Space Solutions for Sustainable Agriculture and Precision Farming

6-10 May 2019. Cluj, Romania. The Conference is aiming to address key issues related to utilization of space technologies and solutions for a sustainable agriculture, addressing number of indicators and targets under the sustainable Development Goals framework and considering the challenges related to food security worldwide, with increasing populations and corresponding pressures on the available agricultural land.

The Office for Outer Space Affairs, through its Programme on Space Applications, addresses space technology applications in various workshops and conferences organized at the request of Member States. Results of those events also provides a means to review progress and address unmet needs. Most recently, food and water security were addressed in a workshop organized with the Government of Pakistan in 2013.

The Conference comprised a series of keynote presentations and technical sessions on, among others, the following themes:

• Pedometrics, precision farming, sustainability and adaptation to climate change;
• Space applications for water security and risk management;
• Integrated applications of space technologies providing cost-effective solutions and essential information for planning and implementation of programmes or projects to enhance management, protection and restoration of water resources;
• Space technologies in coping with the effects of climate change;
• Use of space-based technologies in mitigating water-related emergencies, agricultural water use and storage or in combating desertification and drought;
• Emerging technologies: Big data, geo-statistics, radar, LiDAR, UAVs, automation, agricultural drones and satellite imagery for building inclusive agriculture ecosystems;
• Spatial analysis and soil classification, monitoring of soil functions and proximal soil sensing;
• Land productivity assessment: current global soil and humus status and monitoring solutions;
• Capacity building related to space solutions in agriculture and food security, including development of human resources, establishing technical infrastructure and legal frameworks, and access to financial resources;
• Agro-environmental governance and policies;
• Integrated tools combining earth observation and other technologies in support of small-scale agriculture and subsistence farming; and
• Crop yield and productivity forecasts.

Extract of the programme:

• Technology for Local and Regional-Scale Assessment of Agricultural Landscape Dynamics Within the Framework of EU Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) - Olimpia Copacenaru, Mihai Chitea, Institute of Agricultural Economy, Romanian Academy
• Geo-Big Data and Digital Augmentation for Sustainable Agri-Food Systems - Chandrashekhar Biradar, ICARDA-CGIAR, Egypt
• Use of Drones in Crop Insurance -  Benard Sabwa, Davacc Tech Ltd, Kenya
• Assessment of land degradation neutrality (LDN) based on earth observation datasets in Southern Tunisia- Bouajila Essifi, Institut des Regions Arides, Tunisia

Extract of the Poster Presentations

• Moisture dynamics in the root zone as related to capillary and drainable pores in the Nile delta soils, Abdelmonem Amer, Faculty of Agriculture, Menoufia University, Egypt
• Incorporating Earth Observation into biofertiliser production and utilisation schedule in support of subsistence farming - Alemneh Teshale Habebo, Delight Kocho, Ethiopia
• Space technology, a veritable tool for advanced irrigation in Nigeria - Nwanneka Ibekwe, National Space Research and Development Agency, Nigeria
• GIS as a tool for smart agriculture: Our success story - Hezekiah Nganyi, County Government of Vihiga, Kenya