Thank you for participating in this survey. The aim of this survey is to collect user requirements which will form the base for the development of SaveCrops4EU, an innovative agricultural Digital Twin Component (DTC). The DTC is based on the European Union’s (EU) Destination Earth initiative (Destination Earth Trailer, Destination Earth – new digital twin of the Earth will help tackle climate change and protect nature) under the implementation lead of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), the European Space Agency (ESA), and the European Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT). It specifically aims at making Europe more resilient to the challenges posed by climate change.
The SaveCrops4EU sub-project aims to create a virtual representation of arable land ecosystems to help the ability to conduct agricultural practices in a way that meets the current food and resource needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. For this sustainability the following subcomponents should be taken into account:
- Economic Viability: Ensuring that agricultural practices are economically sustainable, allowing them to maintain profitability while navigating the challenges posed by climate change.
- Resource Efficiency: maximizing the efficient use of resources, such as water and nutrients, to minimize waste and reduce environmental impact
- Environmental Stewardship: Utilizing practices that protect and enhance natural resources (soil health, water, etc.).
- Climate resilience: Implementing practices that enhance the resilience of agricultural systems to climate change, recover from climate extremese and adapt to shifting climate conditions
The system will enable users to use advanced simulations and predictions to gain insights into the future state of arable land across Europe.
Within this context, the digital twin of the earth and its component can be seen as a digital tool box. Within this toolbox, new tools are to be developed which support navigating a wide range of trade-offs. For example, within this toolbox, tools exist which predict more accurately extreme weather events predictions and the forecasted state of the climate within various scenarios. Within SaveCrops4EU additional tools are to be developed. In general, the following three types of tools are foreseen:
- Monitoring tools: with the extensive use of satellite imagery it is possible to frequently, and in an objective way, create snapshots of the current state of land. Models can distill key attributes relevant to agriculture, such as soil state, plant health, plant stress, etc.
- Forecasting tools: Using other forecasts as input (e.g. weather forecast) and crop development models future states of the land can be forecasted, this could include (yield forecasting, end of season nitrogen content, evolution of soil water content, expected crop stress, etc.).
- Advanced decision making tools: The forecasts also depend on human activities. These tools allow to test changes within the human activities and see the effects on for example (yield production, cost effectiveness, soil state, etc.).
Agriculture is a very wide domain and creating tools that are universal is not possible. Moreover, the models to be used often depend on key variables such as spatial and temporal scales. This survey is used to help determining in which direction the first tools should be developed.
Your responses will remain anonymous.
