ICT in Agriculture

Ινστιτούτο Γεωργικών Ερευνών
Κλάδος Αγροτικής Ανάπτυξης
INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION
TECHNOLOGY USAGE IN AGRICULTURE
George Adamides
Senior Agricultural Research Officer
Agricultural Research Institute
1

Overview
 About the Agricultural Research Institute (ARI)
 ICTs in agriculture
 Examples of ICT related projects at ARI
 The situation of ICTs in Cyprus
 From research to dissemination
 Future directions
2

About the Agricultural Research Institute
 Established in 1962 as a cooperative project between
the government of Cyprus and the FAO UNDP (Special
Fund) and entrusted to the government of Cyprus in
1967
 ARI as an integral part of the MARDE acts as an
instrument of the Cyprus Government to develop its
agricultural and environmental policy
 In 2000 it was selected by the EU as a Centre of
Excellence in Agriculture and the Environment as a
recognition of its high standards of scientific research
 Representative of Cyprus to the Standing Committee for
Agricultural Research (SCAR, EC) and in ‘Food,
Agriculture and Fisheries and Biotechnology’ Program
Committee of HORIZON 2020
3

Web: http://www.ari.gov.cy
Twitter: @ARI_RD
Vision and Mission
The vision of the Agricultural Research Institute is to be a model
center of knowledge and innovation, and lead agriculture in Cyprus
to a better future by strengthening rural development, improving
the quality of life, and ensuring the sustainable use of natural
resources.
Its Mission is to:
- conduct research aiming to create and transfer knowledge for the
development of the primary sector and to solve problems at the
farmers’ level.
-transfer research results to stakeholders through modern
educational programs and dissemination tools.
-strengthen rural development and contribute to the adoption of a
sustainable rural policy and innovation offer.

ARI Experimental Stations
Athalassa
Polis
Achelia (2)
Saittas
Zygi
Xylotymbou
200 hectares
Famagusta
NICOSIA
Kyrenia
Larnaka
Limassol
Pafos
Marinos Markou, Chief Research Officer 5

Why ICTs in agriculture
 “European agriculture could gain a decisive competitive
advantage if the ICT sector and the farming community
could work together to generate a wave of bottom-up
ICT innovations across Europe designed to create more
productive and sustainable agricultural systems” – EC
https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/digitising-european-industry
 “World population is expected to surpass the 9 billion
mark by 2050, and agricultural production will need to
increase by 60 percent from its 2005/2007 levels to
meet this additional food demand. ICT applications can
make a significant contribution to meet this future
global food needs” – FAO of the United Nations
http://www.fao.org/in-action/e-agriculture-strategy-guide/activities/ict-
mediated-agricultural-solutions-in-asia-pacific/en/
6

How ICTs help farmers and agriculture stakeholders
 By collecting and sharing timely and accurate
information on weather, inputs, markets, and prices;
 By feeding information into research and development
initiatives;
 By disseminating knowledge to farmers;
 By connecting farmers with stakeholders in the food
supply chain;
 By diagnosing problems (e.g. mobile phones, drones);
 By raising awareness of general opportunities or needs
or threads;
 ….
7

Twitter: @ARI_RD
Applications of satellite remote sensing in
agriculture
Methodology
LAI-WDVI
y = 46,74x2
- 34,83x + 7,89
R2
= 0,79
0
0,5
1
1,5
2
2,5
3
3,5
4
4,5
5
0,00 0,10 0,20 0,30 0,40 0,50 0,60 0,70
WDVI
LAI(m2/m2)
REMOTELY SENSED DATA
Penman-Monteith adapted to satellite data method flow chart
WEATHER DATA
VEGETATION
INDICES
ALBEDO
CROP EVAPOTRANSPIRATION
MAPS
P-M adapted
to satellite
data
LAI/CH
MAPS
ALBEDO
MAPS
Rn, es, ea, pa, cp
rah, rs
ESSEM COST Action ES1106
Project goals:
- Assess the impact of climate changes
on crop irrigation needs
- Investigate how these crops have
managed to adapt to the new
conditions
- Investigate whether their lifecycle
has differentiated according to their
irrigation needs and climatic
conditions.

Telerobotics in agriculture
9
Current spraying methods

Human-Robot Collaboration in agriculture
 Human-Robot Collaboration
10
Project goals:
- Farmers’safety
- Farmers and consumer health issues
- Improve efficiency
- Increase productivity
- Reduce production costs
- Decrease impact on the environment
SAFETY + Increasing overall system performance and
efficient use of inputs «produce more-pollute less»

Twitter: @ARI_RD
Building an experimental agricultural robot sprayer
11

AgriRobot sprayer
12
Source: George Adamides, Agricultural Research Institute, Cyprus

Statistics about ICTs in agriculture
 Source: Rural Development in the European Union
Statistical and Economic Information Report)
– EU-27 farms with access to PC data not available
– EU-27 farms with access to the Internet 83%
 Source: USDA Statistics
– USA farms with access to PC 85%
– USA farms with access to the Internet 83%
 Source: ARI 2018 field survey (preliminary results)
– Cyprus farms with access to PC 49%
– Cyprus farms with access to Internet 52%
13

The situation in Cyprus
14
2011 Field survey
Random stratified sample: 602 participants from 219 rural communities

Socio-economic & demographic characteristics
15

PC and Internet usage
 60,2% use the PC
 54,2% use the Internet
16

What means do farmers use to access (agricultural
related) knowledge
17

Effectiveness of information sources
18

Findings
 Use of the PC
– Gender, age, education level, income, whether or
not they are members of a producers’ group
 Use of the Internet
– Age, education level, location of the farm,
employment type (part-time, full-time)
 In general;
– Young and educated farmers, in particular livestock
farmers, farmers with high income and part-timers,
are more likely to use ICTs.
19

Mobile phone use (2013 field survey about mobile
phone use)
20

The trend is encouraging
21
37.6
40
52
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
Year
Cyprus farmers using the Internet for agricultural purposes
2011 2013 2018

Dissemination
In-house design and development of simple and easy to use
applications

Twitter: @ARI_RD
Monthly irrigation needs
23
http://news.ari.gov.cy/agrotis/2017/2017%20Sep-Dec.pdf

Twitter: @ARI_RD
Fertilizers estimation for fertigation
24

Twitter: @ARI_RD
SmartFarmer project
25

Research directions - opportunities
Precision
agriculture
Precision
farming
IoT – AI -
Smart ICTs
Big data -
Cloud
Drones – UAV -
Robotics
26

References
 Adamides and Stylianou. 2018. Evaluation of the radio as an agricultural
information source in rural areas, in Journal of Agricultural & Food Information
 Adamides et al. 2017. Design and development of a semi-autonomous
agricultural vineyard sprayer: Human-robot interaction aspects, in Journal of
Field Robotics 34(5):20
 Adamides et al. 2017. HRI usability evaluation of interaction modes for a
teleoperated agricultural robotic sprayer, in Applied Ergonomics 62:237-246
 Adamides et al. 2015. Usability Guidelines for the Design of Robot
Teleoperation: A Taxonomy, in IEEE Transactions on Human-Machine Systems
256,262(45):2
 Adamides et al. 2003. Factors affecting PC and internet usage by the rural
population of Cyprus, in Agricultural Economics Review 14(1)
 Adamides and Stylianou. 2013. ICT and mobile phone use for agricultural
knowledge sharing by Cypriot farmers, in Agris On-line Papers in Economics and
Informatics (2):3-9
 SmartFarmer - Βελτίωση δεξιοτήτων για «Έξυπνες» Καλλιέργειες ως ένα
καινοτόμο εργαλείο Αγροτικής και Οικονομικής ανάπτυξης - ΕΚΠΑΙΔΕΥΤΙΚΟ
ΥΛΙΚΟ e-book http://www.smartfarmerproject.eu
27

THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION
Contact:
George Adamides
MSc Computer Science, Ph.D. Information and Communication Systems
Agricultural Research Institute
Tel. +357-22403133
ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/George_Adamides
Twitter: George_Adamides
Skype: georgeadamides
E-mail: gadamides@ari.gov.cy
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