P@stor-all: a spatialized information system for decision-making in extensive grazing systems
Résumé
Agro-silvo-pastoralism is common in Mediterranean regions and provides multiple services. Thesustainability of such systems depends on an efficient utilization of rangelands. The latterrequires a good knowledge of the spatial behaviour of the flock, which can be documented withdigital tools. The diversity of agro-silvo-pastoral systems complicates both data acquisition andprocessing, and has slowed down the uptake of precision farming. However, a variety of data isavailable to document the functioning of the pastoral ecosystem: free satellite data, GPS collars,meteorological data but also technical references in digital format and feedbacks from farmers.The objective of the P@stor-all project was to group such heterogeneous data in one single tooland combine it in order to provide knowledge and indicators for the improvement of grazingmanagement. Designing such an information system (IS) required to find solutions to integratestructured and unstructured data and produce meaningful indicators for the farmers. Aparticipatory approach was chosen: 7 farmers and 2 research farms representing a variety ofsystems were partners to the project and were associated in the discussions and decisionsabout the functionalities of the IS, the conceptual model of the pastoral ecosystem, the spatiotemporalresolution of data, the choice of indicators, the user interface and the terms of use ofthe IS. GPS collars were deployed in the farms and their data was cross-analysed with freesatellite data in order to produce indicators of the spatial utilization of rangelands by the flocks.The proposed indicators were different for the commercial farms (1 commercial GPS collar tolocalize the flock in real time and record spatial behaviour), and for the research farms (up to 30GPS collars to test the correlations between spatial behaviour, animal characteristics andenvironmental conditions). A first prototype of the P@stor-all IS will be tested and refined inspring and summer 2023; by the end of the year, the platform will be freely available to allFrench farmers.
