|
Network
of Excellence
|
CARiMan
|
The
Internet Portal for Computer Aided Risk Management
|
Responsible:
Acro
Assistance:
Info
,
PRO, HeuR
, TGS, all
partners
Agricultural crops are
an important and vital aspect of all European economies not only because they
are one of the major sources of food, but because they contribute to the trading
capacity of many regions, particularly rural locations, through exports.
Crop plants are highly susceptible to attack by both pests and disease
and this has been exacerbated by changes in climate patterns through global
warming as well as an increase in pesticide resistance and intensive production
resulting in mono cropping.
According to figures
for the first quarter of 2002 as published by Eurostat, the real price index for
crop products as a whole rose by 11.0%, and within this category there
were real price rises for all product groups except wine, which fell by
3.1%. Large rises were also seen
for fresh vegetables (+37.0%), root crops (+13.9%) and fruit (+10.7%). Smaller rises
were also observed for olives and olive oil (+6.7%). Changes in the price
index for crop products in EU-15 countries ranged from -11.5%
in Portugal to +22.1% in
Greece.
This JPA aims to pilot an early warning system
advising farmers of impending risks thanks to nano-robots and micro sensors both
in the air and in soils. Apart from this an electronic information service will
be used as a single one-stop portal as a solution to this problem, especially
for small regional areas of the European Union and candidate countries where
information distribution is difficult. The digital content to be placed online
will in fact allow not only the public service institutions to submit
information but also the end users – the farmers themselves, will be able to
issue warnings to other farmers in their region and nationally advising of
outbreaks and their potential spread. Background information from agricultural
departments, research organizations and universities will also add to the
valuable electronic content to be placed online.
The viability of such a solution will be explored
in the duration of this initial definition phase, together with the development
of options for commercialisation of such data in order to ensure that this
system will continue to be utilised after the life of this project.