Precision Farming (PA) according to the European Parliament and the European Commission is the new innovative technology expected to change the agriculture as we know it today and convert it to the digital age. PA is considering as a major tool both in agricultural policies and environmental protection and climate change policies. In this proposed project special reference is made to the use of Unmanned Air Systems (UAS) in PA and the technology used in combination with them to support the advanced farm operator. The idea of this project was initiated after the completion of a previous Erasmus+ project Skills for Future Farmers (SKIFF, future-farmer.eu), where it was proved that there was a strong demand among agronomists, environmentalists and farmers for this subject, exceeding the number of 2.000 students and today is used for the training of students in several agricultural colleges in Europe. The output as module was limited and it was prepared as an initiation of one of the partners, which also participates in this project. Thus, this project is based on this primary work, however, the partnership has the ambition to exceed the previous number of students and produce a unique course for PA. The experience and the expertise of the partnership in major scientific aspects of the proposed project and in distance learning will be combined for the optimum result. In this project all the competences acquired by the partnership during participation in previous Erasmus+ projects will be fully exploited. The pademic conditions caused by covid-19 were taken into account and thsi project focuses on the solutions offered by PA for operations (farms) management without the necessity for natural presence of ecperts or farmers. Limited exposure is an important elements during this period. Additionally virtual project management solutions are provided through this project.

DIONE proposes a close-to-market (TRL7) area-based direct payments monitoring toolbox that will address the forthcoming Modernised CAP regulation of using automated technologies to ensure more frequent, accurate and inexpensive compliance checks. In particular, DIONE will: (i) Capitalise on recent results of ESA’s SEN4CAP project that showcased the capability of Sentinel data to monitor the crop diversification rules. DIONE shall further integrate generated crop-type maps in a way directly exploitable by the paying agencies; (ii) Include in the analysis the so far neglected EFA types (fallow land of all sizes, buffer strips, hedges, trees), by making use of super-resolution technology that improves the 10-20m Sentinel resolution to an improved resolution range (5-10m). This is enabled through Machine-Learning (ML) based post-processing and data fusion of Copernicus DIAS-sourced data with targeted drone-obtained data. This aims to motivate the use of such EFAs over the –of ambiguous environmental impact- use of productive areas (nitrogen-fixing crops and catch crops). (iii) Complement the use of EO data with a system of reliable, ground-based geo-tagged photos, captured by the farmers that exploits (a) advances that allow for improved positional accuracy, (ii) low-footprint encryption techniques for improved data security and reliability and (iii) image detecting manipulation techniques (image forensics). The system will allow for an improved LC/LU annotation and ensure the process is untampered. (iv) Implement a Green Compliance toolbox, integrated with the paying agencies’ aforementioned tools. This will benefit from (a) low-cost spectral sensors measuring soil quality and assessing the status of land-degradation in the land parcels and (b) an ML-based inferencing system deployed on a larger scale (regional, national) to quantify the levels of some of the monitored parameters and consequently extract tangible environmental performance metrics for an entire region

Accounting a climate footprint is an established practice. However, accounting for C capture is largely based on manual methodologies that cannot be easily scaled. The consortium has found a strong market need for a streamlined solution that can be scaled to meet the growing needs of C capture from Land Use, Land Use Change, and Forestry (LULUCF). AgriCapture seizes upon Earth Observation – free and open Copernicus data in particular – to deliver a highly innovative, flexible, and scalable solution for soil C capture projects/initiatives, targeting 1 of the 2 only potential mass C sinks through proven and increasingly popular practices (i.e. Reg Agri). AgriCapture will develop a systematic, robust and flexible platform for quantifying, verifying, and promoting soil C capture, allowing (i) farmers and other landowners to become “carbon farmers”, (ii) food companies to offset their carbon foot print and offer "zero carbon" products, and (iii) certifying organizations to scale up and automatize their processes. This will be accomplished through a co-creation approach with target users – agricooperatives, an agri-processor, a Reg Agri certifier, and an emission balance certifying organisation – within 5 diverse use cases located across Europe. To support uptake of project results, the project will establish a European Reg Agri Community, which will be used to raise awareness of Reg Agri as a high-potential approach to meeting climate pledges, to coordinate and empower farmers as agents of climate mitigation, and to inform product launch of AgriCapture through first-hand market information and a direct channel to potential customers. Finally, the project will also undertake dedicated activities to assess, identify and proactively pursue market opportunities, which will lead to several contracts for post-project service provision by the end of the project.

The Intergenerational Open Geospatial Carbon Registry (OGCR) aims to create: 1) updateable baseline geospatial layers for soil, biomass and peat for pan-EU, 2) a hybrid modelling framework to explore management changes in CAP and CRCF initiatives, and 3) a globally applicable open geospatial carbon registry, servicing pan-EU. We will use a genuinely transparent stakeholder co-design & consultative development process to build software interfacing between CRCF and CAP activities with mandatory and voluntary markets. Above and below ground carbon reduction and farming activities will be measured, monitored and independently verified. The system will attract both small and big landholder participation through 1) an innovative geospatial carbon accountancy framework that fairly rewards landholders for avoiding and sequestering carbon over generations, 2) applicability to all lands independent of management, and 3) easy access to geospatial information on past, present and possible future states for soil carbon, biomass and peat soils under different managements. Geospatial hazards and risks, including those related to climate change, will be scientifically based and user accessible. Economic and environmental impact evaluations will be widely available to aid landholders and project developers to assess potential for entering the nascent EU CRCF markets. OGCR will rely on an underlying statistical unification of common MRV approaches, both direct measurement, modelled and hybrid approaches, through their uncertainty metrics; and on a socially responsible and ecologically valid economic framework for their temporal valuation through time. OGCR will be built in the open view of the stakeholder community by the open source community, under scientific supervision and iteratively developed. OGCR will be free and clear of any restrictive copyright for claims, licensed under permissive Creative Commons licenses and connected to vendored services in a free-market dynamic.

GEOBIZ project consortium built out of 15 academic and 3 business partners together with 5 affiliated partners is addressing partners needs regarding geoinformatics business and academic sector in five European countries: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Moldova and Montenegro.Geoinformatics ecosystem, as a link between technical and ICT subject and professionals, is part of digital industrial revolution characterized with fast technology driven changes and development of new knowledges and skills necessary for efficient use of this technology for satisfaction of user needs. Rapid change is creating situation in which academic sector faces problems. It can't cope with fast changes and lags in introduction of new content in educational process. This results in situation that new professionals finishing academic education do not master necessary knowledge and skills in field of geoinformatics and therefore are not well prepared for industry. Ultimately business sector suffers from such situation lacking new experts which can contribute in their development.Therefore, GEOBIZ project aims to design and establish new business-academia cooperation platform in field of geoinformatics in targeted countries which will bring together geoinformatics subjects, foster their cooperation and create situation in which all stakeholders will benefit. Based on this cooperation HEI's will improve quality of education of geoinformatics and related courses using business-driven problem-based cases which are prepared (designed) by geoinformatics companies for use in educational process and thus modernise their geoinformatics courses.This modernisation will result in raising attraction of geoinformatics studies for students, deliver well educated and prepared professional, satisfy needs of business sector for expert work force and ultimately offer to society geoinformatics sector capable to answer on societal needs in efficient, timely and cost benefit manner.