Welcome and introduction newsletter https://www.recap-h2020.eu/

1. ISSUE #1 │ p.1 │ November 2016
www.recap-h2020.eu
“RECAP H2020 Project”
… NATURE is the bedrock of a green economy
and any sustainable future
editorial
The need for a sustainable future, has led progressively to the
integration of environmental concerns into the Common Agricultural
Policy (CAP).
Since 2003, EU farmers receiving direct payments are subject to the
“Cross-Compliance” scheme, a set of compulsory legislative standards
and obligations.
However, by making the CAP more compatible to the citizens’
expectations, not only results to a better environment, but it also
generates many administrative burdens for the monitoring authorities
and the farmers.
As a broad range of technological advances benefit agriculture,
remote sensing and ICT, offer the possibility to reduce the
dependence on labor and time-intensive work.
The RECAP project, aims to develop an improved monitoring of the
CAP obligations and make cross-compliance more efficient.
Through this semiannual reporting of the RECAP, we invite you to
learn more about the project, as well as, the technology produced and
the benefits offered to different user groups, such as Paying Agencies,
farmers and agricultural consultants.
We welcome you to our first edition reminding that …
In this issue
p.1 editorial
p.2 about RECAP
p.3 up to date
p.3 what’s new
p.4 our point of view
p.4 the RECAP consortium

2. ISSUE #1 │ p.2 November 2016
RECAP is an innovation project
that aims to add value in the
remote monitoring of the CAP.
But is there really a remote
monitoring of the CAP? The
answer is yes.
Airborne and satellite imagery is
used by the Paying Agencies to
check farmers’ declarations and
verify the compliance of their
farming practices with the cross-
compliance agri-environmental
rules. However, this is not
enough and the authorities also
perform on-the-spot checks to
guarantee compliance.
Satellite technology though
moves fast and images are
getting more and more highly
resolute.
So the idea was to combine
state-of-the-art remote sensing
with modern ICT and get a
service tool for all stakeholders
involved (farmers, agricultural
consultants, paying agencies).
RΕCAP will be a cloud-based
Software as a Service (SaaS)
platform which will collect
information from open satellite
data and commercial channels of
Serbia with the participation of
farmers, agricultural consultants
and public authorities.
RECAP aspires to offer farmers
the ability to comply with
regulations, enable agricultural
consultants to develop their own
services within the platform and
reduce the administrative
burdens for the Paying Agencies.
RECAP started in May 2016 and
is funded by the Horizon 2020
programme “ICT- enabled open
government”.
satellite data providers. It will
extract useful features from
earth observation, correlate
them with user-generated and
geo-information data and model
this information for enabling the
identification of potential
breaches of compliance.
During the project the RΕCAP
services will be tested and
validated in an operational
environment. This will start
about a year from now in the UK,
Spain, Greece, Lithuania and
about RECAP
To benefit Paying
Agencies through less
administrative work
core aims of RECAP
To offer farmers
a tool to comply with
regulations
To enable consultants
to develop their own
services
“The environmental dimension of the CAP is here to stay.
We have a shared obligation to deliver fully on environmental objectives”
Commissioner Phil Hogan, at the 2016 EU Farmers Congress in Athens

3. ISSUE #1 │ p.3 November 2016
The second meeting of the project took
place in Greece on the 3rd and 4th of
November 2016.
The consortium took stock of the first
six months of the project and
welcomed the members of the
Advisory Board whose deep knowledge
and experience is expected to enhance
project results.
During the meeting, the platform’s user
needs were discussed, as well as, the
issues and special requirements of the
paying agencies and mostly farmers.
The presented results were based on
interviews given by farmers in the pilot
countries during last summer, when
they expressed their personal needs
and expectations from the platform. In
parallel, the consortium decided upon
a pilot testing sample and planning
methods for the co-production phase
of RECAP platform that follows.
The draft system architecture, in the
context of the service integration and
customization, was also presented to
the project partners.
Further, the project communication
progress and relative performance
indicators were discussed, as well as,
the launch of the RECAP website and
social media.
Venture Capital available for space-based companies
The Seraphim Space Fund of venture capital is set to boost European SMEs and start-
up companies developing space-based applications, services and technologies. The
fund offers a springboard for all space technology, emerging products, applications
and associated services that have been developed with ESA’s help. This includes
software, hardware and integrated solutions for companies that use satellite data for
a wide range of applications such as intelligent transport, smart cities, maritime,
agriculture, oil and gas.
ECA Reports
The European Court of Auditors recently published two reports, “The Land Parcel
Identification System: a useful tool to determine the eligibility of agricultural land” and
“Making cross‑compliance more effective”. The auditors examined whether the Land
Parcel Identification Systems were well managed by Member States and adequately
monitored by the European Commission. Furthermore they examined whether cross-
compliance management and control systems were effective and whether they could
be further simplified.
up to date
what’s new

4. ISSUE #1 │ p.4 November 2016
contact details
Dr. Machi Simeonidou
Project Coordinator
DRAXIS Environmental S.A.
+30 2310 274566
info@recap-h2020.eu
www.recap-h2020.eu
the RECAP consortium
The RECAP project enables a better implementation of the Common
Agricultural Policy (CAP) and increases the transparency of compliance
monitoring procedures related to the CAP. To this end, RECAP enhances a
sustainable way of farming by avoiding environmentally harmful agricultural
activity and provides to farmers the incentives for environmentally beneficial
public goods and services. Additionally, RECAP supports farmers to better
comply with CAP requirements so they will be able to respect common rules
and standards for preserving the environment and the landscape.
Machi Simeonidou DRAXIS ENVIRONMENTAL SA, RECAP Project
Coordinator
With the help of RECAP, farmers will get more understanding and knowledge
of CAP requirements and how to fulfill them, plus, the open free satellite
data will make it possible to better plan rotation of crops. For the paying
agencies RECAP will be a tool for making much more effective controls
based on the new risk assessment opportunities. In principle, RECAP can
change the overall understanding of the control itself, which can lead in to
the changes of related EU legislation in the near future.
Tomas Orlickas NATIONAL PAYING AGENCY OF LITHUANIA
The project will alert farmers to activities that could damage the
environment, and to the rules they should comply with, so that they can act
before any damage happens.
Jason Beedell STRUTT & PARKER LLP
Iniciativas Innovadoras SAL is one of the Spanish partners in RECAP project
and will lead WP4 – “Deployment and operation”, being responsible to
design and set up the pilot, coordinate and monitor the pilots in the different
project countries (Greece, England, Lithuania, Spain and Serbia) and
evaluate the extent to which RECAP will meet its objectives.
Joseba Aranguren Garde INICIATIVAS INNOVADORAS SAL
our point of view
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UNITED KINGODOM
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