H2020 VITIGEOSS Project: An innovative tool for vineyards based on the integration of Earth observation services and field sensors

The EU is the world leader in wine production (Opens in new window) and viticulture is the EU's largest agri-food sector in terms of exports. The increasing frequency and intensity of extreme weather events threatens this and other agricultural sectors. The EU-funded VITIGEOSS (Opens in new window) project has provided a user-friendly digital services platform to help vineyards increase their resilience while operating more sustainably to meet current and future needs. Easily accessible, reliable, and real-time information that integrates higher-resolution and reliable satellite data with other data streams will support decision-making and precision agriculture. Multiple data inputs, multiple smart outputs.

The VitiGEOSS platform integrates data from Earth observation satellites, weather stations, climate models, fixed cameras, drones, on-the-ground sensors, and end-user information. These are used in essential services for vineyard management: weather and climate forecasts, phenological monitoring, drone vineyard monitoring, crop health indication/disease prediction and management, and business and sustainability support. According to VITIGEOSS Coordinator Rosa M. Araujo Rivero of the Eurecat Technology Center (Opens in a new window): "By providing wine producers with location- and field-specific information in one place, the VitiGEOSS platform enables efficient management and optimization of vineyard operations, leading to cost savings and sustainable practices. In addition, researchers can explore advanced solutions for vineyard management, leading to, for example, reduced chemical use and greater resource optimization." A one-stop shop for the wine sector Weather and climate forecasts provide data on variables such as temperature, precipitation, and radiation on three time scales: short-term (the next three days), subseasonal (the next four weeks), and seasonal (the next three months).

The phenological monitoring and prediction service monitors and predicts the onset of key grapevine growth stages in relation to seasonal changes and weather. Drone vineyard monitoring uses a computer vision model to analyze drone-captured vineyard images. It delineates individual vineyard rows and calculates crucial vegetation indices for vines and inter-row areas. Presented as colorized heat maps, the indices allow winegrowers to visualize the health of their vineyards at a glance. Crop condition monitoring monitors key crop health indicators such as biomass production, crop water demand, evapotranspiration, the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (Opens in a new window), and nitrogen levels. Disease prediction and treatment provides infection alerts for downy mildew and powdery mildew, as well as infection risk levels. This can minimize crop losses due to pathogens, minimize the use of fungicides, and generally reduce the use of chemicals.

Finally, the Business and Sustainability Service is a schedule optimization tool designed to facilitate, accelerate, and optimize the planning and management of resources associated with vineyard tasks. This can help minimize costs and reduce the environmental impact of tasks by reducing fuel use or optimizing fungicide application. More efficient and sustainable agriculture: The smart services were tested in three vineyards in Spain, Italy, and Portugal. End user Symington Family Estates (Opens in a new window) in Portugal emphasizes that "the climatic and social changes that the agricultural sector will face in the future will impose enormous challenges on farmers. Technologies like the VitiGEOSS platform, which can be used to create value and help make agriculture more efficient and sustainable, are undoubtedly a great asset." Those interested in Europe and beyond can request a demo account for VITIGEOSS services by contacting the project at info@vitigeoss.eu. "By successfully increasing the resolution and reliability of satellite information applied to viticulture, the VITIGEOSS project has not only met its objectives, but has also revealed valuable knowledge and provided tools that contribute to sustainable vineyard management and climate resilience," concludes Araujo Rivero.

VITIGEOSS is helping the EU wine sector accelerate its transition to Agriculture 4.0 to ensure high-quality wine on EU tables and the essential contribution of viticulture to the EU economy. Expected outcomes and impact:

1. To deploy a smart weather/climate prediction service that explores the boundaries of subseasonal climate predictions and their synthesis with weather forecasting and seasonal climate predictions to provide robust forecasts for decision-making processes in the wine sector: For each of the time scales (meteorological, subseasonal, and seasonal), the prediction systems were calibrated and downscaled. An operational real-time smart weather/climate service for short-range weather forecasts (MONARCH), subseasonal (NCEP CFSv2), and seasonal (ECMWF SEAS5) climate forecasts was implemented through the THREDDS server.
2. Deploy a disease management service capable of issuing alerts about the appearance of the most important diseases based on the symptoms and characteristics of each geographic area and creating contingency plans based on the tools available to users: two diseases have been analyzed (powdery mildew, downy mildew).
3. Build a suite of Copernicus and GEOSS downstream services that integrate satellites with in-situ data to optimize crop management using the highest quality data. Artificial neural networks and EO and field imagery used to combine novel algorithms to estimate key crop management indicators: Detection and prediction of grapevine phenological phases: budbreak, flowering, fruit set, veraison, maturity, and leaf fall; the detection and prediction of the different key crop management indicators (leaf water potential, leaf area index, grapevine phenological phases); and the management and use of EOS data (Copernicus, GEOSS), including the use of Sentinel-2 Level 1C and EUTMETSAT MSG-CPP.
4. Establish an integrated and modular vineyard management solution at three demonstration sites—Portugal, Italy, and Spain—using EOS and field monitoring tools. VitiGEOSS provides access to innovative applications for optimizing vineyard management from a single point of entry for selected vineyards in Portugal, Spain, and Italy. Solutions configured on the VitiGEOSS portal.
5. Validation of sustainable wine production indicators by integrating environmental observation and field monitoring techniques to equip wine sector decision-makers with the necessary toolbox to make wine production in Europe environmentally and commercially sustainable: Pilot plots have been established, along with experimental design for field data collection and the installation of field cameras and machinery sensors.
6. Develop a successful market entry strategy based on market analysis and stakeholder consultation: Thorough analysis of environmental forces, market trends, barriers to entry, competition, risks, opportunities, and the consortium's resources and constraints. List of all background intellectual property rights and notified foreground intellectual property rights.
7. Developing the capacity of technology developers and commercialization partners to ensure the usability of project results. The organization of four workshops (seminars and training courses) on data analysis, satellite data acquisition, and probabilistic climate prediction for sound decision-making, supported by the participation of relevant stakeholders from the wine and agricultural sectors and EuroGEOSS participants.

The Consortium has been very active in dissemination and has reached a large audience, with 33 articles published in print and online media. VitiGEOSS's media impact includes key industry magazines, such as InfoWine.com, El Correo del Vino, Vinetur, Tecnovino, and Mundo Vino.