ISQ promotes Smart Agriculture through the use of Satellites

ISQ has just launched an integrated decision support system for sustainable agriculture that helps carry out preventive actions by integrating satellite Earth Observation and Data Science methods. This innovative project called "InteliCROP" is integrated into the initiative of the European Space Agency "ESA SMALL ARTES" and is funded by the IPN – Pedro Nunes Institute, with the support of the Foundation for Science and Technology and ANACOM. "ISQ is the only partner Portuguese the project, being responsible for creating and testing artificial intelligence algorithms to analyze satellite data. This analysis aims to predict the appearance or spread of xylella in olive groves, a very critical problem in European cultures," explains Pedro Matias, President of ISQ. The objective is to discover patterns and correlations in climatic and agronomic variables that would otherwise be very difficult to detect by conventional human analysis or analytical models, allowing us to act, for example, against phytosanitary problems. The agricultural sector faces several challenges related to the growing variability of climatic conditions, directly associated with the dynamics of crop growth, their health, diseases and pest effects. InteliCROP "will provide technological resources and services to support the decision for sustainable agriculture. This is possible by analyzing information and forecasts about crop production and health, with adequate decision-making time as well as contingency plans," adds Pedro Matias. The InteliCROP decision support structure is developed by integrating the capabilities of earth observation methods and data with predictive modeling from artificial intelligence methods, to look for patterns and correlations in specific agroclimatic variables, enabling the mapping of agricultural occurrences. ISQ has been betting on the agricultural and agro-industrial sector "because it is a sector that today has a strong pressure, either through the growth of the world population or through the need to develop innovative solutions in the framework of sustainable development and growing environmental concerns and therefore needs to innovate. This project, together with the creation of the first Digital Hub for Agriculture in Portugal is a good example of this", explains the President of ISQ. Portugal can today "lead this process of digital transformation of the primary sector because it is a great place to develop several pilot projects that can then be easily exported and internationalized", concludes Pedro Matias. For the development of this initiative and its dynamic, ISQ has the support of CONFAGRI, Herdade do Esporão and IRTA – Spanish Institute of Research and Agroalimentar Technology.