european territorial cooperation programmes (etcp), greece ... · european territorial cooperation...

European Territorial Cooperation Programmes (ETCP), GREECE-ITALY 2007-2013 Efficient Irrigation Management Tools for Agricultural Cultivations and Urban Landscapes

IRMA Subsidy Contract No: I3.11.06 I MIS 902056

LP-TEIEP | P2-AEPDE | P3/P7-CRA_INEA | P4-ISPA/CNR | P5-ROP | P6-ROEDM

IRMA Timer | The newsletter of IRMA project, Issue 22 | April to June 2015

www.irrigation-management.eu


IRMA - Subsidy Contract No: I3.11.06


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Contents Intro ........................................................................................................................... 3 Progress of WP1 Management & Coordination ......................................................... 4 Progress of WP2 Information & Publicity ................................................................... 4

Technical visit to ISPA-experimental farm "La Noria" ............................................. 4 Irrimed 2015 Bari, Italy ........................................................................................... 4 IRLA2014 Proceedings .......................................................................................... 5 Upcoming IRMA seminars ..................................................................................... 6 Presentation of IRLA at Patras IQ innovation fair ................................................... 6

Progress of WP3 Network building ............................................................................ 7 Progress of WP4 Survey of irrigation practice ........................................................... 7 Progress of WP5 Irrigation management tools .......................................................... 7

Irrigation audits ...................................................................................................... 7 Web irrigation information and recommendations systems .................................... 7

Progress of WP6 Specialized research actions ......................................................... 8 Web GIS for satellite images analysis .................................................................... 8

Other interesting stuff ................................................................................................ 8 Funding programs.................................................................................................. 8

Interreg Europe - Call for project proposals will be open 22 June-31 July 2015 .. 8 Call for proposals for LIFE Grants ...................................................................... 9 The EurAgEng Award of Merit ............................................................................ 9 SmartAgriFood ................................................................................................... 9 MED 2014-2020 ................................................................................................. 9

Projects ............................................................................................................... 10 KINDRA ........................................................................................................... 10 Monitoring of chemical quality of irrigation water (surface and groundwater) of the river basins of Macedonia-Thrace and Thessaly ........................................ 10 Innovative system for satellite observation of irrigation and fertilization of olive fields ................................................................................................................ 10

Networking .......................................................................................................... 11 Upcoming events relevant to IRMA topics ........................................................ 11 Boosting agribusiness through the internet ....................................................... 11

Education - Training - Studying ............................................................................ 12 A participatory approach to innovation projects ................................................ 12 OECD principles on Water Governance ........................................................... 12 Facts regarding how irrigation scheduling is done in the US............................. 12 Global agencies call for urgent action to avoid irreversible groundwater depletion ......................................................................................................................... 12 WaterSense by the Numbers ........................................................................... 13




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IRMA Timer The newsletter of IRMA project Issue 22 | April to June 2015

every end is a new beginning

Editing team Dr. Tsirogiannis Ioannis, MSc PhD Agricultural Engineer Mrs. Baltzoi Penelopi, MSc Agriculturalist Mrs. Fotia Konstantina, MSc Agriculturalist Mr. Plachouras Konstantinos, IT Expert All the previous issues of IRMA Timer are available at: http://www.irrigation-management.eu/communication/newsletter

Share a story here IRMATimer invites you to share content for an upcoming issue. Send email to: [email protected]

Intro The IRMA project aims to develop efficient irrigation management tools for agricultural cultivations and urban landscapes. It is funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and National Funds of Greece and Italy in the framework of the European Territorial Cooperation

Programme Greece ‐ Italy

2007‐2013 (www.greece-italy.eu).

The project’s total budget is 1.398.874,50€ and the implementation period is 30 months (initially it was 24), starting from April 2013. The current newsletter presents the progress of the project's actions during the 25th – 27th months of the implementation period (April to June 2015). After this issue only one more will be published in the framework of IRMA. This will happen at the end of September. The project is in its final phase and most of its deliverables are either completed or under final evaluation. IRMA will be completed at the end of September 2015 with IrriMED 2015 at Bari.

The project manager

Dr. Tsirogiannis Yannis

http://www.irrigation-management.eu/communication/newsletter



http://www.greece-italy.eu/




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Progress of WP1 Management & Coordination The Close-out project management meeting (Del. 1.2.7) was organised by the Decentralised Administration of Epirus and Western Macedonia. It was held at Ioannina (Epirus) during the last week of June 2015 (25 and 26/6).

General view of the old town of Ioannina

View from the meeting

The presentations and other material is available at the project’s web site: http://www.irrigation-management.eu/communication/events-and-media#event18

Progress of WP2 Information & Publicity

Technical visit to ISPA-experimental farm "La Noria"

This event (Del. 2.3.5) was organized in the occasion of “Fascination of Plants Day”, an initiative which included a number of relevant events through Italy.

Dr. F. Montessano presents experimental

setups at La Noria

More information can be found at the IRMA’s web site: http://www.irrigation-management.eu/communication/events-and-media#event12

Irrimed 2015 Bari, Italy

The closing event of IRMA will be the International Conference on “Modern technologies, strategies and tools for sustainable irrigation management and governance in Mediterranean agriculture” (IrriMED 2015). It is scheduled for 23-25 of September 2015 and will be held in Bari (Italy).

The web-site of the conference (http://irrimed2015.iamb.it/) provides all the necessary information for the participants. The sessions of the conference are the following:

http://www.irrigation-management.eu/communication/events-and-media#event18






http://irrimed2015.iamb.it/





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Soil–plant - atmosphere continuum

Innovative tools for irrigation management at farm and district level

Use of unconventional water resources in agriculture

Modern strategies for water management under protected environment

Modern strategies for water management for open field crops

Water governance

Environmental, social and economic aspects of water management

The keynote-invited speakers are among the best scientists in the world:

Water governance, Enrique Playan, CSIC, Spain

Use of unconventional water resources, Antonio Lopez, CNR-ISPA, Italy

Soil – plant - atmosphere continuum, Dimitrios Savvas, University of Athens, Greece

Innovative tools for irrigation management at farm and district level, Jerry Knox, Cranfield University, UK

Modern strategies for water management under protected environment, Marc van Iersel, University of Georgia, USA

Modern strategies for water management for open field crops, Marcello Mastrorilli, CRA-SCA, Italy

The following important days should be noted:

1. Abstract submission by July 15st 2015

2. Information about the acceptance of abstract by July 31th 2015

3. Full paper submission by September 10th 2015

4. Registration by September 10th 2015

Note also that IrriMed is realized in the framework of ETCP GR-IT 2007-2013 IRMA project thus no participation fee has to be paid.

IRLA2014 Proceedings

We are proud to announce that IRLA2014 Efficient irrigation management and its effects in urban and rural landscapes proceedings have been published in open access

mode, from PROCEDIA Agriculture and Agricultural Science ELSEVIER: Procedia Volume 4, Pages 1-470 (2015)

Also of great interest is the keynote speach that Mr. Sean Gaule, president of CEDIA gave in IRLA2014. The relevant presentation was recently sent to all the members of CEDIA across Europe.


http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/22107843/4/supp/C

http://www.irrigation-management.eu/images/Events/05IRLA2014/2014IRLACEDIAkeynote.pdf




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Finally, it is worth mentioning that Mr. Georgios Xatzakis, which was invited to present his innovative work regarding the restoration of Lasithi plateau irrigation windmills, was among the winners of 2015 Europa Nostra awards.

Upcoming IRMA seminars

One event is scheduled for this summer (end of July) to be held in Apoulia (Italy): Professional training – certification seminar “Modern strategies for Irrigation in greenhouses” (Del. 2.3.4). The Special Professional Workshop “Irrigation practice - auditing” for presentation of irrigation survey results and audit findings and relevant recommendations to system’s managers (Del. 2.2.7) will be organized during the period of IrriMed at Bari.

Presentation of IRLA at Patras IQ innovation fair

IRMA project was presented by LP (TEI of Epirus) during the Patras Innovation Quest 2015 which was held from 24 to 26 April 2015 at Patras, Greece.

View from TEIEP’s stand

More than 1.000 persons were informed about the project and the other activities of the Agricultural & Environmental Laboratory of TEI of Epirus (http://hc.ioa.teiep.gr/).

http://ec.europa.eu/programmes/creative-europe/actions/heritage-label/0414-eu-heritage-winners_en.htm

http://hc.ioa.teiep.gr/




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Progress of WP3 Network building

The networking platform of the project includes:

forum

pages at selected social media networks

repository and stakeholders database

special means like the monthly newsletter IRMATimer; training and dissemination events and mass media presentations.

You are all invited to actively participate by visiting: http://www.irrigation-management.eu/network/stakeholders

Progress of WP4 Survey of irrigation practice The survey for Apulia has been completed. In Greece, the survey is progressing for the Region of Epirus, while it is expected in July for the Region of Western Greece.

Progress of WP5 Irrigation management tools

Irrigation audits

The guide for irrigation systems auditing and the relevant MS-Excel workbook are already available at the

project’s website: http://www.irrigation-management.eu/tools/irrigation-audits

Frontpage of the auditing guide

In Greece, LP has completed the data analysis and the relevant report will be available in July. Partners P4 (ISPA/CNR) and P6 (ROP) are expected to complete the audits in Italy during July.

Web irrigation information and recommendations systems

The system for Arta (IRMA_SYS) has been entered in its evaluation phase. This means that real fields and gardens are irrigated using the system’s recommendations while a number of quantitative and qualitative measurements will be used to compare the results with those from reference crops and landscapes.

http://www.irrigation-management.eu/network/stakeholders



http://www.irrigation-management.eu/tools/irrigation-audits

http://www.irrigation-management.eu/tools/irrigation-audits




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Screenshot from the irrigation advice

application

A presentation of the system is available at: http://www.irrigation-management.eu/images/Events/18Closeout/150525_LPTEIEP.pdf while the system is available at: http://arta.irrigation-management.eu/ In Italy, ROP is updating its current system.

Progress of WP6 Specialized research actions Most of the experimental work has been completed and now all involved partners are in the phase of writing the relevant technical reports from which research papers are expected to result.

Web GIS for satellite images analysis

CRA-INEA has develop a web GIS system that provides the outputs of satellite images analysis. These include NDVI, Kc, irrigation usage etc. A presentation of the system is available at: http://www.irrigation-

management.eu/images/Events/18Closeout/150625CRA_INEA.pdf, while the system itself is available at: http://95.110.192.55/irma/

Other interesting stuff

Funding programs

Interreg Europe - Call for project proposals will be open 22 June-31 July 2015

INTERREG IVC provides funding for interregional cooperation across Europe. It is implemented under the European Community’s territorial co-operation objective and financed through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). The Operational Programme was approved in September 2007 and the period for INTERREG IVC will last from 2007-2013. This programme follows on from the INTERREG IIIC programme which ran from 2002-2006.

The overall objective of the INTERREG IVC Programme is to improve the effectiveness of regional policies and instruments. A project builds on the exchange of experiences among partners who are ideally responsible for the development of their local and regional policies.

http://www.irrigation-management.eu/images/Events/18Closeout/150525_LPTEIEP.pdf



http://arta.irrigation-management.eu/

http://www.irrigation-management.eu/images/Events/18Closeout/150625CRA_INEA.pdf



http://95.110.192.55/irma/




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The areas of support are innovation and the knowledge economy, environment and risk prevention. Thus, the programme aims to contribute to the economic modernisation and competitiveness of Europe. INTERREG IVc is linked to the objectives of Lisbon and Gothenburg agendas. Typical tools for exchange of experience are networking activities such as thematic workshops, seminars, conferences, surveys, and study visits. Project partners cooperate to identify and transfer good practices. Possible project outcomes include for example case study collections, policy recommendations, strategic guidelines or action plans. INTERREG IVC also allows light implementation or piloting, but only if these complement the exchange of experience activities. The dates of the first call for Interreg Europe project proposals are fixed to open on 22 June and close at midday on 31 July 2015.

Call for proposals for LIFE Grants

The Commission invites legal persons (entities) registered in the European Union (EU) to present proposals for the 2015 Call for proposals for LIFE Action Grants. The call covers proposals for both LIFE sub-programmes. For the sub-programme for Environment, this call will cover action grants for "Traditional" projects, Preparatory projects, Integrated projects, Technical Assistance projects and Capacity Building projects. For the sub-programme for Climate Action, this call will cover action grants for "Traditional" projects, Preparatory projects, Integrated projects, Technical Assistance projects and Capacity Building projects.

Proposals may be submitted by legal persons (entities) registered in the EU. Applicants may fall into three types of beneficiaries: (1) public bodies, (2) private commercial organisations and (3) private non-commercial organisations (including NGOs).

The EurAgEng Award of Merit

Award of Merit: This award is the highest honour that the Society bestows and although offered every year it takes two complementary forms: Award of Merit –Scientific Understanding and Award of Merit- Innovation into Practice. In both cases it will be made to a leading individual for their major contribution to the success of engineering for agriculture and the rural sector in Europe.

SmartAgriFood

A new SmartAgriFood project has now commenced supporting SME’s to develop innovative apps and services for agriculture. With €4m in funding for SME’s the call for proposals opens on 15th September 2014.

MED 2014-2020

The European Commission adopted today the 2014-2020 MED transnational cooperation programme,

http://www.interreg4c.eu/news/article/?post=835-call-for-project-proposals-will-be-open-22-june-31-july-2015&

http://ec.europa.eu/environment/life/funding/life2015/index.htm

http://www.eurageng.eu/meritaward

http://www.smartagrifood.eu/




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worth more than €275 million, with €224 million from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). A further €9.3 million has been allocated to the programme from the EU's Instrument for Pre-Accession (IPA).

The programme will promote cooperation between regions from 10 EU Member States (Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Greece, Malta, Cyprus, UK - Gibraltar) and 3 candidate countries (Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro, Albania).

Projects

KINDRA

KINDRA (Knowledge Inventory for hydrogeology research) is funded by the European Commission’s HORIZON2020 Framework Programme. The overall objective of the project is to take stock of Europe’s contemporary practical and scientific knowledge of hydrogeology research and innovation with the help of an inventory of research results, activities, projects and programmes, and then use the inventory to identify critical research challenges and gaps, with a view to avoiding overlaps. This approach takes into account the implementation of the Water Framework Directive and latest innovation areas within integrated water resources management, allowing at EU scale the future correct management and policy development of groundwater. The project started on

1 January 2015 and lasts for 36 months.

Monitoring of chemical quality of irrigation water (surface and groundwater) of the river basins of Macedonia-Thrace and Thessaly

The main aim of the project was to establish an extensive and clear picture of the existing chemical quality of irrigation water available in a total of 21 basins of rivers and lakes of Macedonia-Thrace and Thessaly; further more identify and locate the different pollution sources in order to take on time the necessary measures of water protection and remediation actions for the sustainable use of the natural resource of water according to the implementation needs of the EU Directive 2000/60 and other EU Directives of environmental protection and especially those concerning the protection of agricultural ecosystems.

Innovative system for satellite observation of irrigation and fertilization of olive fields

The system is the product of cooperation between PROTYPON

http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/el/newsroom/news/2015/06/mediterranean-countries-join-forces-to-promote-smart-and-sustainable-growth

http://www.kindraproject.eu/

http://minagric.gr/ardeftika/index.php/en/




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LTD and the Agricultural Cooperative of Mesolonghi – Nafpaktia (Greece).

Networking

Upcoming events relevant to IRMA topics

12-16 July 2015 10th ECPA meeting 'Precision agriculture for efficient resources management under changing global conditions'. ARO Volcani Centre, Israel http://www.ecpa2015.com/

17-20 September 2015, 7th International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies in Agriculture, Food and Environment (HAICTA 2015), Kavala, Greece http://2015.haicta.gr/

23-26 September 23-26, 2015. SUSTAIN 2015-Soil Functions and Climate Change. Christian Albrechts University zu Kiel – Audimax. http://www.soils.uni-kiel.de/de/sustain-2015

8-9 October 2015, 9th Conference of the Greek Society of Agricultural Engineers (E.G.M.E., member of EurAgEng), Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece, http://egme.gr/ 6-7 November 2015, Land.Technik AgEng 2015. Hannover, Germany www.vdi.de/landtechnik-ageng

11-12 November 2015, Irrigation Show 2015. California U.S.A., http://www.irrigation.org/IrrigationShow/ 20-25 June 2016, VI International Conference on Landscape and Urban Horticulture Athens, Greece, http://www.ishs.org/symposium/367

Boosting agribusiness through the internet

Chil is a new Spanish agricultural social network. It is open to anyone related to agriculture, agribusinesses or the food industry. It is a knowledge-sharing platform with fora, wikis, news, blogs, e-learning resources and more.

http://protypon.eu/protoporiako-sistima-doruforikis-parakolouthisis-ardeusis-kai-lipansis-elaionon-me-ti-summetoxi-tis-protypon/

http://www.ecpa2015.com/

http://2015.haicta.gr/

http://www.soils.uni-kiel.de/de/sustain-2015

http://www.soils.uni-kiel.de/de/sustain-2015

http://egme.gr/

http://www.vdi.de/landtechnik-ageng

http://www.irrigation.org/IrrigationShow/

http://www.irrigation.org/IrrigationShow/

http://www.ishs.org/symposium/367




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It even offers free space to host websites allowing companies and farmers to sell their products online. The platform has been created by the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Environment (MAGRAMA) and the Polytechnic University of Madrid (UPM). Chil also contains a special section regarding water.

Education - Training - Studying

A participatory approach to innovation projects

The new EIP-AGRI brochure on ‘Participatory approaches for agricultural innovation' highlights and gives practical examples of a number of methods which can help you set up new groups, identify partners and work with people from other professions or sectors to develop new projects. It could be useful for setting up Operational Groups, Horizon 2020 projects or other initiatives.

OECD principles on Water Governance

On 4 June 2015, Ministers from OECD’s 34 member countries welcomed the OECD Principles on Water Governance, which set

standards for more effective, efficient and inclusive design and implementation of water policies, and encouraged governments to put them into action.

Facts regarding how irrigation scheduling is done in the US

According to the latest USA Farm and Ranch Irrigation Survey in 2013, there were 229,237 farms with 55.3 million irrigated acres in the United States.

From the variety of available data it is very interesting to analyse the responses regarding what method farmers use in deciding when to irrigate. All farms responded in this question and of them, the condition of the crop was the method used in 179,490 farms, followed by the feel of the soil (90,361), personal calendar scheduling (49,048), scheduled by water delivery organization (37,301), soil moisture sensing device (22,656 – 9.88%), commercial or government scheduling service (17,982 – 7.84%), reports on daily crop water evaporation, ET (17,815 – 7.81%). Interesting enough is that more than 13,000 farms responded that they start irrigating when their neighbor begins. Plant moisture sensing devices are used in 3,669 farms. The least used are the computer simulation models (1,915 farms – 0.84%).

Global agencies call for urgent action to avoid irreversible groundwater depletion

The FAO, UNESCO, World Bank, GEF and International Association of

http://www.chil.org/agua

https://ec.europa.eu/eip/agriculture/sites/agri-eip/files/eip-agri_brochure_participatory_approaches_2015_en_web.pdf

http://www.oecd.org/gov/regional-policy/OECD-Principles-on-Water-Governance-brochure.pdf

http://www.agcensus.usda.gov/Publications/2012/Online_Resources/Aquaculture/




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Hydrogeologists this week called for action by the global community to manage the increasingly urgent depletion and degradation of limited groundwater resources.

WaterSense by the Numbers

To date, WaterSense has helped consumers save a cumulative 4,2 million m3 of water and over $21.7 billion in water and energy bills. By the end of 2014, reductions of 146 billion kWh of electricity and 54 million metric tons of carbon dioxide were achieved through the use of WaterSense labeled products. Check out the WaterSense 2014.

You can get an idea of “How WaterSense Is Enhancing Efficient Irrigation Technologies & Services” by attending the relevant free webinar of Irrigation Association. It is scheduled for July 9 2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. Eastern.

http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2015/04/10/global-agencies-urgent-action-avoid-irreversible-groundwater-depletion

http://www.epa.gov/watersense/about_us/milestones.html

http://store.irrigation.org/events/registration.aspx?event=WBWL0715&promo=KN0515

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