Research project T4/DD/23A (Research action T4)
The objective of this project, is the adaptation of an agricultural production forecasting system, established by the European Community (MARS project), to the typical conditions of Belgium.
For this type of novel tool for the monitoring of the crop state and the estimation of agricultural production, there is a strong incentive to use existent systems, which have proven their operational use and application. Clearly, this approach saves time and financial resources for the implementation of a new system.
The adaptation of the European forecasting model allows the project participants to profit from all experience that originated from the ancillary research performed in the framework of the model and its development programme, which has rendered the forecasting system very performant.
The scientific team (Centre de Recherches Agronomiques - Fondation Universitaire Luxembourgeoise - Vlaamse Instelling voor Technologische Onderzoek), which will be charged to execute the adaptation, encompasses the necessary competences, to fulfil this task successfully.
Their tasks, essentially, come down to the completion of the data bases of the European system to specify the local conditions and particularities of Belgium, to modify the spatial scale of the forecasting system and to analyse the functions of the forecasting system necessary to support a change in spatial scale. Also the adapted forecasting system will be calibrated and validated in its new context, the MARS system will have to be modified to be able to incorporate satellite information obtained from the NOAA platform, while the potential of the SPOT4 VEGETATION sensor to replace NOAA AVHRR data will be studied.
The project team will also have to take care of making a user-friendly forecasting tool being perfectly operational.
