgian potato processing industry Source : Belgapom

6 The future of the Belgian potato chain starts now! Source : World Potato Markets

7 The future of the Belgian potato chain starts now! Why the need for new instruments? - Nature product : soil, weather, fertilisers, seed potatoes / varieties, disease & pest prevention - Potatoes have evolved from a side crop to a main crop for arable farmers : need for professionalization and R&D. - Potatoes are a part of crop rotation : need for arable land and efficient land use (max ha in a 1/4 rotation available in the best potato growing area in the world. - Potato yields have capacity to increase (now +/- 45 t/ha 60t/ha is not unrealistic in the future). - Food losses prevention: focus on the highest achievable usage of the potato for the destination it has been grown for! - The potato market has been a strong volatile market, and to cover risks farmers, traders & processors are stepping more and more into contracts (+/ %). Sales contracts are being signed while the crop is still growing (= risk). But also for the growers stability and certainty are crucial. - Quality policy and traceability require follow up of the potato parcels : Vegaplan food & plant safety & sustainability system can be linked to WIG (parcel registration).

8 The future of the Belgian potato chain starts now! ipot project - Stereo III Belspo project : Belgapom, VITO, CRA-W & ULG(Arlon) : 3 year project web based geo-information platform to follow up the potato crop in Belgium WatchITgrow service

9 WatchITgrow for the future of the Belgian potato chain Monitoring potatoes from space! - Crop development - Field heterogeneity - Risk at production and quality losses - Yield forecasts For all actors in the potato chain: - Get access to satellite images, weather data, yield forecasts - Store your own field data (e.g. treatments, yield samples, )

10 Country wide weather info on a weekly basis: - Average temperature - Precipitation sum deviation with average Weather info risk at production or quality losses?

11 Satellite images Sentinel-2: - 10m pixels - Since August Every 10 and soon every 5 days DMC/Deimos: - 22m pixels - since Every 2 days monitor & compare fields

12 Monitor your fields throughout the season Greenness index Emergence 1 May May May June July July Aug 2016 Senescence 26 Aug Sept Sept Sept Sept Sept Oct 2016

13 Water logging in June 2016 Check your fields for anomalies Sentinel-2 of 20 July 2016 (10m) UAV image of 18 July 2016 (RGB, 3 cm) UAV image of 18 July 2016 (NDVI, 8 cm) NDVI Greenness index < 50%: crop lost or severely damaged

14 Check your fields for heterogeneity Sentinel-2 of 20 Aug 2016 useful for field selection (historical data) Greenness index improved sampling (per zone) evolution towards precision agriculture: variable rate application of fertilizers, irrigation, haulm killing, Electrical conductivity (EC) Acidity (ph) Reference data from soil scans (source: CRA-W)

15 Compare your fields Sentinel-2 of 22 Aug 2016 Senescence started? Haulm killing applied? optimize field visits input for planning / logistics (harvest) More advanced senescence Still green

16 Yield forecast Based on combination of yield models For 3 varieties: Fontane, Bintje, Nicola Per field, municipality, province, region From August onwards

17 For farmers Data can be shared with other actors in the potato chain Field specific monitoring? Enter your fields from existing parcel layer (IACS crop type declarations) your parcel on the map a shapefile with your parcel boundaries

18 and start monitoring your fields!

19 View watchitgrow data and add your own data! All data in one place

20 Your field from space

21 Summary & outlook Try watchitgrow for free during the 2017 season Plans for the (near) future: - Further link watchitgrow with other web tools (parcel declarations, Vegaplan, commercial field registration tools, ) - Provide N-fertilization and irrigation advice - Extend to other countries and other crops Thanks!