NEUROPUBLIC participates in teleconference on smart farming for cotton

NEUROPUBLIC participated in a teleconference on the application of its gaiasense smart farming services in cotton cultivation. The teleconference was organized by Thrakika Ekkokkistiria (Thrace Cotton Ginning Mills), NEUROPUBLIC’s strategic partner in the area of Rodopi, Northern Greece and took place on Wednesday 23rd of April.

The aim of the teleconference, which was attended by numerous cotton producers and agronomists, was to present the results of the application of NEUROPUBLIC’s smart farming services in the area of Rodopi and announce the updated gaiasense services for cotton producers for 2020.

The teleconference was a precious tool allowing direct communication between NEUROPUBLIC, its scientific collaborators, cotton producers and agronomists, overriding the restrictions posed due to the recent COVID-19 pandemic.

Smart farming and gaiasense at the service of cotton production

NEUROPUBLIC’s President and Head of gaiasense Fotis Chatzipapadopoulos presented the concept of smart farming and the gaiasense smart farming system. Mr. Chatzipapadopoulos referred to all aspects of gaiasense, from data acquisition to to the provision of smart advice to producers, through specialized agricultural advisors.

He also presented the new smartphone app “gaiasense farmer”, that producers will start using in 2020 for receiving important notifications, such as new advice or warning produced by gaiasense.

Using the same app, producers will be able to monitor a series of parameters for each one of their parcels, such as information regarding irrigation and fertilization needs, the risk of infection or infestation by pests and diseases, the current meteorological conditions, a local weather forecast as well as warnings for extreme weather phenomena, NDVI images, etc.

The contribution of scientific collaborators

Professor Angelos Patakas from the University of Patras, an expert in irrigation, referred to the importance of rationalizing irrigation based on the actual needs of the crop and the way in which the irrigation advice is produced, along with the results from the application of the advice by local cotton producers.

Professor of Applied Entomology Nikos Papadopoulos from the University of Thessaly talked about the main pests and diseases affecting cotton, referring to the development of scientific models for the appearance of these risks and highlighting the role of these models in effectively addressing these risks.

NEUROPUBLIC’s researchers on the crop fertilization

Dr. Elpiniki Georgiou, NEUROPUBLIC’s Chemical Engineer and responsible for supervising the development of fertilization models referred to the fertilization advice provided by gaiasense, and the methodology on which this advice is based.

Last but not least, Dr. Ioannis Karastergios, NEUROPUBLIC’s agronomist with a a significant experience in cotton, provided a more practical view on the topics discussed earlier.

The teleconference concluded with a discussion between the participants, and answers to their questions.

We would like to thank the Thrace Cotton Ginning Mills for the excellent organization of the teleconference.