PW-ACTUA iPot wants to map out the cultivation of potatoes in Belgium Isabelle Piccard, Romain Cools, Jean Pierre Goffart, Kris Nackaearts, Joost Vandennabeele and Viviane Planchon want to map out the cultivation of potatoes in Belgium in the coming three years under the iPot project name. This summer, a project was started with the intriguing name iPot. Within the framework of this project, Belgapom, the Federation for the Belgian Potato Trade and Processing Industry, plans to develop a web-based geoinformation platform in the coming three years. This platform will make it possible to map out the cultivation of potatoes in Belgium. Together with the Walloon and Flemish Research Institutes VITO, CRA-W and Ulg, Belgapom wants to link plot details via precision farming to satellite and/or drone data. The purpose of the project is to evaluate the cultivation results independently in order to be able to monitor them more accurately. The Belgian potato sector has shown spectacular growth in recent years. In 2000, only 1.5 million tons of potatoes were processed, last year that figure had increased to nearly 3.5 million tons. In this period, the potato acreage also showed a spectular increase from 20,000 hectares to over 80,000 hectares. In order to provide the factories with an optimum amount of raw material, Belgapom decided to start mapping out the cultivation of potatoes. This will be financed by the Stereo-III research programme of the Federaal Wetenschapsbeleid (Belspo) (Federal Scientific Policy). In total, over 300,000 euros will be available for developing a web-based geoinformation platform. Monitor growth and development The aim of the project is to combine satellite images, aerial photographs, meteorological stations, crop development models and other data in order to efficiently monitor the growth and development of table and industrial potatoes in Belgium. If this is successful, it will be possible to estimate the development stages of crops and their expected harvesting dates. The researchers also want to better determine the risk of production or quality loss by monitoring the temperature, rainfall and soil moisture of the plot and the general state of health of the crop. Furthermore, they will be able to map out the variation within a plot. It should also be possible to reliably forecast yields during the season. ‘On the one hand, all this data should enable the potato sector to intervene more quickly and more efficiently when problems arise in the field and, on the other, it is useful from the logistics and economic viewpoint’, explains Belgapom Secretary Romain Cools. He is not afraid that this information will give his members a headstart in the market. ‘The idea is to make the application available to the entire potato sector’, the Secretary emphasises. ● Raquel Izquierdo de Santiago, the Together with Chairman Kees van Arendonk, Raquel Izquierdo de Santiago will soon promote the interests of the European potato trade. 10 Potato World 2015 • number 1 Pagina 9
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