CITRUSMART Operational Group: Hyperspectral monitoring for citrus management in the context of climate change

The objective of this project is to develop a tool to assist in the analysis, interpretation, and diagnosis of crop stress situations, as well as in the analysis of the effect of microclimates on production and pest proliferation. The tool is intended to serve ASAJA Sevilla and individual farmers as end users through two services: the Regional Citrus Development Service (SRD) and the Local Service for Citrus Crop Management at the Plot Level (SIGPAC).

In addition, field data capture will be digitized to update the Digital Farm Logbook, based on the development of a geolocated mobile application. All of this will contribute to improving the management of citrus farms, generating diagnoses on the status of the plantation, production predictions, and useful information for optimizing resources and planning future plantations.

This project aims to contribute to:

• Reducing sampling costs by around 20%.
• Modernization and more efficient use of resources, saving up to 20% in water use and available treatments, reducing their impact on the soil and the environment.
• Better understanding of microclimates within farms means having a high-precision terrain model that allows for characterizing land slopes and correlating existing microclimates with sensitivity to specific pests or diseases.
• Evaluating the effectiveness of certain interventions, such as grafting, pruning, or fertilizer applications, by monitoring the growth rate of new crop plantations.
• Saving 15% on the cost of fertilizer application by evaluating different types and approaches to micronutrient fertilizers.