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Grapes and agriculture in the italian Trentino valley

Pilot Service – Supporting European Farmers’ Decisions in Perennial Agriculture

Destination Earth > DestinE Uses > Pilot Service – Supporting European Farmers’ Decisions in Perennial Agriculture

Climate information tailored to the specific needs of agriculture in Italy,

Main contractor: Amigo S.R.L (Italy)

What is it? Using data from the Climate Change Adaptation Digital Twin (Climate DT) Amigo and its partners will provide climate information tailored to the specific needs of agriculture.

Concrete applications examples:

The extremely high-resolution data provided by the pilot service (up to 50m spatial resolution for selected areas using a microclimate model in addition to the Climate DT data) supports users to make decisions in crop management and climate adaptation. The service focuses on the challenges faced by perennial crops (those not needing to be replanted every year) that have longer growing cycles and delayed adaptation windows.

Main target end users:

Farmers and related stakeholders, decision makers

High spatial and temporal resolution to support Italian grape and apple producers 

Agriculture is a sector particularly sensitive to the effects of climate change and weather extremes. The Pilot Service “Supporting European Farmers’ Decisions in Perennial Agriculture through DestinE Solutions” aims to create an interactive interface customised for the needs of producers of perennial crops (e.g., apples, grapes). The pilot service will be deployed in the Italian region of Trentino but the system can be scaled up for farmers throughout Europe.  

The system leverages data from the Climate DT simulations at high spatial and temporal scales, aiming to support farmers to better plan and implement their adaptation strategies and management practices such as relocating production, adopting new species, redesign irrigation, pest management and more.    

Some of the recurrent problems faced by Italian grape and apple producers, extensive to most Europe, are heatwaves, the shortening of the phenological cycle posing organizational challenges, water scarcity or the rise in minimum winter temperatures that allow the start of the new production cycle. 

The solution developed will provide specific information to address these issues such as Standardised Heatwave Index, temperature-based indicators for the phenological cycle and the minimum winter temperature and other variables identified in the interaction with the users.  

Additionally, the users will have access to a set of best practices linked to identified ‘what-if’ climate scenarios. 

The pilot service, will include a user-friendly dashboard with a dynamic menu that enables to select between general climate information and tailored requests, both at the resolution provided by the Climate DT.  

The default climate information will be displayed through interactive maps, charts and tables displaying seasonal mean temperatures, precipitation anomalies and other bioclimatic indicators, allowing users to choose different models and scenarios. 

The tailored climate information includes the possibility to input specific crop types and criteria for the phenological phases and includes  visual feedback and high-resolution climate information (up to 50m) for pre-selected production areas based on the open-source microclimate model microclimf. The pilot service will aim at deploying the graphic user interface system in Destination Earth’s Service Platform.  

Amigo works with highly specialised subcontractors and users to develop and co-design the pilot service. The contract team has already developed projects together and includes: 

  • AgriDuemila, an innovative brokerage company with a network of more than 14,000 farmers in the Italian region of Trentino. 
  • The Finnish Meteorological Institute and MetNorway, both national meteorological services will contribute with their expertise working in DestinE and the Copernicus services. 
  • DeepBlue is a research and consultancy SME with a vast experience in user-centered design, co-design and co-development as well as scientific dissemination and communication. 
  • CNR-ISMAR is the main National Research Centre in Italy, with strong technical skills in climate science and applications for climate data. 

Amigo s.r.l., the lead contractor, is a climate service SME with a wide network in the agricultural sector and a long experience designing user-tailored infrastructures for climate services.  

ECMWF, as a key implementing entity of the Destination Earth initiative of the European Union, has issued a series of pilot services contracts that demonstrate the added value of the Weather-Induced Extremes Digital Twin and the Climate Change Adaptation Digital Twin, and the wider DestinE architecture. The key target users of the pilot services are the sectors most impacted by climate change and weather extremes, ranging from maritime operations, coastal areas, energy and more. The contracts, reflecting the co-design strategy at the heart of DestinE, include a specific call for machine learning and artificial intelligence-based proposals as a part of the impulse to ML/AI techniques within Destination Earth led by the European Commission’s DG CNECT. 

Copyright title image: AdobeStock – lorenza62