IoE Crops

The IoECrops project improves the productivity, efficiency and resilience of large-scale crop production by supporting agricultural management through the use of technologies based on the Internet of Things (IoT).

Over the course of the project, sensors were installed and tractors, seed drills and bale harvesters were connected to the Internet along with the irrigation and fertilization systems used in different fields, in order to improve the productivity of large-scale crop production.

The sensors used gateways located on the machines or in the fields themselves (all of which were located in Catalonia) to connect to a cloud-based data management program where the data collected was processed and stored appropriately, thus generating an information exchange resulting from the interoperability of the products and services provided by the manufacturers of the machines and infrastructure.

Consequently, IoECrops is able to facilitate the decision-making process for the planning of major agricultural operations, such as preparing the land, sowing seeds, fertilizing and irrigating the crops, and harvesting. It is able to provide online support while the majority of these operations – including sowing seeds, harvesting, irrigation and fertilization – are in progress.

The IoECrops project is part of the COPTA RIS3CAT Community. It is coordinated by Eurecat and boasts a total of 11 members. The Community is coordinated by the University of Lleida and aims to provide innovative solutions for the agri-food industry, with a view to achieving a sustainable form of intensive farming that responds to the key challenges facing the industry.

Eurecat leads the project though its Smart Management Systems Unit, which provides experience in IoT solutions, interoperability and data analysis with the aim of achieving more efficient and productive agricultural management.