Agroquality

Brief description of the Agroquality project

Modern agro-industry productivity and competitiveness relies vastly and increasingly on the quality of the product, as well as from our ability to prove this with quantitative measures. Thus, the identification and timeless recordkeeping of the factors that influence the production, such as the cultivated species, the place of origin and its endemic characteristics (altitude, climate parameters, soil composition, etc.) becomes the ultimate sine qua non in modern agro-industry. The constant need and request for total tracking in the food chain also points towards the same direction.
Cooping with this and based on the outcome of previous co-funded efforts, the present introduces a platform and a methodology for the monitoring and record keeping of the factors that influence the quantity and the quality of olives and the major subproduct the olive oil, a traditional and high-interest cultivation in western Greece and South-Eastern Italy.
The whole of the Mediterranean area is traditionally characterised by olive growing. In effect, this specie is so common that its presence is one of the most evident characteristics of this geographic area and that it can be considered as an actual biodiversity reservoir both because so many varieties exist and because – being strictly linked to the territory in which the plants are cultivated – they favour an high level of biodiversity of the territories themselves. Moreover, olive growing is traditionally an environment-friendly cultivation since it usually does not affect the natural resources. Finally, olives and olive oil are valuable foods, having very positive effects on human health.
Traditional, environmental olive growing does not guarantee income: that is why, most of the farmers adopt cultivation techniques based on pesticides, with evidently negative effects on the environment. In order to strengthen the olive and its subproducts (i.e. olive oil) positioning in the European and Global market and enhance the performance of the invoked SMEs, the proposed project aims at developing a model of the total management and control of the olive growing process.
Environment-friendly products will be obtained by implementing innovative methods and tools made available by the research and the best available technologies. The quality of the product will be certified via a unique bar-code identity per farmer, cultivation and cultivation period, under which the whole of the parameters affecting the quality of the product (soil composition, position, climate, cultivation method, etc.) is kept. 

Objectives

The project is aimed at developing a model of the total management of olive growing in order to:

• Monitor the conditions under which the olives are cultivated
• Produce and distribute a “best practice” roadmap for the cultivation of olives
• Prove the quality of the product through quantitative measures, strengthening the positioning

Towards this, a novel platform based on a special purpose Geographical Information System will be developed, build to integrate the first Electronic Cultivation Record for olives.
Environment-friendly products will be obtained by implementing innovative methods and tools made available by the research and the best available technologies.
In order to make this model actually applicable, it will be necessary to find also the financial resources.
To achieve all these results, another core objective of the project will consist in the cooperation among actors such as the farmers, the research institutions and the local and regional authorities/ agencies of the territories covered by the project, in order to guarantee an actual transfer of the results of the research and consequently to promote the development and maintenance of this traditional agricultural sector.

Expected outputs

The expected outputs are the following:

1. Geographical Information System, which is build to integrate a full Electronic Cultivation Record for table olives and olive oil. General Features of the GIS platform: a. GeoPresentation of the information. Composition of new information levels, retrieval of the geo correlated data. Soil Composition, hydrological and climate data will be presented on new automatically created levels of information. b. Correlation of the Geographical data with the Electronic Cultivation Record. The immediate presentation of data related to a specific cultivation becomes feasible, facilitating in the most prominent manner the process of issuing certificates of cultivation conditions. Technical Features: • Management and processing of multilayered digital maps.• Metadata handling, geo-correlation and storage. • Robust Role management.• Bidirectional Interconnection for data exchange with leading applications (ESRI ArcInfo, Autodesk-Automap) • Open Architectural design and development based on XML technologies, strictly defined by widely accepted XSD and DTD schemas.
2. Ex-ante analysis: analysis of olive growing best practices with regard to their effects in socio-economic and environmental fields. Identification of the practices having the best effects both with regard to the sustainability of olive growing and incomes for farmers. Definition of the model.
3. Socio-economic strategies: market analysis of the countries covered by the project, funding search, socio-economic assessment of the implemented model, development of economic strategies for Olive SMEs in the countries covered by the project.
4. Implementation of the model: implementation of the model at farm level, in various typologies of farm. Monitoring of the technical activities, assessment of their achievements step by step and with regard to the environmental and agronomic aspects, re-calibration of the model (if necessary), delivery of guide-lines. 

Expected results

The main direct results from the implementation of the project aimed at developing a novel platform, based on a special purpose Geographical Information System, build to integrate the first Electronic Cultivation Record for olives, for the total management of olive growing, are:

1. Constant monitoring of the conditions under which the olives are cultivated and decision making according to real data
2. Production and distribution of an innovative in a pan-European level of a “best practice” roadmap for the cultivation of olives
3. Provement of the quality of the product through quantitative measurements.

Environment-friendly products will be obtained by implementing innovative methods and tools made available by the research and the best available technologies. Indirect results from the implementation of the project are:

1. strengthening of cooperation among actors such as the farmers, the research institutions and the local and regional authorities/ agencies of the territories covered by the project and thus facilitation of capitalization processes in future complementary projects,
2. promotion and further development of this traditional agricultural sector, through the actual transfer and dissemination of the results of the research
3. strengthening of the positioning of Mediterannean agricultural products and specifically of the olive oil product in the international market,
4. farmers' income increase and development of areas' competitiveness and economic factors,
5. expansion of Mediterranean diet and conservation of traditional gastronomy heritage.

  
Source: Agroquality Application Form, Sept 2009