Soil health has raised the last few years a significant share of concerns. Investing in research is a key to gathering the best data and developing the best solutions for sustainable soil management.

Soils are essential for all life-sustaining processes on earth. However, they are facing several pressures and are also heavily affected by climate change and erosion.

The SIEUSOIL research project which is supported by the Research and Innovation programme HORIZON 2020, aims to develop sustainable soil management practices based on a harmonised land information system suitable for diverse climate and operation conditions along different EU and China locations.

The project activities in the first 18 months of its lifetime have been successful. Collaboration has been established with key global stakeholders, including the Food and Agriculture Organisation, the International Soil Reference and Information Centre, the Joint Research Center and the European Environment Agency.

The original plan foreseen for the Eurasian Soil Platform development has been outperformed so far. The impact of the SIEUSOIL’s results in terms of the Web Observatory platform is in some areas even greater than foreseen. The data model developed with the SIEUSOIL’s and FAO resources will not only be used for the purposes of the Eurasian soil platform. The developed data model has world-wide impact.

Earth observations-derived biophysical parameters have been made available to the pilot activities in the EU and China, while a set of biophysical quality indicators for soils and crops have been defined and their methodology established.

Accurate prediction models for soil and soil physical parameters have been validated and Management Zone Maps and variable rate fertilization maps have been obtained in certain pilot farms. Prediction of Yield Productivity Zones with satellites’ support and their evaluation using farm machinery measurements seem to have gain a huge attention in the scientific community.

Moreover, certain parameters have been selected for the Land Suitability Analysis tool and its use in the pilot areas.

The pilot-scale Decision Support System (DSS) specifications and a prototype test version have been prepared. The connections among the different components were identified, as well as the dependencies on the external sources of data.

The proposed EU mission “Caring for soil is caring for life” is key for meeting the ambitions of the “Green Deal”, notably the Farm to Fork and Biodiversity Strategy. SIEUSOIL is totally in line with this mission which is the EU’s strategic research agenda regarding soils for the years to come.

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SIEUSOIL is coordinated by Professor Dimitrios Moshou (dmoshou@auth.gr) of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki that leads the consortium of 23 partners, 16 based in Europe and 7 in China.

Dear GODAN Partner,

Dr. Chris Baker from the New Bunswick University and Senior Data Scientist, and machine learning expert Dr. Brett Drury are conducting research on the adoption of AgriSemantics for food security. As part of this research they have developed a questionnaire and need the input of subjects who – like many of GODAN’s partners – work with agricultural data.

Please share the link with your networks, and with anyone you know may be interested in taking part: https://forms.gle/SsiKE2WF8si31aFK7

The results will form part of an upcoming publication on the topic. Find out more below.

Introduction

Agrisemantics allows the meaning of specific concepts in agricultural data to be clearly defined and understood by organisations who consume or produce data in the agricultural supply chain. This can be achieved with publicly available resources such as taxonomies, ontologies and thesauri which when created for agriculture are collectively referred to as Agrisemantics. These resources have been available for at least the last twenty years. The adoption of these resources by the agricultural sector has been limited and at best uneven in quality or performance. This study is designed to understand why the adoption of Agrisemantics is stymied.

Project Aims

The main aim of this project is to gain an understanding of the commonalities of adoption of Agrisemantics of all communities. From these common themes we wish to identify the drivers and roadblocks to the adoption of AgriSemantics in private industry as well as possible blindspots in the current development of publicly available resources. A secondary aim of this study is to publicise Agrisemantics to decision makers. The current COVID crisis has exposed the fragility of Agricultural Supply Chains. Agrisemantics facilities interoperability and has the potential to distribute the risk by allowing the ad-hoc integration of small suppliers into larger supply chain systems. This distribution of risk removes single points of failure in Supply Chains which are created by small numbers of large suppliers. However many decision makers are unaware of this. It is hoped that this study will raise awareness how Agrisemantics can benefit Agricultural companies.

Methodology

The research methodology uses in person interviews and a questionnaire to elicit opinions about:

1. The adoption of AgriSemantics in private industry and the public sector
2. The flaws in current AgriSemantic public resources.
3. How does funding impede or enable AgriSemantic projects
4. Is there any incentive for knowledge transfer from publicly funded projects to private industry.
5. Is there any pressure from government agencies to force private industry to adopt standards.
6. The measurable benefit of semantics resources and technologies to the targeted goals of researchers and business decision makers.

The interview process is a free form interview where the interviewee expresses their opinion about the core themes as well issues that they think is important.

The study is interested with interviewing people with the following profiles:

1. Individuals who approve funding for AgriSemantic projects
2. Individuals who have served on committees that set funding criteria for Agriculture
3. Innovation projects
4. Technical people who work with data integration on day to day basis
5. Project Managers
6. CEOs of AgriBusiness Companies
7. NGOs who produce publicly available semantic resources
8. Academics
9. Technical professionals serving on committees tasked with the development of standards supporting interoperability.
10. Agribusiness entrepreneurs
11. Supply chain professionals

Study Outputs

The study aims to produce a high quality policy paper which seeks to influence all levels of the Agrisemantic, and Agricultural communities, and put Agrisemantics front and centre in the current debate about food security and stability of the food supply chain.

REGISTER HERE

Modern data analysis often requires special techniques for handling complex data structures. Interactive graphs can provide insights into multivariate datasets by communicating the key aspects in a more intuitive way than isolated bar charts or static maps.

This webinar will present the WebGLayer tool as an enabler of dynamic visualisations that make spatio-temporal patterns, relationships and trends in the underlying data more apparent. Using case studies from Pilsen (CZ) and Flanders (BE) we’ll show how policy makers can use WebGLayer to address local problems such as traffic congestion and road accidents.

Others who might find this event useful include web developers, Open Source enthusiasts, social scientists, journalists and civil society groups interested in exploring social issues through data visualisations.

You will hear from:

Even if you can’t join live, register now and we’ll send you a link to the recorded webcast to watch at your convenience.

The PoliRural project has issued the third newsletter from June 2020 with the following content:

• Population and Rural Attractiveness, a Sample System Dynamics Model by Antoni Oliva Quesada (22sistema)
• Coronavirus vaccine being developed at MIGAL – Galilee Research Institute, Israel by Prof. Uri Marchaim (MIGAL – Galilee Research Institute)
• PoliRural Innovation Hub by Petr Uhli (Czech Center for Science and Society)
• Building Synergies: SHERPA – Rural Science-Society-Policy Interfaces by Roxana Vilcu (Communications Officer for SHERPA)

For full text of the newsletter please go to https://polirural.eu/newsletter/3/.

Live Webinar

How to overcome data challenges in transport policy making? Lessons from the PoliVisu pilots

Register at https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_sbaLolXgQ6yIyU1xYb6XOQ

In this webinar we’ll discuss various data challenges experienced by cities, with a particular focus on three PoliVisu pilots: Ghent, Flanders and Issy-les-Moulineaux. Representatives of local and regional administrations will speak about the issues they faced and how they addressed them using the PoliVisu solution.

This webinar is open to everyone. That said, people who would find the event especially useful are public sector staff who either work with data directly (analysts, data officers etc.) or depend on it to make informed decisions e.g. department managers, councilors, mayors, CEOs, elected officials.

You will hear from:

Why should I attend?

• Learn about data challenges that cities in Europe are facing
• Discover ways to overcome them using best practice from the PoliVisu pilots
• Find out why PoliVisu was created and how it can help your city make smarter policy decisions
• Get a sneak peek at other PoliVisu services and future events

Even if you can’t join live, register now and we’ll send you a link to the recorded webcast to watch at your convenience.