Reducing pesticide-related water pollution by improving crop protection practices: The use of embedded ICT technologies
Réduire la pollution de l'eau en optimisant les pratiques de protection des plantes : l'utilisation des technologies de l'information et de la communication embarquées
Résumé
LIFE AWARE project aims to demonstrate how ICT embedded technologies can improve practices for crop protection, helping farmers to easily and daily tune sprayer, to monitor pesticide application and to automatically generate the traceability notebook. With this equipment, it becomes easy to master pesticide application and drastically reduce product losses. This equipment is made up of sensors for climate (temperature, moisture, wind speed), sprayer parameters (left and right flows, tank level ) and positioning (GPS). These data are automatically transferred to the cooperative by Wifi. In 2007, 15 of these devices have been installed on 15 different sprayers of the members of a wine cooperative at Neffies, South of France, and have been tested all along the season. The generated data are graphs, maps and traceability notebooks that the farmers can use to improve their practices and as a proof of their spraying parameters. This first season of operation has shown the versatility, the relevancy and the user-friendliness of these sensing devices.