Barcelona, 12-14 September

GTCAP events

26th MARS Conference

After this long period of absence of physical meetings, we have been pleased to held the
26th MARS Conference from Monday 12 to Wednesday 14th of September in Barcelona (Spain).
The conference took place in the Barcelò Sants Hotel.

It was jointly organised by Joint Research Centre of the EC (JRC), the Spanish Paying agency (FEGA) and Ministry of Climate Action, Food and Rural Agenda of Catalonia (GENCAT).

The MARS conference brought together the community of technical experts in the domain of administration and control of the area based subsidy schemes. It covered the technologies, methods and protocols that bring effectiveness and efficiency to that domain. Participation was open to experts from administrations, industry, academic and research institutions.

Description

In addition to the post-Covid situation, this 2022 the Conference was rather special. It took place very early compared to previous editions to foster some technical discussions before the entry into force of the new CAP legislation in January 2023.

The themes addressed were built on the paradigm shift between the past delivery model based on compliance to a new delivery model based on performance. The agenda contained the following sessions:

• The state of Copernicus based technology,
• The CAP new delivery and management model,
• IACS data management processes (including QA),
• Introducing Performance towards Environmental and Climate targets,
• Technical community developments (e.g. geotagged imagery, artificial intelligence, H2020 project outcomes, beneficiary interaction and other)

• Introduction of the Conference: keynotes
• The paradigm shift: end of an era: lessons learnt from the compliance model
• Using new technologies: driving the paradigm shift
• The 2023+ CAP: requirements, instruments and challenges
• The environmental ambition: the performance targets
• The land ahead: information on the management of land
• Wrap-up and closure of the Conference

Agenda, presentations, posters

Here is the final agenda. By clicking on the speaker name you can download the corresponding presentation or poster

Monday 12 September Afternoon
Registration
Opening session - Keynotes
Video presentation from DG JRC, Stephen QUEST
Keynote speech from JRC, Bettina BARUTH
Keynote speech from DG AGRI, Christina BORCHMANN
Keynote speech from Secretary General of Agriculture and Food of Spain, Fernando MIRANDA
Keynote speech from the Minister of Agriculture of Catalonia, Teresa JORDÀ
Video about Catalan agricultural sector

The paradigm shift: end of an era session
1 - SIEX – Farm systems Information System for Agricultural Holdings, David SÁNCHEZ (FEGA, ES)
2 - DUN 2001-2023, Laura RUANA PAVON (Gencat, ES)
3 - Special Report 16/2022: Data in the Common Agricultural Policy, Emmanuel RAUCH (ECA)
4 - Lessons learnt from DG Agri audits, Els DE ROECK (DG AGRI H3)
5 - EUSI VHR satellite data provision: Past experience and future prospects, Pascal SCHICHOR (EUSI, DE)
6 - Airbus data provision: Past experience and future proposals, Franziska DIESING (Airbus, FR)
7 - The On-The-Spot Checks image management (hand)over, Philippe LOUDJANI (JRC D5)
8 - Integrated System (IACS) legal requirements, Ana Luisa RODRIGUES (DG AGRI C1)
Q&A Floor given to audience
Closure of session
Evening social events
Barcelona city sightseeing / Sagrada Família visit Organised by Gencat
Icebreaker at Barceló Sants hotel Offered by FEGA

Tuesday 13 September morning
Using new technologies session
9 - Joint development: lesson learned, Wim DEVOS (JRC D5)
10 - The state of the CbM-technology, Ferdinando URBANO (JRC D5)
11 - Monitoring practices set with Member States, Rafal ZIELINSKI (DG JRC D5)
12 - Role of the Cartographic and Geological Institute of Catalonia (ICGC) in IACS management, Antonio MAGARIÑOS (ICGC, ES)
13 - Combining LPIS orthophoto and S2 data automatic processing to monitor land abandonment, Roberto HERRERO, Hector SÁNCHEZ (Tragsatec, ES)
14 - Enabling the use of geotagged photos, Wim DEVOS (JRC D5)
Session powered by PechaKucha
15 - Farmers in the epicenter: An augmented reality enabled geotagged photos framework with high degree of quality and trust (H2020 DIONE project), Valantis TSIAKOS (ICCS, EL)
16 - Soil quality and land degradation assessment using low-cost, miniaturized spectrometers (H2020 DIONE project), Kostas KARYOTIS (I-BEC, EL)
17 - Advanced farm management platform, Carlos TORRES (SERESCO, ES)
18 - Neural Network approach for automatically label/classify field crop photos, Oliver BUCK (Eftas, DE)
19 - Practical experience with the GI FotoApp from agile development to use by the applicants, Roland KÖRBER (Geoinformatik, DE)
20 - Automatic Crop Classification, Pedro Pablo MENCHERO (Tragsatec, ES)
21 - New ways to update LPIS using VVHR satellite imagery combined with digital analytics and artificial intelligence, Vassil VASSILEV (TechnoLogica, BG)
22 - The use of super-resolution data in production of AMS markers (H2020 DIONE project), Grega MILCINSKI (Sinergise, SI)
Q&A Floor given to audience

Tuesday 13 September afternoon
The 2023+ CAP session
23 - Building assurance through the New Delivery Model, Christina BORCHMANN (DG AGRI)
24 - Integrated System vision of AGRI, LUCZFALVY JANCSÓ, Alain VANDER VELDE (DG AGRI C1)
25 - The CbM QA Exercise: Considerations for the quality assessments, Daniele BORIO (JRC D5)
26 - 2021 CbM Quality Assessment, FEGA - TRAGSATEC PROJECT, María ALONSO (Tragsatec, ES)
27 - Outcomes of the monitoring test in France in 2022, Élodie BUARD, Émeline APPERT (ASP, FR)
28 - Putting all the puzzles together and how they play along in a real-life scenario, Grega MILCINSKI (Sinergise, SI)
Session powered by PechaKucha
29 - Area Monitoring System in Sweden, Niklas BOKE OLEN (Swedish Board of Agriculture, SE)
30 - First Year of CbM in Bavaria – What we planned to do, what we are actually doing, Anne BARTH (Bayern Lander, DE)
31 - Pilot testing on monitoring permanent crops (vineyards, HOP yards, orchards), Lucie SAVELKOVA (SZIF, CZ), Luboš KUCERA (GISAT, CZ)
32 - Implementing satellite monitoring of agriculture across Europe. Lessons learnt from the Sen4CAP and SatCAP systems available on the CREODIAS platform, Jan MUSIAŁ (Cloudferro, PL)
33 - Operationalisation of AMS in Germany, David HERRMANN (GAF, DE)
34 - Monitoring small parcels using automated photo interpretation – Experiences from Rhineland-Palatinate (Germany), Dominik BENZ (DLR, DE), Joachim MÜLLER (GDV, DE)
35 - Planet Fusion vs Sentinel-2 in CbM operational environment: 24% less yellow cases, David NAFRÍA GARCÍA (Itacyl, ES)
36 - Lessons learnt and evolution of Sen4CAP system thanks to its users community to support the CAP Monitoring using Sentinel-1 and -2, Diane HEYMANS (UCL, BE)
37 - AMS Service Implementations via Open Value Chains, Gerhard TRIEBNIG (EOX, AT)
38 - FUSION - Application Ready Data for CAP, Erik ZILLMANN (Planet, DE)
39 - The new platform to simplify the relationship between paying agencies and beneficiaries of cap funds, Rudy FAVARO (Abaco, IT)
40 - The AI Monitoring digital System for the new CAP legislation, Franck RANERA (Serco, IT)
Q&A Floor given to audience
Closure of session
Evening social events Gala Dinner at Palau Reial de Pedralbes Offered by Gencat

Wednesday 14 September morning
The environmental ambition session
41 - The EU climate policy framework. Towards climate neutrality in the land use, forestry and agriculture sector, Simon KAY (Video recorded) (DG CLIMA C3)
42 - EU Grassland Watch. Monitoring grasslands in Natura 2000 sites, Bruno COMBAL (DG ENV D3)
43 - Challenges and opportunities in improving peatland inventories: insights from the SEPLA project, Emanuele LUGATO (JRC D5)
44 - IACS & the environmental ambition, Nicola HOLSTEN (DG AGRI C1)
45 - LPIS Landscape Features management in the EU. Results of the Questionnaire, Jorge MATA LÓPEZ (FEGA, ES)
46 - IACS65 Interoperability case study for landscape features - with the participation of 4 member states, Bernadett CSONKA (Agreo, HU)
47 The use of aerial imagery and a high resolution DSM to predict the location of hedgerow features in and around Ireland’s LPIS parcels, Christopher COLLINS (Mallon Technology, IE)
Session powered by PechaKucha
48 - Identification and monitoring of Landscape Features in the context of biodiversity protection in NL, Henk JANSSEN (Neo, NL)
49 - DIONE Environmental Performance Tool & visualization component, Giorgos GKOTSIS (CORE, EL)
50 - AI-based identification of herb-rich grassland based on satellite observations (optical and radar) and field-photos in The Netherlands, Itsaso GUEMBE CIA (NEO B.V., NL)
51 - Under the Radar: use of radar satellites as the main solution for land monitoring, Erikas BERONTAS (JSC COETUS, LT)
Q&A Floor given to audience

Wednesday 14 September Afternoon
The ‘land’ ahead session
52 - The role of agricultural data, Evangelia MOURMOURA, Mohamed EL AYDAM (DG AGRI A4)
53 - Horizon Europe co-funded candidate partnership: Agriculture of Data, Doris MARQUARDT (DG AGRI F2) Jesper STENDAL (DAA, DK)
54 - Perspectives after NIVA project, Sander JANSSEN (WUR, NL)
55 - LPIS/GSA for land characterisation, Philippe LOUDJANI (JRC D5)
56 - Feature of Interest Development, Diarmuid DWYER (MoA, IE)
57 - Towards Monitoring and evaluation, Vincenzo ANGILERI (JRC D5)
Q&A overall reflections
Wrap-up / conclusions FEGA/Gencat/DG AGRI/JRC
End of Conference

Posters:
1 - EOX AgriApp - Data outlet services and white-label WebGUIs for monitoring agriculture, Stefan ACHTSNIT (EOX, AT)
2 - Comparison of high-resolution Sentinel-2-Enhanced and Planet FUSION data for CAP monitoring of small and narrow parcels, Jędrzej BOJANOWSKI (Cloudferro, PL)
3 - Crop type classification using High-Resolution Vegetation Phenology and Productivity product, Jędrzej BOJANOWSKI (Cloudferro, PL)
4 - Methodology of calculating spatial indicators contributing to R.31 Preserving habitats and species and to R.34 preserving landscape features, Bernadett CSONKA (Agreo, HU)
5 - Agro-environmental indicators : carbon storage, nitrate leaching and biodiversity, Emmanuel DE LAROCHE (ASP, FR, H2020 NIVA project)
6 - Integrated Administration and Control System (IACS) data sharing, Guillaume MARCHAND (IGN,FR, H2020 NIVA project)
7 - A Decision Support System using multi-source data for CAP monitoring, Yorgos EFSTATHIOU (NEUROPUBLIC, GR, H2020 NIVA project)
8 - Gaiasense smart farming system: an innovative integrated service to enhance farming performance. Yorgos EFSTATHIOU (NEUROPUBLIC, GR)
9 - Checks by monitoring (CbM) in Portugal, FALCÃO (IFAP, PT)
10 - Robotics projects, Miguel FUENTES GARCIA (SERESCO, ES)
11 - Sustainable agriculture in the framework of EIFFEL project, Kostas KARYOTIS (IBEC, GR)
12 - Satellite-derived monitoring products fulfilling the CAP Area Monitoring System (AMS) Regulations, David KOLITZUS (GeoVille, AT)
13 - Background and technical requirements for the New CAP and Agriculture Eco-schemes project (PEOPLE4CAP), Luboš KUCERA (GISAT, CZ)
14 - Open LOD platform based on HPC capabilities for Integrated Administration of Common Agriculture Policy (Open IACS), Olga TZOUVARA, Nikos PETALITIS, Mat Max MARTINEZ, Javier Garcia GUZMAN (OPEKEPE, GR)
15 - Resolving Inconclusive Parcels in Slovenia with Planet Fusion" and will be a case study about the Slovenian national paying agency, Stefanie MEYER (Planet, DE)
16 - User-oriented sustainable territorial management, applying integrated EO-based monitoring and ISO compliant in-situ information on land cover ( Sofia-the capital of Bulgaria - case), Kristian MILENOV (ASDE, BG)
17 - Cyprus Controls By Monitoring Philosophy, Simone PAPAKOSTANDINOU (CAPO, CY)
18 - ArcGIS Integrated Administration and Control System (IACS) Software Architecture, Juan PERALTA MALVAR, Catalina ESCUDERO (ESRI, ES)
19 - CAP interventions and life traits of the Farmland Bird Index species. Implementation and monitoring aspects, Carolina PUERTA PINERO (JRC)
20 - Automated, scalable and configurable system for monitoring and deciding on beneficiaries’ compliance with CAP provisions, Aleksandar SEKULIC, Milan KILIBARDA (GILAB, H2020 DIONE project)
21 - The Danube Data Cube, Márton TOLNAI (CropOM, AT)
22 - Project IACS65 (interoperability case study for LFs) - the CZ experience, Michal DOBIHAL, Katerina HATLOVA, Lucie SAVELKOVA, Ondrej SILHACEK (SZIF, CZ)
23 - Geotagged photos pilot in the CZ, Emilie BUBLINCOVA, Adela STANISLAVOVA, Lucie SAVELKOVA, Vit TOMAN, Jakub VLOSINSKY (SZIF, CZ)
24 - DROMAS Pilot project on monitoring permanent crops using Sentinel data – SZIF experience, Renata BODNAROVA, Emilie BUBLINCOVA, Vladimir HOFMAN, Lucie SAVELKOVA, David SIMONIK (SZIF, CZ)

Group photos

Social events offered by the Co-hosts:

• Touristic activity
  

The colleagues from the Generalitat de Catalunya kindly organised a city tour and a visit of the Sagrada famìlia on Monday evening.

• Ice breaker
  

An icebreaker has been kindly be offered by our colleagues from the Spanish Coordination Body (FEGA) on Monday evening.

• Gala dinner
  

The colleagues from the Generalitat de Catalunya kindly offered a gala dinner on Tuesday evening.

Thank you to them for these events which turned to be very useful for the community networking.