Possibilities of remote sensing developments in agriculture

By: STA Date: 2023. 04. 21. 11:00

The key to successful domestic agriculture is the modernization of the state and the farmer’s side – said Anikó Juhász at the meeting held in the Ministry of Agriculture, at which the development directions that help to make support policy and official task performance more efficient were discussed together with the actors of the agricultural administration using remote sensing and GIS systems.

(Illustration: Pixabay)

Anikó Juhász, the Deputy State Secretariat responsible for Agriculture of the Ministry of Agriculture, Lechner Tudásközpont Nonprofit Kft. and the delegation of the European Space Agency (ESA), gave first-hand information to interested parties about ESA’s land observation programs for agricultural purposes and the opportunities for Hungarian participants to get involved.

Space photographs help with damage mitigation

A good example of this is that the Lechner Knowledge Center, commissioned by the Ministry of Agriculture and linked to the Agricultural Risk Management System, developed a plant condition map based on high-resolution aerial photographs and methodology to support the evaluation of more than fifty thousand damage mitigation applications in last year’s extremely drought year. With this development, the evaluation process of the government offices related to damage mitigation was significantly accelerated, so remote sensing effectively contributed to the fact that the damage mitigation exceeding HUF 50 billion could be paid on time, by the end of March. This was a significant help for the producers to start their spring work.

Background institutions related to the work of the Ministry of Agriculture presented their developments and challenges related to remote sensing

In all cases, the goal of remote sensing developments is to create farmer-centered, customer-friendly professional management systems that serve the green and digital transition, in addition to the subsidies provided to producers. The representative of the European Space Agency, Zoltán Szántói, presented the agency’s earth observation capacities, goals, and the projects it has supported so far. He specifically highlighted those elements where Hungarian organizations and companies can join the tendering system independently or in the form of a consortium. At the meeting, a lively professional discussion began between the institutions present and the representatives of the Space Agency on possible cooperation and application opportunities.