From Space to Earth: A story that unveils the power of Earth Observation and the e-shape expertise…

To sow or not to sow? An end-to-end e-shape journey from our Pilot 1.2 | EU-CAP Support ! From the farmers’ need to a useful service, from one crop for three regions to three crops across Greece and from a handful users to the user pool of one of the leading Ag Companies globally, Corteva Agriscience™.

In 2021, e-shape pilot Pilot 1.2 | EU-CAP Support launched the alpha version of agrowth, addressing the requirements of cotton farmers in Farsala and Orchomenos. The agrowth services included near real-time phenology estimation and yield prediction a month prior to harvest. Additionally, in collaboration with Pilot 6.4 | ReSAgri - Resilient & Sustainable ecosystems including Agriculture & food, a data product for the identification of the ideal day for sowing cotton, was rapidly developed (per the users’ request) and provided. The product was serviced through the official website of Agriculture Cooperative of Orchomenos (https://asoo.gr/sowing-map/) for the Voiotia region, and through daily e-mail reports for the Thessaly and Rodopi regions (Greece).

The first year was a success! They received valuable feedback and data to evaluate and fine-tune our services. The optimal sowing date service was disseminated and attracted the attention of Corteva Agriscience Hellas. The company requested the service for corn, sunflower, and cotton for almost the entire mainland of Greece. The team rapidly extended the service to the other crop types and now commercially offered to Corteva. Specifically, the optimal sowing maps are now circulated daily to the operational monitors of 150 agricultural supply stores across Greece, to the Corteva’s agronomy department through personalized e-mail reports per subregion and as one of the main digital services to the members of Corteva’s portfolio of digital solutions ‘Granular Club’.

Furthermore, on the 4^th of April 2022, a dedicated online webinar was conducted with a view to present and initiate a productive discussion among key stakeholders (i.e. General Manager Greece-Israel-Cyprus of Corteva, Marketing & Development Manager, agronomists of Corteva, territory sales representatives etc) about Sowing Map and how it is generated and how they should interpret it and use it in terms of decision making.

Find the informational flyer here (GR)