EO for Agriculture Under Pressure Workshop 2024
Hybrid Event, 13/05/2024 - 16/05/2024
The European Space Agency (ESA), the European Commission (EC), the World Food Programme (WFP), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and GEOGLAM co-organized the EO for Agriculture Under Pressure 2024 Workshop, which took place in Frascati (Italy), from 13 to 16 May 2024.
The event brought together a notable number of participants, with 300 attendees in person from 43 different countries and more than 500 joining online connecting a diverse audience from various locations.
The workshop explored the role of Earth Observation in addressing the steadily growing pressures on agriculture and the entire food system to increase global production while ensuring healthy, nutrient-rich products and sustainability, in a context where increased resilience and adaptation to climate change is needed as well as more transparent markets and less speculation, to avoid price fluctuations that prevent a regular access to food for large populations.
Technical sessions
A comprehensive overview and discussion of the current state of the art was enabled by ten technical sessions, ranging from missions and data in the “agri-space” up to community support tools. These sessions featured 60 presentations selected from 175 abstracts by a scientific committee of 43 experts. The presentations facilitated discussions on recent research and technological developments.
Two poster sessions complemented the technical sessions, presenting over 100 posters. These sessions offered young scientists an opportunity to network and share their research with more experienced professionals.
Panel debates
The workshop also included six panel discussions addressing specific issues such as the transition from R&D to operations and integrating in-situ and EO data. These panels included scientists, policy makers, policy owners, and user organizations, providing a platform for diverse perspectives.
The FAO Panel highlighted the use of Earth Observation (EO) by the FAO to solve real-world agricultural problems, emphasizing the user perspective and various applications. Livia Peiser (Senior and Land Water Officer, FAO) discussed monitoring agricultural resources using EO for land and water information systems, with initiatives like WaPOR for water productivity and land cover mapping. Lorenzo De Simone (Technical Adviser Geospatial, FAO) elaborated on the EOSTAT initiative's work on crop type mapping and yield forecasting, stressing the importance of engaging national statistics offices in co-designing and implementing pilot projects. Anne Branthomme (Forestry Officer, FAO) focused on using EO to understand and combat deforestation, particularly the significant impact of small-scale farming, and highlighted the need for improved tools and local expert involvement in EO modeling. Neil Marsland (Senior Technical Officer, FAO) presented on EO's role in assessing the agricultural impacts of war in Ukraine, addressing challenges such as data confidentiality, the urgency of analysis in conflict zones, and the necessity of updating outdated irrigation maps.